The children and teachers of Wilmslow Grange Community Primary School have been running 1 km a day since September as part of a Wilmslow Grange Exciting Times (Wilmslow GETSs) project.
This term's Wilmslow GETs project 'Get Moving' was initiated to improve fitness and promote a healthy lifestyle within school.
Avid runner and leader of the Wilmslow GETs MOVING project, Andrea Booth explained "Childhood obesity is becoming a national issue and we had found in previous years that some of our children were finding normal PE a challenge due to poor fitness. The children at Wilmslow Grange have taken part in the School Race for Life event for the last two years and always really enjoyed it. We heard about a school in Scotland that had started getting the children to run a mile each day and decided this was something we could do. So we started the Wilmslow Gets Moving project in September this year."
All Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children have been running 1 km a day before lunch time.
Each day 10 minutes before lunch all Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children have put on their trainers and run either 1 km (KS2 children - juniors) or 800 metres (KS1 - infants).
Andrea Booth said "We have only missed a few days due to heavy rain as we are quite hardy! At least two of the teachers run with each year group as the rest are required for marshaling duties. We intend to continue to run each day throughout the year and extend during the summer months to 1 mile as we will then be able to include our school field."
The accumulated distance ran by the children is over 18,000 KMs, the distance between Manchester and Sydney Australia, which is the same distance Ben Smith ran in his 401 marathon challenge.
Children and staff at Wilmslow Grange also took part in virtual 401 team marathon challenge on the 21st October in aid of Kidscape and Stonewall Charities in support of endurance runner Ben Smith, running the equivalent of 4 1/2 marathons as part of a whole school relay event. The children were very excited to receive their 401 Marathon medal for completing the challenge.
Head teacher Mark Unwin said "We take our role in reversing the epidemic of childhood obesity seriously, by actively encouraging children to experience first-hand the benefits of a healthy lifestyle."
Young Angel, looks forward to her daily 1km run, saying "I enjoy the run because it's very good for our health. It is also a lot of fun!"
Wilmslow Grange is hoping to enter a strong team in the Wilmslow school's cross country competition in May next year.
In addition, the school is hoping to increase the fitness of the local Handforth community by offering the hire of the school hall and fields to local clubs or PT instructors on Saturday and Sundays who could offer a range or sports or classes to adults and children. Any interested groups or individuals should contact email Mrs Andrea Booth or call 01625 526566.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.