The Daily Mile Foundation and INEOS today celebrate 10 years of partnership. The collaboration has helped a simple idea, born in a single Scottish classroom, grow into a global movement that now reaches more than 5.5 million children, across 22,000 schools in 100 countries, supported by more than 130 local partnerships.
The Daily Mile began in 2012, when Elaine Wyllie MBE, then a headteacher in Stirling, asked her pupils to run, walk or wheel outdoors for 15 minutes a day. Over the years she had watched children's fitness decline and was determined to turn things around. She wanted something every child could do, with no kit, no cost and no competition. The simple idea spread to around 100 schools, but without a campaign or central support behind it.
That changed in 2016. INEOS became Lead Partner and funded the creation of The Daily Mile Foundation, based in London. Over the decade since, INEOS has provided the funding and expertise to take The Daily Mile from a local initiative to an established part of the school day around the world.
[Elaine Wyllie and Sir Jim Ratcliffe Reflect on a Decade of The Daily Mile]
Each 15-minute session gives children a quarter of their recommended daily activity. Teachers report calmer classrooms and pupils who come back happier and ready to learn. And importantly third-party research links the programme to fitness gains of up to 9%.
Founder Elaine Wyllie MBE and INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe recently came together for an interview to reflect on the past decade.
Elaine Wyllie MBE, Founder and Trustee of The Daily Mile Foundation, said: The growth has been absolutely incredible, not just in terms of numbers, but the quality of the way that the Daily Mile is being adopted...It belongs to the children - they go at their own pace and all the barriers to participation in physical activity have been removed.” She continued: “What INEOS has done is going to have a huge [long term] impact on the future health of children. My hope is that it stays simple and continues to belong to the children.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Founder and Chairman of INEOS, said: “I was very taken by the combination of fitness every day and getting children back into shape. You are most impressionable in your early years, so if you can get children into the habit of regular exercise when they are very young, it will continue through life and become habitual.”
The charity now wants every school and early years setting to offer 15 minutes of daily movement for every child. It will keep growing its network of partners to reach more schools and help them sustain participation over time.
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