Dudley Council’s chief executive will don her trainers this week to take part in Brierley Hill Primary School’s daily mile.

The national initiative encourages children to get more physically active during their school day by taking part in the 15 minute challenge.

Even though the school has limited outdoor space, years five and six have successfully been taking part since September last year making the most of the school grounds.

A number of schools and organisations across Dudley borough are already taking part in the healthy challenge and around half of Dudley’s primary schools have expressed an interest in taking part. Sarah Norman, chief executive at Dudley Council, said:

“I’m really looking forward to joining Brierley Hill Primary schools daily mile. I’m a keen runner myself and recognise how important initiatives like this are to get children and young people across the borough moving.

“Whether they run, walk, jump or skip the mile, being more physically active will benefit their physical and emotional wellbeing both in and out of school."

Mrs Allport, headteacher at Brierley Hill Primary School, said:

“Year six heard about the St. Ninian’s project while watching news round and they were extremely keen to give it a try. As a school, we also wanted to make the most of such a worthwhile initiative which reaps physical benefits for pupils and has a knock-on effect in the classroom.

“The Head Boy worked out how many metres are in a mile and measured the longest distance around the playground to see how many laps we needed to do.

“Pretty soon year five were keen to join in the project. The children really enjoy the daily mile and tell me that it makes them healthy and fit. They enjoy being able to run with their friends. Some pupils also love the challenge part of it and aim to beat their time for the mile course.”

Following its initial success the school is planning to roll out the daily mile to the rest of the pupils. They are also planning to incorporate the daily mile and cooking in the curriculum programme into an obesity prevention plan to encourage children to make healthier choices.

To find out more about the daily mile, Dudley borough schools should contact the Dudley Healthy Schools Programme on 01384 816264 or email anna.hill@dudley.gov.uk.