Elaine Wyllie MBE, Founder of The Daily Mile. Image: Tom Jamieson
Submitted by Emily Drake
Over 16,000 children in Manchester have already signed up to attend The Daily Mile’s first national event later this month.
England Doing The Daily Mile will take place virtually on Friday April 30th and elementary schools across the country will take part in a virtual run to raise awareness about the mental health and wellbeing of children.
The Daily Mile currently has more than three million children running one mile a day with participants from 12,000 schools in 80 countries.
April 30th marks the initiative’s first virtual event and already promises the participation of large numbers of students from all over Manchester, Greater Manchester.
The hope is to capture the camaraderie children missed during school closings and enable young people to get involved in fun, healthy activities.
England Does the Daily Mile is funded by Sport England through the National Lottery and is supported by Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity. One million children, kindergartens, elementary schools and families across the country are expected to become involved.
The Daily Mile Foundation has also partnered with mental health charity Place2Be to provide schools with free resources to support the mental health of our young people.
Catherine Roche, executive director of Place2Be children’s mental health charity, said, “Many children are just through the toughest year of their young lives. Through Place2Be’s work to support students in schools, we know that some students have been struggling with anxiety, depression, loneliness, and loss in recent months.
“When students and staff are settling back into everyday school life, it is a crucial time to focus on promoting wellbeing and building resilience. Exercise is important!”
“Encouraging children to take part in physical activity is a great way to nurture positive ways to care for mental wellbeing, so I urge all schools to join us and get involved with England on the Daily Mile . “
Schools can register here free of charge and receive a downloadable resource pack after the event as well as access to an exclusive teaching campaign.
