"Primary School Has Banished Obesity"

zico10

http://runrepublic.ie/primary-school-has-banished-obesity-by-making-kids-run-a-mile-every-day/

I am a primary school teacher in Dublin and after seeing this, I was inspired to take my own class out for a mile a day. They have been out once a day out for the last two weeks and the children have taken on the challenge with great enthusiasm. I am delighted to see other teachers in my school have been inspired to do the same. The benefits hardly need to be explained and it is an incredibly easy thing to do.

I would encourage any teachers, parents, B.O.M. members, anybody who has any influence in any Irish primary school, to encourage their school to take on this challenge.

chickey2

They do this in my kids school too. I think it's a great idea. Sadly it's the only exercise some of the kids get.

zico10

chickey2 wrote: »

Sadly it's the only exercise some of the kids get.

It's very sad, but it will be them that benefit most.

Enduro

zico10 wrote: »

It's very sad, but it will be them that benefit most.

Hopefully your own performances inspire a few of them as well!

Ruu

Great stuff, I'll spare you with the 'back in my day' stories because I have been talking like my Dad a lot lately. I will pass this on.

Tigerandahalf

It is a good idea on paper but hard to achieve with issues like rainy days and safe places to run and walk. Also 30 mins each day by 5 is 2.5 hrs a week which I think is the total PE time taken up in the week. Also 30 plus kids with one teacher only and you could have difficulties with ensuring they are safe.

Personally I would like the junior parkrun being incorporated into the school system with all kids in the country completing a 2k every week. Walk, skip or run it and they could compare themselves to others all over the country. Nice way to introduce technology too.

Unfortunately many schools just don't have access to decent areas to exercise.

chickey2

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

It is a good idea on paper but hard to achieve with issues like rainy days and safe places to run and walk. Also 30 mins each day by 5 is 2.5 hrs a week which I think is the total PE time taken up in the week. Also 30 plus kids with one teacher only and you could have difficulties with ensuring they are safe.

Personally I would like the junior parkrun being incorporated into the school system with all kids in the country completing a 2k every week. Walk, skip or run it and they could compare themselves to others all over the country. Nice way to introduce technology too.

Unfortunately many schools just don't have access to decent areas to exercise.

It's just a mile, not 30 minutes. My son's teacher said most of them do it in under 10 minutes.
Our school is lucky to have a park right outside so they run on the paths there, but I guess not all schools would have that.
I love the idea of junior parkrun.

robinph

If one teacher can cope with a class of kids in a classroom then they can do the same and manage them doing laps of the school playground.

If it's raining then I expect they would put their coats on, same as for outside breaktime or for getting to and from school.

The route used by the original school seemed to be a wiggly line painted on the playground. Teach the kids to count to 4 and any school should be able to draw a suitably long line outside.

Chartsengrafs

Well done Zico, no better man.

johnruns

Zico more people like you are needed in the educational system fair play mate.

ThePiedPiper

I've been taking my class outside for running most afternoons this past few weeks. We're tight for space, and some kids wouldn't be able for a full mile, but I use the rule of thumb of one minute per each year old the child is. So, 7 minutes of non stop running now, 8 by June. Kids love it, and along with recent lessons on food pyramid, they've taken a real interest in their own health and wellbeing.

Unless things like this are compulsory, it won't happen across the board.

Notwork Error

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

It is a good idea on paper but hard to achieve with issues like rainy days and safe places to run and walk. Also 30 mins each day by 5 is 2.5 hrs a week which I think is the total PE time taken up in the week. Also 30 plus kids with one teacher only and you could have difficulties with ensuring they are safe.

Personally I would like the junior parkrun being incorporated into the school system with all kids in the country completing a 2k every week. Walk, skip or run it and they could compare themselves to others all over the country. Nice way to introduce technology too.

Unfortunately many schools just don't have access to decent areas to exercise.

Trust health and safety to get in the way of health. Kids fall, get wet, get covered in mud etc. Let them be kids and do something beneficial for their overall health while they're at it.


I think the mile a day is a brilliant initiative and fairplay to teacher's like Zico and TPP for taking on the responsibility and go to get it up and running in their schools. As TPP said, I think it's something that should be brought in accross the board. I'm not a school teacher or parent but I'm pretty sure the argument against something like this is that it eats into class time which may be true but the benefits of regular exercise go way beyond combating obesity, it helps strengthen the immune system so kids miss less days of school, it clears the mind which helps with productivity and happiness and it also shows how far a little discipline will take you.

School shouldn't just be about quadratic equations and Irish etc. It should be about about giving both physical and mental skills to kids that the will need as they grow up with a bit of fun thrown in. All work and no play and all that. As someone who isn't that long out of school, physical activity and a bit of craic was something that was lacking in my opinion.

RayCun

Drop the 30 minutes a day for religion and there's plenty of time for exercise...

johnruns

RayCun wrote: »

Drop the 30 minutes a day for religion and there's plenty of time for exercise...

Or history science maths english etc etc etc

Pherekydes

johnruns wrote: »

Or history science maths english etc etc etc

You think those subjects are as useless as religion?

rom

ThePiedPiper wrote: »

I've been taking my class outside for running most afternoons this past few weeks. We're tight for space, and some kids wouldn't be able for a full mile, but I use the rule of thumb of one minute per each year old the child is. So, 7 minutes of non stop running now, 8 by June. Kids love it, and along with recent lessons on food pyramid, they've taken a real interest in their own health and wellbeing.

Unless things like this are compulsory, it won't happen across the board.

Lets hope you are using the new food pyramid and not the old one. Last time I checked the old one was still being used most places in Ireland.

Also kids get two breaks in School a day. There is no reason why this could not be worked into one of them.

When I was in school you could not run on the concrete or walk/run on the grass.

johnruns

Pherekydes wrote: »

You think those subjects are as useless as religion?

No but rightly or wrongly if you ask most schools in Ireland to drop religious time for PE it will never happen.

Bahanaman

I'm a primary teacher myself. Last year in my school I organised our own "marathon". Luckily we have a huge school site. So I got out the trusty garmin and measured around the perimeter of two play areas. One of them was a quarter of a mile around. I spoke to the children at an assembly to explain the project. We spoke about what a marathon was and how we could do our own. The plan was that after each morning break every class would take their turn to run a number of laps of the play area. The amount of laps would increase for the older classes. The teachers would time the group with the time of the middle finisher being recorded as well as the number of laps completed. I wanted to emphasise that it wasn't a race each time and the groups had to work together to improve their times. At the end of each week I collected the record sheets and added the time and distance totals. I had also made one of those thermometer charts which would be updated each week as we made our way towards the magic 26.2 finish line. This was displayed at the front of the school so children and parents could keep track of our progress. From the outset of the project the children bought into it big time. Once they had recorded a time they wanted to beat it every time their turn came around. What was also interesting was that many would try and get to school early so they could do extra laps for "training". It was great to see their enthusiasm. I also have to add that my colleagues on the staff were also very supportive and always made sure their class got their turn and kept their records up to date. Bad weather was never a deterrent. The children wouldn't hear of their laps being cancelled for any reason. As the weeks passed, the mileage accumulated and I was able to have a fair idea when the "finish line" of our marathon would be reached. We wanted to make a bit of a fuss about it so I called the local newspaper to see if they'd cover it. On the day, a reporter and photographer showed up so the excitement was huge (the children were fairly excited too!) Many parents showed up also to watch the sixth class complete our marathon to a massive cheer. I didn't know how the whole project was going to work out when it began. I thought it might fizzle out before we got to our target distance but that wasn't the case at all. If anything it went from strength to strength. Parents, staff and, most importantly, the children were delighted with the result. There was a funny incident at the beginning though when a parent came in to see me with grave concerns as to why I was going to make young children run a full marathon! It took me a good 5 minutes to explain that it wouldn't be in one run!
So the project was successful and this year one of my colleagues is doing something similar. This time, instead of a marathon we are seeing how far around Leinster we can get before the end of the year! A culture of exercise has been encouraged and the athletics club that I'm a member of has gained a lot of new young members!

woody1

drive to work past a primary school in ballina, a few times in the last 2 weeks ive seen at least 4 teachers running round a 1km ish block ( guess ) at 9.25 ish in the morning with a load of kids.. saw them this morning maybe 50 kids but the first time i saw it id say it was most of the school .. thought it was a great idea. paths all the way round the block so no roads to cross few junctions but safe enough, kids all in high vis. .. thought it was a great idea..

RayCun

Bahanaman wrote: »

I'm a primary teacher myself. Last year in my school I organised our own "marathon".

something like this was organised with DCM for some schools. The last mile of their cumulative marathon was the last mile of DCM. I wasn't around that area, but they were supposed to start around 4.30, on a section of the course that was fenced off for them, through to a fenced off section at the finish line

D9Male

zico10 wrote: »

http://runrepublic.ie/primary-school-has-banished-obesity-by-making-kids-run-a-mile-every-day/

I am a primary school teacher in Dublin and after seeing this, I was inspired to take my own class out for a mile a day. They have been out once a day out for the last two weeks and the children have taken on the challenge with great enthusiasm. I am delighted to see other teachers in my school have been inspired to do the same. The benefits hardly need to be explained and it is an incredibly easy thing to do.

I would encourage any teachers, parents, B.O.M. members, anybody who has any influence in any Irish primary school, to encourage their school to take on this challenge.

First of all, thanks very much for making this post, it got me thinking.

I contacted the principal of my sons' school to float the idea. He was pretty enthusiastic, and has teed me up with my eldest son's teacher to discuss trialling it on his class (2nd class).

So far so good.

I offered help to implement it but I am only realising now that it is not straightforward from a practical perspective. The yard is not big, the nearest park and the soccer/GAA pitch that the school use are both about 500m walk away. Both along and across busy roads. Any tips on how to implement it before I make a t1t of myself?

I expect to meet the teacher tomorrow to discuss.

robinph

D9Male wrote: »

The yard is not big,

How big is not very big? You don't need a 400m track.

RayCun

Is there a path within the school grounds you could run on, buildings you could run around?

peter kern

D9Male wrote: »

First of all, thanks very much for making this post, it got me thinking.

I contacted the principal of my sons' school to float the idea. He was pretty enthusiastic, and has teed me up with my eldest son's teacher to discuss trialling it on his class (2nd class).

So far so good.

I offered help to implement it but I am only realising now that it is not straightforward from a practical perspective. The yard is not big, the nearest park and the soccer/GAA pitch that the school use are both about 500m walk away. Both along and across busy roads. Any tips on how to implement it before I make a t1t of myself?

I expect to meet the teacher tomorrow to discuss.

i guess you might have to think more circuit training
short run sprint, push ups . short run sprint , squads etc it could be tug of war in a biggish room etc .
and twice a week walk to the park before school and run and see if a few parants would come as traffic angels.

zico10

D9Male wrote: »

First of all, thanks very much for making this post, it got me thinking.

I contacted the principal of my sons' school to float the idea. He was pretty enthusiastic, and has teed me up with my eldest son's teacher to discuss trialling it on his class (2nd class).

So far so good.

I offered help to implement it but I am only realising now that it is not straightforward from a practical perspective. The yard is not big, the nearest park and the soccer/GAA pitch that the school use are both about 500m walk away. Both along and across busy roads. Any tips on how to implement it before I make a t1t of myself?

I expect to meet the teacher tomorrow to discuss.

Kudos for stepping up and acting on this. I only saw your post today and apologies I didn't reply yesterday.

It's a good thing that your sons' principal reacted enthusiastically to the idea, as it would be easy find problems with running 'mile a day' in most schools. I don't know the situation your sons' school, but I think one of the best things about running is unless you are stranded on a 1m² desert island, it should be possible to run wherever you are in the world.

It could be wonderful compared to your son's school, but we don't have an ideal setup in my school either. Still, there are plenty of teachers whose classes have started running the mile a day. Builders are due to move in next year, and we'll have less space then, but I am still determined to keep going with this.

You'll probably have met your son's teacher before you see this, but just ask them to keep an open mind to starting this with his/her class. Perhaps they are already enthusiastic about starting it, in which case I take it back.

Unfortunately, not everybody is going to be as enthusiastic about the idea, as members of an online running community might be, but hopefully there'll be enough people in the school that this takes off. When the idea is floated with the whole staff, they need to ask themselves 'How can we make this work?', rather than thinking of reasons as to why it will be difficult.

Don't be at all worried about making a t!t of yourself. Think if in three years time, your sons' school can claim that they have no obese students; how could you be ashamed that you initiated that?

I'm trying to lead by example in my school, rather than preaching. Running by the the windows of other classes in the school every single day has had a great impact. Your son's second class out doing the same, will hopefully cause the same ripple effect. There are bound to be other teachers in the school who will start running with their own classes.

I hope this advice is useful, but without knowing the physical layout of your sons' school, it's hard to be anymore specific.

D9Male

Thanks for the replies, lads.

I actually bumped into the principal and my eldest son's teacher at a confession night last night.

In fairness they're game ball to give it a trial run. They will just do a few laps of the school (I reckon it is around 500m circuit). I was impressed, they were relaxed about it and think it would be great for the kids.

Really chuffed; thanks Zico and others for bringing the idea to my attention. Only hitch is the teacher wants me to go in and chat to the lads for 10 minutes about the idea!!!!

Lesson from me to others is that it is no harm in asking your school to go for this.

D9Male

Thanks for the response, Zico. I wrote mine before I had read yours.

zico10

D9Male wrote: »

Really chuffed; thanks Zico and others for bringing the idea to my attention. Only hitch is the teacher wants me to go in and chat to the lads for 10 minutes about the idea!!!!

When you meet the class, ask them do they know what obesity is. If nobody answers, tell them it's when you are so fat it is dangerous to your health. You might get a few sniggers when the word 'fat' is mentioned, but remain totally deadpan.

Ask them what problems do they think being obese might cause. Listen to their replies, and hopefully the answers will be someway sensible. After a few minutes, show them an age appropriate picture of a person who has had to have a leg amputated because of type 2 diabetes. There was a clip of someone in RTE's Sugar Crash, that would have been a good example to use here. Unfortunately the program is no longer on the Player, as far as I'm aware. The man featured had both legs amputated, was colour blind, extremely myopic, was taking vast quantities of medication, and as you can imagine, his general quality of life was terrible. It would really drive the message home about the dangers being obese.

After this tell the class, that doctors predict Ireland will be the fattest country by 2030.

At this stage, ask them do they know what they can do to stop themselves from getting fat. Most will probably say eat less or eat better food. Praise those who give this answer, but that you are there to talk to them about something else. Tell them the other thing people need to do in the fight against obesity, is to get regular exercise. Show them the article I linked in the OP and read through it with them. The language might be a bit tricky for some of the class, but they should get the message. Hopefully this will get them excited about the prospect of running a mile a day with their teacher.

Good luck.

Cabaal

Although its secondary school, I noticed my local boys secondary school have taken to getting some of the students out running. Back in September they even had a 4 or 5k race. Was great to see it as when I went to the school if you didn't do hurling or football they didn't want to know you.

VictorNeva

zico10 wrote: »

I am a primary school teacher in Dublin and after seeing this, I was inspired to take my own class out for a mile a day. They have been out once a day out for the last two weeks and the children have taken on the challenge with great enthusiasm. I am delighted to see other teachers in my school have been inspired to do the same. The benefits hardly need to be explained and it is an incredibly easy thing to do.

I would encourage any teachers, parents, B.O.M. members, anybody who has any influence in any Irish primary school, to encourage their school to take on this challenge.

and make it possible for the whole life

walshb

zico10 wrote: »

http://runrepublic.ie/primary-school-has-banished-obesity-by-making-kids-run-a-mile-every-day/

I am a primary school teacher in Dublin and after seeing this, I was inspired to take my own class out for a mile a day. They have been out once a day out for the last two weeks and the children have taken on the challenge with great enthusiasm. I am delighted to see other teachers in my school have been inspired to do the same. The benefits hardly need to be explained and it is an incredibly easy thing to do.

I would encourage any teachers, parents, B.O.M. members, anybody who has any influence in any Irish primary school, to encourage their school to take on this challenge.

How long does the exercise take from start to finish?

zico10

For anybody who is curious, I have persisted with this 'mile a day' challenge. My class haven't missed a single day's run since I posted here. The kids themselves are delighted to be out running and remind me when it is time for our daily mile. Numerous parents have commended me for it and are very supportive of the initiative. I'm glad to see 10+ teachers in my school have jumped on board and started running with their own classes.

walshb wrote: »

How long does the exercise take from start to finish?

The 4th Class next door to me are going out with us as well now. There's about 50 kids every day out running with me. We leave our classrooms at 10:15 each day and everybody is finished by the 10:30 break. A lot of kids get lapped, but they know that 6.25 laps of the perimeter of our yard is a mile and they continue running until they have covered the distance.
Admittedly there are a few kids that are lazy and get lapped several times. I strongly suspect they don't run the correct number of laps, but I don't make any issue out of it. The same kids are less lazy than they used to be and a daily run of any distance is better than the zero daily miles they had been running.
We're lucky to have a soccer pitch beside our school, we can use for PE. On the occasional Friday, we all run the mile as a TT. We ran the TT today and the fastest boy finished in 6:34, the slowest kid who I'm certain ran a full mile, clocked 9:52. Believe me that's remarkable progress to where that child was three months ago.

walshb

zico10 wrote: »

For anybody who is curious, I have persisted with this 'mile a day' challenge. My class haven't missed a single day's run since I posted here. The kids themselves are delighted to be out running and remind me when it is time for our daily mile. Numerous parents have commended me for it and are very supportive of the initiative. I'm glad to see 10+ teachers in my school have jumped on board and started running with their own classes.



The 4th Class next door to me are going out with us as well now. There's about 50 kids every day out running with me. We leave our classrooms at 10:15 each day and everybody is finished by the 10:30 break. A lot of kids get lapped, but they know that 6.25 laps of the perimeter of our yard is a mile and they continue running until they have covered the distance.
Admittedly there are a few kids that are lazy and get lapped several times. I strongly suspect they don't run the correct number of laps, but I don't make any issue out of it. The same kids are less lazy than they used to be and a daily run of any distance is better than the zero daily miles they had been running.
We're lucky to have a soccer pitch beside our school, we can use for PE. On the occasional Friday, we all run the mile as a TT. We ran the TT today and the fastest boy finished in 6:34, the slowest kid who I'm certain ran a full mile, clocked 9:52. Believe me that's remarkable progress to where that child was three months ago.

I like your initiative here, zico10. Have you met any resistance/objections from parents?

zico10

walshb wrote: »

I like your initiative here, zico10. Have you met any resistance/objections from parents?

Not directly, but we went out on a wet day once and there were puddles on the yard. A lot of kids splashed straight through them. You play with matches, you get burnt, so they finished the mile with wet shoes and socks. They had to sit with wet shoes and socks on for the rest of the day. One of their parents rang the school questioning my decision to run in such weather. In the same phone call though, she said she thought the actual mile run was a great idea. I accepted it was poor judgement on my part taking the class out in such weather, but what happened happened. If you're in Mr. Zico's class, you're running a mile a day 'hail, rain or shine'. If you think it's going to be wet, give your child a spare pair of shoes and socks. Many of my class were doing this already. That's the one and only objection (if you could even call it that) that has come to me.
A 3rd Class teacher who started running with his class, told me a parent said to him kids shouldn't be running a mile a day, as it was too much. The solution to that; your kid can walk a mile day.
I get the odd note from a parent asking that their child be excused from running for a day or two. That's fine, but unless they are on crutches, I ask them to put on their coats and come out with the rest of the class to walk laps of the yard instead.

walshb

zico10 wrote: »

Not directly, but we went out on a wet day once and there were puddles on the yard. A lot of kids splashed straight through them. You play with matches, you get burnt, so they finished the mile with wet shoes and socks. They had to sit with wet shoes and socks on for the rest of the day. One of their parents rang the school questioning my decision to run in such weather. In the same phone call though, she said she thought the actual mile run was a great idea. I accepted it was poor judgement on my part taking the class out in such weather, but what happened happened. If you're in Mr. Zico's class, you're running a mile a day 'hail, rain or shine'. If you think it's going to be wet, give your child a spare pair of shoes and socks. Many of my class were doing this already. That's the one and only objection (if you could even call it that) that has come to me.
A 3rd Class teacher who started running with his class, told me a parent said to him kids shouldn't be running a mile a day, as it was too much. The solution to that; your kid can walk a mile day.
I get the odd note from a parent asking that their child be excused from running for a day or two. That's fine, but unless they are on crutches, I ask them to put on their coats and come out with the rest of the class to walk laps of the yard instead.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Well, I hate running in the rain, so I am with the "angry" parent on that one.:D

daymobrew

walshb wrote: »

Well, I hate running in the rain, so I am with the "angry" parent on that one.:D

A friend reminded me that I'm not a (soluble) Disprin.

uvox

Fine effort.

However, unless the issue of diet in the school and at home and of lifestyle in general is addressed the impact will be zilch.

1 mile of running for a child burns about the calories of an medium-sized apple.

#stepawayfromthechips

Wanderer78

Great idea, now we just need to reduce the workload in our schools and increase the well being of the kids

walshb

uvox wrote: »

Fine effort.

However, unless the issue of diet in the school and at home and of lifestyle in general is addressed the impact will be zilch.

1 mile of running for a child burns about the calories of an medium-sized apple.

#stepawayfromthechips

Good point, but one mile running for the children is better than no physical activity. Gets them out and about and moving the body. What kids do at an early age stands to them later in life. A somewhat healthy and balanced diet is a separate issue that they can also work on. I am sure zico is versing them on this as well as encouraging the physical activity.

D9Male

Great to hear, Zico.

Update on my side. I actually travel a lot in work, so my wife went into the school to talk to the kids. She and my eldest son's teacher brought the boys out for 3 x laps of the school grounds, which is around 1200m. My wife did this every day for a week, by which time they had been joined by the other 2nd class, by the 6th class and the 5th class.

At the end of the week, one of the teachers said she "would take it from here". Since then, the boys have been running, but maybe twice a week, which is a bit disappointing. But better than nothing. From second hand evidence, it seems the teacher that took over seems to allow some boys to sprint and others to walk and some don't do the full 3 laps. Again not ideal, but better than nothing.

My wife and I see the benefit more for the less sporty kids, so I think it would work a bit better if kids weren't encouraged to go full pelt as it will put off the less sporty ones seeing the same kids fade into the distance.

My wife now has the bit between her teeth. She got speaking to the principal of the girls school, who wants her to roll it out for each and every girl. Starting next week, and she has arranged for a line to be painted around the school grounds.

So for our neighbourhood at least, zico's post from a few months back has had a positive impact.

Thanks for the tip and all the advice.

rooneyjm

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://thegaanalyst.com/dcu-sigerson-coach-moyna-reveals-shocking-results-of-latest-fitness-assessments-on-irish-schoolkids/&h=ATPcRKzEP_zD7I5Skb7aBhhI6R77GNA8PuPbomFDCxrhZAm040vPISFWDyLNb5uWrEjmiIzKZrR3NbtzlCzVkPQ8GJqiyrg7uN8L748R3hC_3JpZfh2PG5AFmrRPtVM&s=1&enc=AZP8TYsypVZT-EvH-aHMtNV65scnhNg5UCJb5gfI2nrmQipB9U6UmMsjquPeE1WEiFBAHCREZl8QPjkBk_rWlAwc

Read this and remembered your thread

http://thegaanalyst.com/dcu-sigerson-coach-moyna-reveals-shocking-results-of-latest-fitness-assessments-on-irish-schoolkids/amp/

This might be a better link

Pherekydes

Link to the article mentioned above.

Myles Splitz

Not directly connected but hopefully its a step in right direction in getting links between schools and athletics in this country

http://www.nenaghguardian.ie/sport/othersport/articles/2017/02/01/4134111-colaiste-mhuire-thurles-secleted-to-participate-in-athletics-ireland-programme/

https://kclr96fm.com/kilkenny-students-selected-participate-athletics-masterclass/

zico10

I posted this over in the TDAR forum, but I hope it's okay to post it here as well.

zico10 wrote: »

After running a mile a day with a new class since September, I got the Blanch Gazette to do a feature on it. I'm trying to generate as much publicity as possible for this. If people wouldn't sharing the article on social media and whatnot, it would be great.

https://dublingazette.com/news/daily-mile-run-boosts-health-academic-performance/

gctest50

uvox wrote: »

Fine effort.

However, unless the issue of diet in the school and at home and of lifestyle in general is addressed the impact will be zilch.

1 mile of running for a child burns about the calories of an medium-sized apple.

#stepawayfromthechips

uvox wrote: »

....

the impact will be zilch.

That's not true - running releases the happiness

Need to remind them though there is no second place - only first loser