The Daily Mile
997. Elaine Wyllie
Elaine Wyllie, from Stirling, is a former Head teacher of St Ninian's Primary who created ‘The Daily Mile’ initiative to boost the health of Scottish school children.
Inspired to do something after seeing her former students struggle during PE lessons, Elaine developed her simple, fun and free idea, encouraging children and adults to run or jog, at their own pace, for 15 minutes every day. Since launching the scheme in 2012, children in over 2,200 schools in England, over 800 in Scotland, over 290 in Wales and over 120 in Northern Ireland have been given the opportunity by their teachers to improve their health and well-being. A further 1,655 schools in over 40 countries across the world are signed up to ‘The Daily Mile’.
In a personal letter to Elaine, Prime Minister Theresa May said:
“Your innovative initiative is getting school children across the world moving more. The Daily Mile is having a tremendous impact in helping young people make the small changes needed to start healthy habits that will last for a lifetime.”
Stephen Kerr, MP for Stirling, said:
“This award is thoroughly well deserved. The idea of the ‘Daily Mile’ conceived by Elaine at her school in Stirling has been taken up by a huge number of schools around the world. Elaine should be extremely proud of the impact this initiative has had, and will continue to have, on so many young lives.”
Elaine said:
“To receive this award from the Prime Minister is a wonderful honour. I would like to thank everyone at INEOS, our team at the ‘The Daily Mile Foundation’ and all of our supporters for their hard-work in making this initiative a success over the last few years. Most importantly, this would not be possible without the dedication and passion of school and nursery staff across the country who implement ‘The Daily Mile’ and improve the lives of the children in their care every day.”