The children at a Suffolk primary school brushed shoulders with a former Ipswich Town fan favourite at the launch of a new health kick yesterday.
St Gregory Primary in Sudbury is the latest school to introduce the ‘Daily Mile’ concept, supported by this newspaper – which sees children run, jog or walk for 15 minutes every day, boosting fitness, concentration levels, mood and general wellbeing.
The scheme was launched at a special event attended by former Ipswich Town player and current academy coach Alan Lee – who ran the first mile with the children.
After taking part, the children were awarded Daily Mile certificates and each received a free apple.
The guests were then invited to sit down with the pupils to enjoy a healthy lunch.
The Daily Mile is promoted by the East Anglian Go Kids campaign, a partnership involving the East Anglian Daily Times, Vertas Group Limited, Ipswich Town FC (ITFC), East of England Co-op, The Daily Mile Foundation and Suffolk County Council.
The campaign aims to promote a healthy lifestyle from an early age, encouraging 25% of schools to sign up for the Daily Mile by the end of this year and also promoting healthy eating.
Vertas caters 400 schools and colleges in East Anglia – and its primary school brand ‘eats’ is playing its part by reducing the sugar in all homemade desserts by 10-15%. The firm is also reducing salt and saturated fats.
Daniel Woodrow, headteacher at St Gregory’s, said: “We are thrilled to be launching The Daily Mile here at St Greg’s. Not only will it be a fun, social event for the children but there will be real benefits for their school work, well-being and overall health.
“The whole school is going to be involved and I’m sure the staff will benefit just as much as the children.”
Vertas’ chief executive officer, Ian Surtees, said: “It’s inspiring to see new schools signing up to this initiative. We’re passionate about creating healthy delicious meals and we’re very excited that representatives from ITFC led a Daily Mile at St Gregory School and sampled a nutritious school lunch.”
In Suffolk, childhood obesity rates appear to be rising. In April, a Public Health England report estimated that around one in seven (17.3%) children leaving primary school are now classed as obese, compared to 16.2% five years ago.
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