School Break time

[MHH5]

Hello, I recently found out that my children’s morning break time is used to do what the school call “the golden mile” the children have to pop on their trainers and walk around the whole playground. If there is a couple of minutes left they can then play. I have never heard of this before. They are given morning break (golden mile) and lunchtime. They start at 8:25 and end at 15:15. I find this very strange, I thought breaks were used to socialise, play, run around, not to walk in pairs around the school playground?!? Is this the norm nowadays (when I went to school we had three breaks and played and ate in that time)

I feel like I might be alone in thinking this is wrong but I need somewhere to turn too, can anything be done about this? My children hate it.

I know of a few schools that do this as research shows they concentrate better after having done it, they dont trudge around in silence they can still socialise with their friends. Plus they have lunchtime to socialise as well. Do they not get a short break in the afternoon as well?

There's loads of evidence the daily mile is great for both physical and mental health.

This is a good idea and I'd support it.

My kids’ school does the Daily Mile -they love it.

I think they key to this may be to find out why your kids hate it. My kids loved it. What about it do they hate?

I think in a lot of school the daily mile (which is rarely an actual mile) is done separate to break time.

Daily Mile is very common but not generally in place of playtime. I'm also massively in favour of an afternoon break, even in KS2. I think you achieve about the same amount of work with or without it.

My children's school do this before lessons start in the morning. I think it's a really good idea but I'm not sure about replacing break time.

How long is morning break and how long do they take to do the walk (which most kids run anyway) there should definitely still be time to play as long as the dont dawdle the whole way.

I've taught at lots of schools that do the daily mile and not one of them did it at break time, it was always a separate activity.

Children need time to play and I would absolutely not be impressed to find out that they were being made to do the daily mile instead of playing at break time.

I think this is a good idea, but not in place of break

No they don’t get an afternoon break in there school, just the morning golden mile and lunch break, the school tried saying it was optional but I have spoken to other parents who say it definitely isn’t optional, I just didn’t really like the idea of it but as you say hopefully it isn’t in pure silence, they were all shouted at in lunch break to not forget their trainers as the golden mile would be starting the next day….I think times have definitely changed since I went to school xx

It’s a great idea. For the many children who are ferried to school and home again this will be the only sustained activity they get on many days. The percentage of primary aged children who are obese rises every year, and a lot of this is due to inactivity. Next month the clocks will go back so opportunities for outside activity after school will be even more curtailed unless parents pay for sports clubs. It’s a shame they are using it instead of a playtime break, but at least the children are getting up and moving.

Suppose it’s different for mine because they walk 20 minutes to school every morning and then back home, I just thought break time should be spent playing to be honest. It all seems a little regime to me but guess I am the minority.

I'm with you OP. I think it's a good idea for a walk, chat, get away from your desk, get some fresh air etc. I don't think it's a good idea to do instead of break/playtime. Kids need a bit of time that's not micromanaged to within an inch of its life.

My thoughts exactly, I feel like this should be done when they first get in maybe, not in the kids socialising time, my children said they actually have to run, they are told to “keep running” it all sounds a little army to me, they are only 6 and 8. I used to love playing tag or making up dances in my break time, using the time to socialise with my peers. We were extremely active when playing. I wondered if it was a way to keep the kids subdued so they didn’t have to calm them back down after play.