The Daily Mile at St Ninian’s primary school has improved pupils’ focus in class as well as boosting fitness and tackling obesity

A primary school initiative in which children run or walk a mile each day has “bought the children 70 years of better health”, a global conference for healthcare experts has been told.

St Ninian’s primary school in Stirling pioneered the “Daily Mile” three and half years ago to boost children’s fitness and tackle childhood obesity.

Each child from nursery up to primary seven runs or walks a mile around the school’s all-weather track, which is affectionately known as the Yellow Brick Road.

The initiative, which has since been copied elsewhere, has resulted in “no overweight P1s in the school”.

The scheme, devised by head teacher Elaine Wyllie, was highlighted to 3,000 medical healthcare workers from around the world at the annual Institute of Healthcare Improvement