Daniel Zeichner, Member of Parliament for Cambridge, will be joining staff and students at the Shirley Primary School this Friday (9 November) to participate in a fifteen minute run to support the MP Daily Mile Initiative, which aims to improve children’s health and fitness.

Members of Parliament across the UK are taking part in the MP Daily Mile Initiative between the 7th and 9th November, during recess, to encourage more schools to sign up to the growing children’s health and well-being movement. There are currently over 4,500 schools in the UK signed up to the initiative.

Daniel Zeichner MP said: “I am delighted to be supporting the Daily Mile Initiative with the Shirley Primary School, an initiative that aims to encourage greater health and fitness in children. People don’t need much convincing that there are significant benefits in regular exercise but busy lives often makes starting a bit of a hurdle. With this scheme it is only 15 minutes, which isn’t long but the research shows that there are proven benefits in terms of fitness, behaviour and concentration for those that take part.

“I would like to congratulate the staff and students at the Shirley for going the extra mile and supporting this important initiative. I hope that more schools in Cambridge will look to sign up.“

Elaine Wyllie, Founder of The Daily Mile says: “We are delighted that Daniel Zeichner has chosen to support The Daily Mile. We would like all MPs, everywhere, to take part in a Daily Mile at their local primary school, so they can see for themselves the benefits that such a simple fitness initiative can have on children’s health, well-being and concentration in class. 

Since I started this initiative just six years ago, we have seen grassroots support for The Daily Mile grow from day to day. Children get it, parents get it, and the teachers get it. This is a campaign that the British people are already getting behind up and down the country. 

Having the support from cross-party MPs would be a simple yet major step forward in improving children’s health and well-being across the United Kingdom. Unless we tackle this obesity crisis, today’s obese children will become tomorrow’s obese adults whose years of healthy life will be shortened by a whole host of health problems including diabetes, cancer and heart disease. The Daily Mile is ensuring our children’s future health and in the long run, we believe, will reduce the pressure on vital NHS services.”