www.walktoschool.org.uk

The Walk to School Campaign has now been running for ten years and has already been very successful in persuading children and their parents, schools and local authorities of the many benefits offered by walking to school. It started with the support of a handful of schools and now more than 6,000 schools are involved. Essentially, it simply asks parents, pupils and teachers to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives by walking to and from school whenever possible. Walking is easy to do, is free, good for your health and its fun! It cuts back on congestion and helps to protect the environment. For many children, it will become a lifelong habit.
 

The Campaign includes two national (one of these an international) focus weeks annually - Walk to School Weeks - which encourage schools across the UK to come together to promote the importance of walking. Walk to School weeks have the support of 65% of local authorities and reach in excess of two million pupils and their carers: with each succeeding Walk to School Week, new schools sign up and more children learn about the benefits of walking on a regular basis.

Walk to School Weeks for this school year will be from 3rd – 7th October 2005 and from 22nd – 26th May 2006. As usual, the October week will also have an international dimension which means that a total of thirty nine countries will participate. The theme for 2005 is the health benefits of walking: by walking regularly, children will build strong bones and, at the same time, they will reduce the risk of many serious diseases in later life. To launch the October week and to highlight the health benefits of walking, pupils who walk to school will form giant hearts in their school playgrounds. By doing this, these children will show the nation how much they love to walk to school and, at the same time, demonstrate the benefits of strong hearts, bodies and minds.

The theme for 2006 will be Independent Walking: by encouraging children to walk to school on their own, they will establish a walking habit which will remain with them for life. This theme will be launched at the Third Annual Walk to School Workshop which will take place on 23rd and 24th February 2006. The Conference will bring together good practice in Walk to School promotions from across the world.

Schools promote ‘Walk to School’ in all sorts of imaginative ways: tried and tested campaign ideas include incentives for pupils who walk to school (such as stickers and certificates), teachers incorporating road safety or environmental awareness into lesson time and Walk to School themed publicity events. Walk to School not only makes for healthier children. It offers them quality time when walking with parents or friends and safety training as they must learn the highway code and how to negotiate the roads safely. Children who walk to school arrive wide awake and are, therefore, more prepared for the day ahead. Fewer cars on our roads benefit the environment and fewer cars at the school gate make it safer for pupils making their way to and from school.

Of course, the aim of the campaign is to get children to walk to school every day of the week and to help people to do this so a brand new scheme was launched in January 2005 – WoW! ‘Walk on Wednesdays’ asks schools to promote the benefits of walking to and from school every week of the school term on Wednesdays – or ‘Walk Once a Week’ if another day of the week is preferred. This is proving to be a great way to encourage children and their carers to walk to school on a regular basis.
 

In spite of the great success of the Walk to School Campaign over the last ten years, much remains to be done. More than half our children are still not regularly walking to school, the number of cars involved in the school run is increasing and, as a nation, we are becoming less active. Has your school signed up to ‘Walk to School’? If not, now that you know something of the benefits to pupils, why don’t you suggest that it does so as soon as possible? Please don’t leave it to the others – you owe it to your pupils to participate!

For further information on ‘Walk to School’ and ‘WoW’, go to www.walktoschool.org.uk. Alternatively, contact the Road Safety Officer or Travel Adviser at your local Council or, contact Jo Pike, National Walk to School Co-Ordinator at: jo@livingstreets.org.uk - telephone: 020 7820 1010
Walk to School is a joint campaign run by the National Travelwise Association and Living Streets with valuable funding from the Department for Transport. For more information, go to www.livingstreets.co.uk

www.walktoschool.org.uk