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Walking to school
- Walking to school helps children to engage with their local community, develop wider social networks, greater spatial awareness and improved road sense
- regular walking reduces the risk of chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, stroke and some cancers
- walking to school contributes to the hour of exercise that young people need daily
- by 2050 it is predicted that 70% of girls and 55% of boys will be overweight or obese.
Encouraging walking
Schools have developed creative ways of encouraging pupils to walk to school, like the ideas below, but many more are waiting to be invented!
Golden boot
Each day pupils and teachers record how they travelled to school. At the end of every half term, present the golden boot to the class that have made the greatest number of walking journeys to school.
Walking passports
Give each pupil a record card, which they can have stamped each time they walk to school. Present small prizes on a regular basis to the pupils with the greatest number of stamps.
Land's End to John O'Groats
Each pupil needs to know the distance from their home to school. Keep a running total of how many days each pupil has walked to and from school and how many miles they have covered. The winner is the first class or year group to have walked from Land's End to John O'Groats.
Class travel tree
Make a giant tree without leaves to display in the classroom. Assign colours to travel modes, for example, green = walking, cycling and scooting, yellow = public transport, brown = car. Ask pupils to draw a leaf on the colour card that represents their normal mode of transport, cut it out and stick it on the tree. Repeat the activity each term and watch the colours change.
Park and stride
Families living too far away to walk may have to use a car if there is no bus transport but by finding an appropriate parking place at a suitable distance from school, children can benefit from a daily walk. Many schools have agreements with a local hall or pub allowing parents to use the car park while they walk their children to school.
Walking bus
A walking bus is a group of children walking to or from school with at least two parent escorts, following a set route, with agreed pick up and drop off points at or near pupils' homes. This allows parents to share responsibility, and enables some children to walk whose parents are unable to accompany them. The participants usually wear high visibility tabards for safety and to publicise the pro-walking message.
The Department for Transport offer detailed guidance about setting up a walking bus.
