Whatever happened to walking to school?

Remember the days when you walked to school through rain, hail, sleet, snow and sun? For many children those happy days are over due to increased levels of car usage and parents’ fears of traffic and ‘stranger danger’.

To reverse this trend and enable children to live a healthier and more active lifestyle the ‘Walk to School’ campaign encourages children, parents and carers to make the daily journey to and from school on foot and to leave the car at home.

This year International Walk to School Week will be held 6-10 October with International Walk to School Day on 8 October. At least 14 countries in five continents - including 12,000 schools in Britain - will participate.

Small beginnings..
From small beginnings in Hertfordshire - when around 100 schools participated in the first Walk to School Week - the campaign has gone from strength to strength. In 1994 the Pedestrians Association and a number of other local authorities became involved in Walk to School. Four years later, in 1998, TravelWise and the Pedestrians Association (now Living Streets) joined forces to organise Walk to School Week across the UK. By 1999 the campaign had become so successful that America, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand were also organising their own Walk to School events.

Realising that it would be advantageous if the UK’s schools and local authorities worked together with the other countries to support the Walk to School message, the organisers began to think of ways to join forces. As a result, the start of the new millennium saw the first ever International Walk to School Day in October 2000. Over 2.5 million walkers in seven countries participated and since then the International Walk to School campaign has grown, with the number of UK and international schools and authorities participating in the campaign increasing.

Why promote ‘Walk to School’?
First and foremost walking to school gives parents/carers the opportunity to teach and develop child road safety skills. These road safety messages can also be reinforced in the classroom by linking road safety into National Curriculum subjects such and literacy, numeracy and geography. Resource packs and promotional materials to support International Walk to School Week - such as leaflets, stickers, badges, certificates, KeyStage 1 and 2 diaries and information leaflets - are great for children and parents to work through together. However, these materials and resources can also be used to support the vital road safety and environmental messages in the classroom.

Walking to and from school gives children the opportunity to participate in healthy exercise and to be alert and aware when they arrive at school.

As many of us know, the fight each day for parents to arrive at school early to find a parking space and to drop children off only adds to our already congested and polluted roads.

Conversely, when parents leave their car at home and walk their children to school there is a reduction in traffic congestion and air pollution - resulting in better air quality around the school gate. Figures show that today almost a third of schoolchildren carry an inhaler. A reduction in air and traffic pollution would help reduce these numbers.

More details
Further information about the ‘Walk to School’ campaign can be found on the ‘Walk to School’ website at www.walktoschool.org.uk. The website contains information for parents, teachers and children. There is also the opportunity to find other schools across the UK that participate in Walk to School Week, to hear and share pupils’, teachers’ and parents’ experiences of ‘Walk to School’ through the School E-Pals section.

Information about the ‘International Walk to School’ campaign can be found at www.iwalktoschool.org.

For further information about ‘Walk to School’ promotional materials contact Indent Graphics email: wts@indentgraphics.co.uk or www.letswalktoschool.co.uk.

Alternatively, contact Vanessa Cairns, a member of the Walk to School Working Group vanessa.cairns@derbyshire.gov.uk.