Childhood obesity
Month each May. Last year, over 14,000 classes took part; that’s approximately 400,000 children walking to school.
This year’s Walk to School Week takes place from 16-20 May and looks to be bigger – and wilder – than ever. The theme is ‘Strider’s Walk in the Wild’ with resources focusing on the walking habits and natural environments of different animal species, and providing daily curriculum- linked activities for KS1/P1-4 and KS2/P5-7 to help get schools walking.
Each challenge pack contains everything needed to run the five-day walking challenge for a class of up to 30 pupils, including a classroom wallchart, teacher and pupil wallchart stickers, 30 pupil activity diaries, 30 pupil rewards magnets and teacher instructions.
Secondary schools can also take part in Walk to School Week by taking on the Free Your Feet Challenge. This week-long activity encourages students to walk to school every day of that week, with a chance to win a £50 shopping voucher for all those who participate. Walk to School Week also plays host to ‘Happy Shoesday’ on Tuesday 17 May. Children and staff wear the shoes which make them the happiest and donate £1. A happy shoe can be anything: wellies, crocs, football boots, or children can use the Living Streets ‘shoe capes’ to turn their shoes into superheroes.
Happy Shoesday can be used by schools as a celebration of walking achievements so far, or as a way of raising awareness and interest around walking and its many benefits. It’s free for schools to take part and those that sign up receive downloadable resources with shoe capes, classroom ideas and materials, plus a pack of stickers and posters.
The money raised from Happy Shoesday goes to Living Streets to support the charity’s work with schools, disability groups and local communities, and campaigning work to make UK streets safer for everyone.
Walk to School Week is a great place for
schools to start thinking about walking and can lead on to Living Streets’ year-round initiative, Walk Once a Week (WoW).
WoW rewards children who walk to school at least once a week with collectable badges, which are designed by pupils in an annual competition. The scheme is supported by Travel Tracker, an innovative interactive online monitoring tool, the Walk to School app which brings each month’s badge to life using 3D content, and monthly curriculum-linked lesson plans and assemblies. In primary schools, walking rates increase on average by 23 per cent after five weeks of WoW, which is maintained for the following year and is met with a corresponding drop in car use. At Living Streets, we know that issues such as traffic speeds and congestion around the school gates can put some families off walking so as well as running our Walk to School initiative we also work with schools and local authorities to overcome barriers to walking. It's pretty simple really: find out what the problems are, address them and watch walking rates increase. For example, some families struggle to walk the whole way to school due to other time commitments but we believe Park and Stride
offers a great solution to this. By parking a short distance away from the school, children and parents can still get active for part of their journey. Living Streets has helped schools set up successful Park and Stride schemes with local businesses which benefit from increased footfall and making a positive contribution to the surrounding community. Plus schools get healthier pupils and fewer cars around the school gates.
A sustained and long term strategy to address childhood obesity must involve investment in wide-ranging measures, including a clear commitment to increasing physical activity levels. By investing in the walk to school we can make a lasting difference to children and help prevent childhood obesity. We need to make walking a cornerstone of the national strategy on childhood obesity.
Challenge your school to walk every day during Walk to School Week and make a real difference to your pupils’ health and happiness.
Find out more about Walk to School Week at
www.livingstreets.org.uk/walktoschool
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www.education-today.co.uk
March 2016
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