Nearly 7,000 schoolchildren across York are set to take part in the city’s Walk to School Week, which gets underway on Monday (22-26 May).
Organised by the City of York Council, the annual campaign aims to encourage more children to walk, cycle or scoot to school.
The campaign is targeted at families who normally take the car and encourages them to consider active travel in an effort to achieve the 60 minutes of recommended daily exercise.
This year, 22 of the city’s schools are set to take part, equating to around 6,900 children.
Andrew Bradley, sustainable transport manager at City of York Council, said: “Walk to school week is always a popular campaign. It provides a great opportunity for pupils, parents and teachers to look at how they travel to school and the benefits that walking can bring, such as pupils being more alert in the classroom.”
The NHS Choices website recommends that children aged five to 16 years do at least 60 minutes of physical activity that gets their heart beating faster than usual. Regular activity is also important for adults who are encouraged to be active for 30 minutes each day, or 150 minutes a week.
On Monday (15 May) to coincide with national Walk to School Week 2017 (15-19 May), Living Streets published the results of a new survey which suggests 30% of parents think UK cities are ‘too unsafe’ for children to walk to school.
Want to know more about children and road safety?
Key facts and summaries of research reports – visit the Road Safety Observatory
Online library of research and reports etc – visit the Road Safety Knowledge Centre
Comment on this story