Image: Living Streets.
Thousands of children across the UK took part in International Walk to School Month, which ran throughout October.
The annual event aims to encourage schools to make walking more enticing for pupils by developing fun ways to travel to school – such as walking buses* – and rewarding those who continue to walk after the event.
Schools are also encouraged to focus on safety by implementing vehicle-free zones, speed limits and restrictions on large vehicles.
As part of the initiative, Living Streets also asked families across the UK to comment on their walk to school to help build a picture of the nation’s streets from the perspective of a pedestrian.
Walk to School Month 2017 was supported in Caerphilly, where nearly 5,000 children from 20 schools took up the challenge, with the support of Caerphilly County Borough Council’s road safety team.
Pupils from all 20 schools recorded the distance travelled by walking, cycling and scootering, with rewards given to classes with the most sustainable journeys.
The schools also appointed junior road safety officers (JRSOs), who played an important role in encouraging their peers to walk to school by presenting information in school assemblies. JRSOs at Ty Isaf Infant School were also inspired to write poetry about Walk to School Month.
Cllr Sean Morgan, cabinet member for sustainability, said: “The pupils are always keen to get involved in International Walk to School Month, and do their bit to help the environment by swapping car journeys for more sustainable modes of transport such as bikes and scooters or walking.
“I am so pleased that once again we had 20 schools on board to take up the challenge and hopefully it will become a permanent change for those involved.”
*A walking bus involves a group of pedestrians, in this case children, walking together along a set route, picking up people as they go.
Category: Children.
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