Walk to School and get a ‘free’ ice cream
As part of Walk to School Week children are being urged to ask their parents to abandon their gas guzzlers and walk with them into school, while pointing out this could well pay for an ice cream to make the journey a little sweeter.
A gas-guzzling Range Rover will use £1.20 in fuel on a return trip to take a child just two miles to school, and then another £1.20 to collect them – easily enough to pay for that ice cream.
The two-mile walk would also give parents the chance to have a good chat with their siblings, while also enjoying some healthy exercise.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “Walk to School Week is so important as it motivates children and parents alike, to ditch the car in favour of walking and we hope that change becomes so appealing they continue it everyday if possible. But once or twice a week can make a huge difference.
“With ever rising petrol prices we’ve made the lighthearted link with ice cream, but the reality is that walking children to school could also save you an awful lot of money.
“Active travel has never been so important in keeping our children healthy, walking short journeys can be an excellent way to keep fit and tackle the ever increasing problem of childhood obesity (so perhaps not an ice cream every day!), one in four children are now classified as obese in the UK.”
A record number of Warwickshire schools have signed up to this year’s Walk to School Week, with 142 Warwickshire schools pledging to take part, 21 more than last year.
To add a new fun element to the whole experience schools are being transported to another continent to take a safari through the plains of East Africa.
As part of Walk to School Week, which runs from Monday to Friday this week, they will be following in the footsteps of Bloo the Gnu (also known as wildebeest). The children will follow his annual migratory pattern around the Serengeti in class and try to match the distance covered by Bloo the Gnu in a week as a whole school.
Warwickshire County Council Sustainable Travel Officer Karen Hall said: “This year’s concept was originally thought up by the travel team at Derbyshire County Council and we felt it was a brilliant concept, one that the children could really get involved with and learn from, so we took some of the ideas and packaged them up into bright new resources for the schools to enjoy.”
Each class will get an activity chart to record their kilometres walked, a map of East Africa and a poster charting the journey they will follow around the Masai Mara, Ngorongoro crater, Lion rock, Twiga Grove (Twiga is Swahili for giraffe) and the Grumeti River.
Following in the Gnu’s footprints will open them up to an amazing world of wildlife and exotic places. Pupils will also get a sticker each and a mask that they can colour in cut out and wear, wildebeest travel in herds in their millions, and the aim is that pupils will emulate the Gnus and walk on mass during Walk to School Week.
Schools will also receive lesson plan ideas to help them incorporate the Walk to School theme into everyday learning and the curriculum. Also for the first time Walk to School Week is inclusive of all sustainable travellers including cyclists, bus users, car sharers (with children who are not siblings) pupils who park and stride, for those parents who have no choice, but the car they can park a five minute walk away from the school gates. Pupils who travel this way will earn points, which convert into kilometres.
Children who travel alone in a car will receive no points, but will have the option to gain points by walking around the playground 10 times. Therefore all pupils who attempt to make the school a car free environment and get active are recognised by this scheme.
Walking can also have positive effects on social wellbeing, giving us all more time to spend with family and friends on the journey, it also increases the safety of children travelling to school, with less cars congesting the nearby roads and around the school gates and finally it will improve the local environment reducing pollution from car exhausts, which makes for better air quality and a reduced carbon footprint.
The Bloo Gnu theme will continue in October for International Walk to School month, when the challenge will spread to walking throughout the month and around the world. During this challenge the pupils will follow in the footsteps of a new animal, on each continent, learning about geography and nature along the way.