Warwickshire News Mine

This year 142 Warwickshire schools are taking part in Walk to School Week, 21 more than last year.

And there’s plenty going on around the county for example at Exhall Cedars Infant and Nursery School pupils will be taking part in a sponsored walk on Friday to raise funds for Claire House Children’s Hospice; Goodyers End Primary School is to throw open an invite for all pupils to join their existing walking club, where children have to walk three times a week to join and get a stamp for each mile; and in the south of the county Studley schools including St Mary’s Catholic School, St Mary’s CE Junior and Studley Community Infants are launching Park and Stride sites.

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 got underway on Monday and runs until Friday, 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 has 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 also have 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 have 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.

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.

“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, one in four children are now classified as obese in the UK.”

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.

Link to WCC