Lucy Corkhill

By Lucy Corkhill

20th May 2013

Walking is good for your health, opens up the world around you, and helps forge community connections – what’s not to like?! But according to a 2012 study of 2000 parents undertaken by Parentdish, UK children are three times more likely to be driven to school than their parents were, and one in ten parents will drive their children less than 500 yards to the school gates!

Lucy Corkhill

By Lucy Corkhill

20th May 2013

Lucy Corkhill

By Lucy Corkhill

20th May 2013

68% of the parents surveyed would rather their child walked to school and over a quarter of parents who do walk their children to school told Parentdish that spending time together whilst walking to school was what they most valued about the journey. A further 22% stated that it gave them a fantastic opportunity to socialise with other parents and children.

Walk to School Week 2013 takes place as part of National Walking Month each May, bringing together nearly one million schoolchildren, teachers and parents. This year’s Walk to School Week runs from Mon 20th to Fri 24th May and promises to be the biggest and best yet!

BETTER LEARNERS
Living Streets runs the national Walk to School campaign, and the national charity says parents find the journey to school less stressful, their petrol bill goes down, their children perform better at school and that they, and their children, feel healthier and fitter. Recent research also shows that children who walk or cycle to school are better learners: a joint study by researchers at two Danish universities found that regular exercise could advance a student up to half a year in their studies, having even more of an impact than the food they ate for breakfast or lunch.

DITCH THE CAR!
Over the past couple of decades, the number of children walking to school has fallen sharply. In 2011, 49 per cent of primary school aged children and 38 per cent of secondary school aged children walked to school, down from 62 per cent of primary and 48 per cent of secondary school aged children in 1991. However Living Streets’ Walk once a Week (WoW) scheme bucks the trend. It helped nearly 6,800 schools and over 1.9 million children and young people get walking across the UK last year – with a recent project seeing a rise of 32% in children walking.

DAILY BENEFITS
This year’s Walk to School Week focuses on a different benefit of walking each day. Monday covers safety issues – children walking to school tend to be more aware of road safety and alert to potential dangers than those who get dropped off at the gates. Parents are able to teach them to cross the road safely. Tuesday is about discovery – perhaps one of the most important factors in enjoying the world by foot. Walking to school enables kids to explore the environment around them, notice the changing of the seasons and stop to examine the ladybird on a leaf or notice the architecture around them. Wednesday covers health, and the extensive benefits to wellbeing walking provides. On Thursday the focus is on the eco-friendly aspects of walking rather than driving, and Friday looks at the opportunity for social time that walking offers. There are plenty of learning resources on the website for schools to use, plus posters to put up around the school and in your locality, and information on getting local media involved.

But if you do one thing this Walk to School Week, get up a bit earlier to take a stroll to the school gates together, absorbing your local environment and enjoying some time as a family.

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