As a school we have been chosen to be part of an exciting initiative to encourage more children and their families to walk to school. WOW – the walk to school challenge is delivered by Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, to help as many children as possible experience the benefits of walking or wheeling to school. The pupil-led challenge enables children to self-report how they get to school every day. If they travel actively (walk/wheel, cycle, scoot, ‘Park and Stride’ or hop off) at least once a week, for a month, they get rewarded with a badge. It’s that simple!

On their arrival to school, the children share, with their class teacher, how they have travelled to school and this is added to the Travel Tracker in class.  This logs how many times the children have walked/wheeled, cycled, scooted or used the ‘Park and Stride’ facilities (I have shared the location of the ‘Park and Stride’ areas in Clanfield).  This log then accumulates over the month and the badges are awarded at the end of each month. 

This initiative supports our Sustainability and Climate Change action plan.  For more information about this plan, please follow the link and click on the document at the bottom to read the plan in full. 

What are the benefits of walking to school?

• Children feel happier and healthier
• They arrive at school refreshed and ready to learn
• Helps reduce congestion and pollution at the school gates

What if we can’t walk to school?

If driving, ‘Park and Stride’ to help your child earn their WOW badges. Park at least ten minutes away from the school and walk or wheel the remaining journey.

If using public transport, hop off at least ten minutes away and walk the rest of the way (recorded as ‘other’ on the WOW Travel Tracker).

Where walking to school isn’t an option, Living Streets work with schools to establish a bespoke approach to WOW that works best for their pupils’ needs. This includes pupils becoming WOW Ambassadors, leading assemblies, creating active travel notice boards, and other activities within the school day, so all children feel included and involved with the challenge. If you have any questions on the adaptability of WOW or have suggestions of how we can improve, they would love to hear your thoughts. Please email walktoschool@livingstreets.org.uk

What is a WOW badge?

There are 11 badges to be earned from September – July. Each badge has been designed by a pupil as part of the annual WOW Badge Design Competition. A new badge can be earned every month if pupils walk/wheel, cycle, scoot, ‘Park and Stride’ or hop off at least once a week.

WOW encourages pupils to Walk with Joy, with badges depicting everything from jumping in puddles to painting.  The badges are made in Cornwall from material that was otherwise destined for landfill, including fridge trays, plastic plates and yoghurt pot off-cuts. For more information, visit: livingstreets.org.uk/recycling   

Last year, around 2,100 schools and over 540,000 pupils across the UK enjoyed the benefits of walking to school with WOW. Will you join us?

If you have any questions about the programme, please contact Mrs Mitchell in school or find more information and useful videos at: livingstreets.org.uk/wowlaunch 

Let’s swap those school runs for school walks.