International Walk to School month

International Walk to School month in October provides an opportunity for children to celebrate the walk to school and highlight the benefits it can have on their health and wellbeing.

Walking to school is a great way to get children moving and helps them to achieve their daily exercise goals. Doing physical activity, such as walking, not only helps to build strong healthy muscles and bones but also supports brain power and performance in classroom too. Joining your child to walk to school will also benefit you and help you achieve your 30 minutes of exercise a day, which is recommended by the NHS.

Choosing a more active form of travel to get to school, such as walking, cycling or scooting, will benefit the local environment and help cut air pollution near the school gates, which can affect children as their organs and immune systems are still developing.

The World Health Organisation recommends walking to school as a primary way for people to reduce their carbon emissions. At morning peak, one in four cars on the road are on the school run – responsible for generating half a million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Making the switch to active travel will also help towards the borough's target of becoming carbon neutral by 2045 as part of the Council’s commitment to tackle the Climate Emergency.

If you live further away from your school and take your children by car, the Council’s Road Safety team recommends parking a little way from the school and walking the last few minutes with family and friends. This will help reduce congestion and air pollution at the school gates and improve road safety.

If walking to school, even part of the way, is not an option then pupils can still get involved by becoming Walk to School Week ambassadors and assisting their school to run walk to school challenges.

Living Streets has further information available about the campaign, including a family walk to school kit with tips for a stress-free walk and safer streets.