WOW year-round walk to school challenge
We are letting you know we are launching the ‘WOW year-round walk to school challenge’ here at St John’s and it is starting later this week during Walk to School Week!
This is run by Living Streets – the UK charity for everyday walking – and has been funded until the end of this academic year by Bristol City Council.
The children record their daily travel on a browser-based software called Activity Tracker. At the end of each month, they can get rewarded for their active travel choices if they have done enough active trips: ones where they use their feet to travel into school in the mornings – even if part of the way.
The system can be accessed from home or school to be inclusive of any children schooling from home. Absences are recorded and the tracker system calculates things so it is fair. The badges the children can earn are even made from material that would have otherwise gone to landfill too so that is good and they are able to be recycled too.
What are the benefits of walking to school?
Walking to school helps children feel happier and healthier and even do better in class because they arrive refreshed, fit and ready to learn. More families walking means fewer cars on the road during the school run, helping to reduce congestion and pollution at the school gates.
What if we can’t walk to school?
If you live too far away or don’t have time to walk the whole way to school, you can Park and Stride to earn your WOW badge. Park or hop off public transport at least 5 to 10 minutes away from the school and walk the rest of the way. We have included a Park & Stride map to help you plan your journey to school.
Join us, thousands of schools and around one million pupils enjoying the benefits of walking to school across the UK.
This video is a nice overview of the whole project: https://youtu.be/op0zWJw1Hs0
However, please note that as that is from 2019 this second video shows how it has been adapted to be covid secure and is the one we use with the pupils and families during this covid period: Running WOW during COVID on Vimeo
This is the project on the charity’s website if you’d like to read anything else: WOW – the year-round walk to school challenge | Living Streets