Walk to School Week in Islington – May 2021!

What is Walk to School Week?

Walk to School Week is an annual five-day walking challenge run by Living Streets. This celebration is aimed at primary schools across the country, it is an exciting and engaging week-long activity, designed to help children and young people reach their minimum of 60 minutes of exercise per day. This year’s theme and activity is Walking Superpowers. Each day pupils will be introduced to a brand new Walking Superpower in the form of a comic book-inspired design.

Does this mean walking has to stop there? Oh no, Walk to School Week is here to encourage healthy habits for life and to inspire healthier travel modes. There are a great number of benefits to walking, such as: developing strong bones, building muscle strength, improving cognitive functionality, experiencing the local community, less air pollution, reduces noise pollution, more independence and children will have a chance to learn more about road safety.

What are the benefits of staying active?

Keeping active reduces the chances of becoming obese, developing heart conditions and other related diseases. Based on the 2018/19 academic year. According to Sport England research, 44.9% of children and young people (3.2 million) are meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines of taking part in sport and physical activity for an average of 60 minutes or more every day. Meanwhile, 31.3% (2.3m) do less than an average of 30 minutes a day (Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, 2021).

How can I get involved?

The five-day challenge is not only about walking. You can choose any other mode of travel that encourages exercise. This could be cycling, scooting or even jogging! Encourage families and friends to leave their cars at home, or ‘drive and stride’ – by parking a small distance away on your normal route and continue the rest of the journey on foot.

What resources are available?

There are a host of great downloadable resources from Living Streets to help support Walk to School Week. From fun and interactive wallcharts to stickers to help boost and motivate our children. There are also premium packs for schools and parents to access for additional supporting resources. This week long activity also contributes towards schools who take part TfL STARS accreditation, you can find out more information here.

For more information on how you can get involved:

Sobastian Frazer, Active Travel Plan Officer – [email protected]

Cody Bryne, Healthy Streets Officer – [email protected]