As part of promoting active travel to school, Hadrian Park Primary School is involved in an exciting nationwide challenge which encourages children and their families to walk to school. The WOW – 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 to school.

WOW is a pupil-led initiative where children self-report how they get to school every day. If they travel sustainably (walk, cycle, scoot or Park and Stride) at least once a week for a month, they get rewarded with a special badge each month. The monthly WOW badges are made using excess yoghurt-pot material previously destined for landfill and are produced in the UK, minimising our carbon footprint.

All children in school can self-report how they travel to and from school by following these instructions:

To log activity, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to traveltracker.org.uk site and use the following three-word classroom access code to log in: vowel-straw-spout
2. Check out this short step-by-step guide on how to log your child’s activity. (https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/media/6024/wow-activity-tracker-guide.pdf)
3. Make sure you only log your child’s activity and that’s it, your child is one step closer to earning their badge!

What are the benefits of walking to school? Walking to school helps children feel happier and healthier and 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 you 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 help your child earn their WOW badge. Park or hop off public transport at least ten minutes away from the school and walk the rest of the way. 

Is walking to school safe at this time? Walking to school remains an effective way to reduce congestion and improve road safety at the school gates, while increasing physical activity and benefitting pupil wellbeing. The government is actively working with schools and local authorities to encourage families to walk to school whenever they can during this time.

What if we are currently learning from home? As you know, daily physical activity is essential for children’s mental and physical health, so you can still log your child’s activity from home. By doing so they can still be in with a chance to earn their badge/s on return to school. And in the meantime, to keep children motivated, some special digital/printable rewards will be awarded at the end of each month.