Walking initiatives

Our Transport Planning and Safety Education teams work closely to offer schools a variety of schemes, projects and campaigns around walking that help promote and encourage healthy, safe and active travel to school.

International Walk to School Month (all schools)

International Walk to School Month is a month-long celebration of walking to school held in October. It is a good time to start any walking activities or events, such as sponsored walks and competitions to promote the importance of walking.

This activity also links to STARS and accreditation.

Walk Once a Week (WoW) (primary schools)

WoW is a year round weekly incentive based walking scheme. It encourages parents and pupils to walk to school at least once a week. Independent evaluations of the WoW scheme show a measurable positive impact on increasing walking levels.

Running WoW in your school is an ideal responsibility for School Councils or Junior Safety Officers/Junior Travel Ambassadors to co-ordinate.

To set up a WoW:

• Register your interest on the Living Streets website
• Receive a wall chart quarterly
• Teachers/Junior Safety Officers/Junior Travel Ambassadors fill out wall charts and request badges every month
• WoW badges can be paid for from the schools' sport premium funding
• Participating in WoW is also a credit towards STARS accreditation

Richmond Safe Walking/Pedestrian Skills Training (Year 3)

This practical road side training course encourages children to think about traffic hazards, learn how to deal with them and to plan routes that make use of crossing facilities where they are available. Find out more information about Richmond Safe Walking.

Schools can also add this activity to your STARS travel plan.

Walking trips

There are many other initiatives that count towards STARS accreditation that schools already partake in.  Walking trips is one that can be added to STARS as a walking initiative. Most schools take various classes on walks throughout the year, for example local parks, church, library or other places of interest.