Notes Walk to school week 16-20 MAY 2016

We’re joining over a million pupils and families in the UK to celebrate walking to school during Walk to School Week. Our school is taking part in Living Streets’ Walk to School Week. We’re encouraging everyone to walk to school everyday this week (or as much as you can).

So why is it good to walk to school?

Walking is good for you! Walking is good exercise. As we walk our hearts beat faster, our breathing gets quicker, we warm up, and we feel energised. Exercise is important because it helps to keep our body healthy and is good for our hearts, lungs, muscles and bones. Did you know that it’s recommended that you carry out 60 minutes of physical activity every day? Well the walk to school is a really good way of getting some of that exercise.

How long do you think it would take to walk one mile? 5 minutes? 15? 45?

It will take most people about 15-20 minutes. And it’s a great way to help you keep in shape. You'll probably notice the difference in how alert you are when you get to school if you’ve walked even some of the way.

Walking is fun Walking to school is a great time to talk to your parents and they can find out about your day. Because when your parents drive you , they will have to focus on the road more so probably won’t be able to talk as much. You could meet up with your friends on your way to and from school too – a great time for talking to them! Hands up if you met your friends on the way into school this morning? Great, hands down. Children that walk to school arrive more alert and ready to start the day.

• It’s been scientifically proven to improve your mood. • It makes sense because a walk wakes up your brain.

Walking is good for the planet Walking is the greenest form of transport so you can actually help the planet too by walking. There are over 10 million children travelling to school every morning in the UK and nearly half of children travelling to school make that journey in a car. Why is it better for the environment if we walk rather than travel by car? Hands up if you have any ideas. (Take a few suggestions, answers along the lines of: cars release gases that pollute the air and this contributes to global warming, whereas walking is clean and green) Hands down. If more people walked there would be fewer people in their cars and less pollution would be pumped into the air.

Walking is good for the planet Walking is the greenest form of transport so you can actually help the planet too by walking. There are over 10 million children travelling to school every morning in the UK and nearly half of children travelling to school make that journey in a car. Why is it better for the environment if we walk rather than travel by car? Hands up if you have any ideas. (Take a few suggestions, answers along the lines of: cars release gases that pollute the air and this contributes to global warming, whereas walking is clean and green) Hands down. If more people walked there would be fewer people in their cars and less pollution would be pumped into the air.

Some of you might be thinking it’s not that easy, and that you live too far from school. • There are ways to get around it.

You don’t have to walk the whole way, even getting off a couple of stops early and walking the last mile can have some really great benefits. Promote your schools Park and Stride location if you have one or could you try out a car-exclusion zone for Walk to School Week?

Have a great Walk to School Week!

Optional talking shoes video. Available at: https://www. youtube