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Schools and the Environment

Transport

 Did You Know…..

At the peak school travel time of
8.50am, nearly 1 in 5 cars on
the urban roads are taking children
to school. (Source: National Travel
Survey)

The proportion of 5-16 year olds
going to school by car rose from
16% in 1985/6 to 28% in 1996/8;
cycling fell from 4% to 1% and
walking fell from 59% to 49%
(Source: National Travel Survey).

For FREE teaching resources
for primary school teachers on
Road Safety go to
http://www.databases.detr.gov.uk
/primary

International Walk to School Week
1st October - 5th October 2001

Guildford Borough Council and Surrey
County Council Traffic and Road Safety
teamed up to promote International
Walk to School Week 2001.

As part of the event, Infant and Primary
School pupils were encouraged to walk
to school during the week and were
rewarded with a badge and a bookmark.

International Walk to School Week is a
one-week campaign to raise awareness
of the problems associated with car
travel and the benefits of alternative
methods of transport. Walking to school
is a good way of keeping fit, helping the
environment and learning vital road
safety skills.

International Walk to School day was
on Tuesday 2 October, with young
people all over the world taking part.
To celebrate this, Year 7 and 8 pupils
at Guildford
County School will be exchanging posters
with schools in France and Germany, to
encourage their European friends to walk
to school.

NATIONAL WALK TO SCHOOL WEEK
SCHOOLS' COMPETITION WINNERS
ANNOUNCED

Guildford County School pupils
Sarah Barber, Jane Otto and
Kathryn Carter were the lucky winners
of Guildford Borough Council's recent
International Walk to School Day poster
competition.

Each pupil won £50 for designing a
poster in French, German or Spanish
to encourage their European friends
to walk to school. Students at The
Albert-Schweizer Gymnasium in
Stuttgart, Germany also entered the
competition and the winning posters
from each school were exchanged
to encourage walking to school in
the future.

The competition was part of National
Walk to School Week, which took
place between 1 and 5 October.
Pupils from 15 schools around
the borough participated during the
week and were rewarded with a
badge and a bookmark. The event
was organised by Surrey County
Council Traffic and Road Safety, and
by Guildford Borough Council.

Health Benefits

Cars have a damaging impact on
health through pollution, traffic
injuries and they also encourage a
more sedentary way of life. 

Walking or cycling to school will not
only produce health benefits but will
also contribute to a cleaner and
more sustainable environment
through reductions in pollution
and congestion.  

For more information on the health benefits of
walking or cycling to school see the www.wiredforhealth.gov.uk/
healthy/healsch.html

 To view air monitoring click here.

What can your school do to
encourage
walking or cycling to school?

Develop a school travel plan to demonstrate your commitment to environmental and community
concerns. This should set out measures
to reduce the number of car trips
made by parents, staff and pupils and
to improve the safety of the journey
to school.  Visit www.sustrans.org.uk
for further details of safe routes to
school and help with developing your
own school travel plan.

If your school is interested in developing
a school travel plan please visit
www.surreycc.gov.uk/safe-routes.

Walking bus

A ‘Walking Bus’ is the term used to describe any scheme where children
are walked to school in an organised group, usually lead by volunteer
parents. A ‘Walking Bus’ can be incorporated into a school travel plan.

If your school is interested in  setting
up a walking bus, please contact  your local road safety officer Angela Coomer 01483 517568.

Walk to School week is organised jointly by 'Travelwise' and 'The Pedestrians Association' with local input from
road safety officers.

The next Walk to School week is 30th September to 4th October 2002. International Walk to School Day is on 2nd October 2002.

Parents are encouraged to walk to
school with their young children as
often as possible during the week
and beyond. For more information of
the 'Walk to School Week' visit
www.walktoschool.org.uk.

Click here for Community Action
Working together for a better environment

© Guildford Borough 2002