Other ideas to encourage walking

Car-free days, walking clubs, coffee for caregivers who walk, prize draws and walks of fame are just some of the ways to encourage children – and their caregivers – to walk to and from school.

Every community has different needs and issues. You may wish to start off small with a car-free day once a term. Or you could try Walking Wednesdays over the spring and summer terms. Another option is to set up a walking school bus.

Whatever walking to school option you choose, you’ll be doing children, caregivers and the environment a big favour.

Walk to School Day

Schools can organise their own Walk to School Day, a one-off event where children are encouraged to walk to school on a certain day. As with other walk to school initiatives, there are all sorts of ways to encourage children to participate in this event. For instance, all those who walked could go in a draw for a spot prize.

Road safety coordinators at your local council may be able to help you organise the day, and provide resources and rewards.

It may also be a good project to involve enthusiastic year five and six students and offer them leadership opportunities. For instance, the School Council at Paparoa Street School in Christchurch organised its first Walk to School Day in 2000. Since then, the school has held a number of successful Walk to School Day events, organised by its older students.

Variations

How about a Walk to School Week or a Walk to School Month? Again, road safety coordinators at your local council may be able to help you organise the event.

Kids on Feet

Greerton Village School in Tauranga has been running Kids on Feet since 2004, an initiative it developed and implemented in response to its school travel plan.

Kids on Feet has four designated routes and encourages children to walk to school from one of four drop-off markers 500 metres from the school. Children meet at a marker and then walk into school in a group, led by a year 6 student. Parents who drive their children to the drop-off marker are encouraged to lock their cars and walk the final 500 metres with the group.

In 2005, Kids on Feet won the Road Safety Award category of the Land Transport New Zealand Road Safety Innovation and Achievement Awards. The initiative has enhanced the health and safety of the school’s students. It has also eliminated traffic chaos at the school gate.

Tauranga City Council’s Travel Safe Coordinator the late Maree Kingsbury worked with the school, particularly Deputy Principal Heather Langley, to set up the initiative.

Park and Walk is a similar idea with drop-off zones for parents to park away from the school gate. They can then walk their children the rest of the way or arrange for their children to walk with groups of friends.

Walking map tool box for schools

The walking map tool box shows you how to design, produce and promote a walking map that’s relevant to a particular school and its community. It can make the journey to and from school safer, quicker and more interesting for children, staff and caregivers, and help to promote walking as a healthy and sustainable means of transport.

Unlike a conventional road map, a walking map is developed for pedestrians – not vehicles. It can include things such as pedestrian crossings, subways, footpaths, bus stops and bus routes.

Waterloo School and Dyer Street School in Lower Hutt are the first schools in New Zealand to develop maps using the new walking map tool box. They worked with the Health Sponsorship Council, Living Streets Aotearoa, Educating NZ and Terralink.

‘Working on the project was an interesting and educational exercise for both the children and parents because they discovered things about the community,’ says Waterloo School principal Graeme Sullivan. ‘For the school, it was an opportunity to engage parents in encouraging children to walk to school. Parents’ main concern is always about safety and it's helped them to see that there are ways their children can walk to school in a safe environment. Changing parents’ perception about safe walking was the biggest hurdle to overcome.

‘The map is a starting point. The real work is in motivating them to continue walking to school and this year, we’ll be carrying on with our walk to school day promotions and encouraging the active school concept.

‘I hand out a map to all the new students and they’re often surprised when they realise all the ways they can walk to our school along the various roads and alleyways that lead here.’

We have developed two handbooks to guide schools and community groups through the map-making process:

• Walking map tool box for schools (PDF, 1.91 MB)
• Walking map tool box for community groups (PDF, 375 KB)

Car-free days

One day without a car is better than none. That’s the message behind an initiative encouraging car drivers to change their behaviour for just one day a week.

Similar to a Walk to School Day, Car-free Days (PDF, external site) emphasise the need to reduce the number of cars outside schools.

Families can decide together which day they won’t take the car to school – either for a particular week or over a month, term or year. This could be extended to include parents leaving the car at home one day a week and catching public transport to work.

Page updated: 27 February 2008