Walking to school is good for kids

LIVING Streets’ Walk to School Week is over for another year and we’d like to thank everyone in Wales who contributed to making it a massive success, joining in with pupils across the UK to enjoy the many benefits of walking to school.

We know that schools become healthier and happier places when children walk to school. The Chief Medical Officer recommends that children are active for 60 minutes a day and walking to school is a free, accessible and easy way for children to contribute to this target.

Despite these benefits, the number of children walking to school is in decline with just 47% of children making the journey on foot. At Living Streets, we are committed to reversing this decline and are asking for town and city leaders to prioritise making school walking routes safer, to help to prevent problems associated with a lack of walking, including child obesity and air pollution.

Just because the week of celebration is over, it doesn’t mean families have to stop walking. WOW is our year-round walk to school challenge, so they can continue to experience the benefits of walking to school all year-round, just visit livingstreets.org.uk/wow to find out more.

Once again, a huge thank you and congratulations to everyone who took part in this year’s Walk to School Week – with your help we’ll get more children experiencing a healthy and happy walk to school. Rachel Maycock Manager Living Streets Cymru