Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Walk to school project now world ambassador
The KM Charity Team has been named as a Green World Ambassador in recognition of the impact the Kent Walk to School Campaign has made in the county.
The award-winning walk to school scheme which started in Canterbury and is based in Whitstable is supported by 40,000 children and families linked to 200 primary schools in the county.
Last academic year it recorded 600,000 car-free journeys and removed 270,000 school-run journeys from local roads.
The charity’s trustees were presented with the honour at the Crystal in London last week by the Green Organisation.
Chief executive of the KM Charity Team, Simon Dolby, said he was delighted the organisation’s work had been recognised internationally and praised the councils and commercial sponsors who have helped grow the influence of the charity.
He said: “There is a raft of organisations working with us to ensure there is an exciting support package available to schools.
“It is not easy keeping such a large groups of families at so many schools motivated and using green travel week after week, but after more than a decade we seem to have the mix right.”
Next term many schools will take part in the Super Wow! KM Triple Challenge with a green class of the week trophy presented in school every week and a monthly inter-school chal- lenges offering free entry tickets to attractions to every child in the class named as district green travel winners.
Across the county children and families involved will have a target to collectively remove more than 200,000 school-run car journeys from local roads.
Organisations supporting the campaign include Bel UK, Specsavers, Countrystyle Recycling, Volker Highways, 3Rs teacher recruitment, Orbit, Golding Homes, Kent County Council, Medway Council, London Borough of Bexley, Maidstone Council, Ashford Borough Council and Canterbury City Council.
Schools wanting to find out more about Super Wow! or walking buses should visitwww.kmwalktoschool. co.uk. Organisations wanting to sponsor a school to help them join the green travel campaign, should contact Mr Dolby on sdolby@thekmgroup.co.uk.