How a whole school got moving
In November 2025, we met Crofton Infants School at the Wakefield PE, Sport and Physical Activity Conference. A year on and the whole school is moving more, with a whopping 91% of pupils now walking, wheeling, cycling, scooting or using ‘Park and Stride’ to get to school. As we ready to attend the 2026 conference, we look back at the huge strides the whole school community has taken.
We connected with Crofton Infants School when our Project Coordinator, Kate, presented at the Wakefield PE, Sport and Physical Activity Conference in November 2025. The school had ambitious health, wellbeing and eco goals, along with a strong commitment to outdoor learning. They wanted to embark on a whole-school approach to active travel to help achieve their aims.
Crofton Infants is also part of a growing partnership with Waterton Academy Trust, which has recognised the alignment with supporting decarbonisation goals and children as changemakers in their Sustainability Strategy, alongside school level Climate Action Plans. Kate worked with the school and colleagues at Living Streets to come up with a bespoke approach to help the school and the academy with their ambitions, and to ensure pupils of all ages at the school could get involved.
What we did
Key Stage 1 pupils at the school started to take part in WOW – our walk to school challenge. WOW sees pupils record how they get to school on an interactive Travel Tracker, with those who choose ‘active’ modes awarded a monthly WOW badge. The Travel Tracker allows us to see how they progress over time. Pupils at Crofton Infants were able to receive WOW resources for free, thanks to our Active Travel England-funded Walk to School Outreach programme.
Kate collaborated with colleagues working on our West Yorkshire Combined Authority-funded project to introduce Little Feet to the nursery, so younger children at the school could join in. Little Feet is our range of walking activities for children aged 2-5 years old, designed specifically for use in early years settings. The resources are perfect for introducing the benefits of walking to young children and their families, encouraging them to adopt healthy walking habits through topics linked to the Early Learning Goals.
Kate and colleagues delivered a joint launch day in January 2026, bringing together all ages through a range of activities, including a special assembly, workshops and classroom conversations.
Pupils head out on a School Route Audit
Building on the strength of the partnership over the spring term, we worked with the school to plan a celebration during Walk to School Week in May. Pupils loved meeting Strider – our walk to school mascot - on Happy Shoesday and celebrating the progress they were already making.
It also gave us the opportunity to catch up with the school and see what other support they might need to help more families choose healthier and cleaner ways to travel to school.
Crofton Infants is close to a junior and secondary school; another primary is at the other end of the village. Concerns had been shared about road safety, congestion, parking behaviours and pedestrian infrastructure. In support of the Year 2 Local Area curriculum topic, we took two classes out on a School Route Audit. Pupils were encouraged to think about what could make walking and wheeling to school safer and more enjoyable for them, coming up with brilliant ideas for improvements.
Insights and recommendations from the School Route Audit have been shared with the combined and local authorities to consider alongside wider Vision Zero priority planning. We will support ongoing conversations around this towards creating better, more pedestrian-friendly streets.
the results
Over a six-week period, Early Years children collectively filled three Little Feet charts, which supported daily participation, rewards and playful learning. They completed 720 journeys by walking, wheeling, scooting, or park and striding their journeys to school. This achievement demonstrates the scale of family engagement generated and highlights the potential for small daily habits to enable significant increase in active travel participation.
Through WOW, Key Stage 1 pupils have demonstrated frequent and consistent engagement and significant improvements towards more active journeys.
Walking and wheeling all the way journeys have increased from 56% at baseline in January 2026, to 72% - against a local authority average of 52%. The number of journeys driven all the way to school have reduced from 39% to 9% - significantly lower than the national average of 43%.
Eager pupil WOW Ambassadors - supported by a proactive staff WOW Champion - have kept conversations going, enthusiasm bubbling and developed a sense of pride. It has created opportunities for pupil leadership and ensured the wider community has benefitted from reduced traffic too. Regular social media content from the school has encouraged participation beyond the school gate.
Where next?
Now that the projects are embedded, we’re supporting the school to stretch its ambitions. Once settled into school routines, Reception children will transition from Little Feet onto WOW this year, as an all-year-round challenge. The school is also reminding families that Park & Stride must include a minimum 10-minute walk/wheel and boosting the number of active days required in the week.
This reflects the deeper impact possible through multi-year funding, collaboration across projects and school level leadership for active travel, so it becomes part of the culture. We’re seeing lasting behaviour change towards healthier, happier and more sustainable journeys to school.
To find out if your school is eligible for free WOW resources, complete this simple form, or get in touch at [email protected].