The WOW Factor
3 min read
This is the story of how all it took was one (admittedly fantastic) school assembly to switch a Bristol school onto walking in a serious way.
Start at the beginning
Our regional coordinators love an assembly. It's the opportunity to really capture the imaginations of pupils and teachers and staff.
And that certainly seems to be what our coordinator in Bristol, Kelly, managed with the very first assembly at Wansdyke.
"Thank you very much for the launch assembly today, it was fab," wrote the teaching assistant and Walking Champion.
"The children were really engaged and thoroughly enjoyed it…"
How engaged? Here's how Wansdyke pupils took part
Took part in Walk to School Week and raised £80 on Happy Shoesday
Introduced a Strider category to their annual egg transportation competition.
Launched a Park and Stride scheme at the end of January
Time for a
Park and Stride
The idea behind Park and Stride is to enable families who live far away from school to still enjoy the walk to school by driving or taking public transport some of the way and then walking the rest.
At Wansdyke, this proved really popular as the school is on a cul-de-sac and the gates can get very congested.
The key to Park and Stride is finding good car parking facilities - and in Wandsyke's case they found it courtesy of a local pub, the John Harvey Arms.
For the launch of their Park and Stride, Wansdyke invited the press along. And of course, Strider was there.
"As a school we have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the Living Streets WOW challenge, and greatly appreciate all the support you have given us, in particular Travel Tracker, helping to get Park & Stride up and running, the assemblies you have presented, and all of the amazing free resources."
Sharon Sims, Active Travel champion, Wansdyke Primary School
58%
Increase in Wansdyke pupils walking to school
And the results of all this activity were undeniable, with walking rates at the school rising from an encouraging 55% to a peak of 87% during the spring term.
That's a 58% increase, which also contributed to the school achieving Modeshift Bronze.
So in short, wins all round.
Pupils and staff WOWed by launch assembly...
... which led school to fully embrace everyday walking...
... culminating in setting up a fantastic Park and Stride...
... which saw pupils' walking rates rocket - and even got mums and dads out too.
