WOW - the walk to school challenge
Pupils from over 2,000 schools are getting active with WOW - the walk to school challenge. Want safer, cleaner streets and happier, healthier pupils? Join them!
WOW is a pupil-led initiative where children self-report how they get to school every day using our interactive WOW Travel Tracker. If they travel sustainably at least once a week for a month, they are rewarded with a WOW badge. It's that easy!
WOW schools see 59% fewer car journeys to the school gates and 18% more journeys walking and wheeling all the way to school* – plus a whole host of other benefits! WOW is available in English and Welsh.
3 simple steps to WOW
STEP 1: Walk to school
Pupils are encouraged to walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or Park and Stride to school and record how they got in on the interactive, award-winning WOW Travel Tracker.
Step 2: Earn a WOW badge!
If they walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or Park and Stride to school at least once a week they get rewarded with a monthly-collectable badge.
Step 3: Reduce congestion
On average, WOW schools see 59% fewer car journeys to the school gates and 18% more journeys walking and wheeling* all the way to school!
Did you know that 1 in 4 cars on the road each morning are on the school run? WOW can start to turn that around by helping more families choose to walk or wheel to school instead. As well as the increased walking rates and the drop in cars at the school gates, there are other perks to taking part in WOW…
Instils healthy habits
WOW promotes healthy mental wellbeing by improving behaviour and concentration levels in class.
Accreditation
Helps schools achieve their outstanding OFSTED schools rating and Modeshift STARS and Healthy Schools status.
Climate Action Plan
Walking to school with Living Streets can form part of a school’s Climate Action Plan. A climate action plan is a detailed plan to enable your education setting to progress or commence sustainability initiatives and should typically cover four areas to align with DfE’s sustainability and climate change strategy, including decarbonisation.
Encouraging pupils and their parents/carers to walk to school can reduce congestion outside your school gates and reduce carbon emissions. Our WOW Travel Tracker will record your progress, showing how many pupils have switched their journey to active travel.
*Journeys walked/wheeled all the way to school (not including Park & Stride) increased from 42.14% at baseline to 49.74% (7.60 percentage points or 18% of the rate at baseline). Journeys driven all the way to school decreased from 39.72% at baseline to 16.28% (-23.44 percentage points or 59% of the rate at baseline).
And because we want as many children as possible to enjoy the benefits of WOW, we make sure it is:
Adaptable
We understand that walking to school isn’t an option for everyone and so aim to adapt WOW in these situations, so that all pupils have a chance to be awarded a WOW badge. Our schools team can work with school staff, including SENCO, to establish a bespoke approach to WOW that works for them and their school community’s needs. Here are some examples of ways we’ve done this in the past. If you have any questions on the adaptability of WOW in SEND schools or have suggestions of how we can improve, please email [email protected]
Takes little classroom time
It takes less than 10 minutes of a teacher’s day! Our WOW Ambassador scheme can help reduce the pressure on time-strapped school staff even further by seeing pupils themselves support the running of WOW.
Low cost
WOW is around £2 per pupil; just a fraction of your PE and Sport Premium per child. Read more about the ways to fund WOW here.
WOW badges and WOW Travel Tracker
WOW badges
WOW rewards children who travel actively to school with collectable badges. The badges are unique and designed by the pupils themselves in our annual WOW Badge Design Competition.
Every year, WOW and its badges follow a different, fun and educational theme. The 2024/25 theme, 'Walk with imagination' invited pupils to stretch their creativity, asking them to imagine a different walk to school. From soaring through the skies like an eagle to exploring the depths of the ocean, we want to inspire pupils to dream big while learning and embracing the many wonders of walking to school. Next academic year, we will Walk With Joy!
All of our WOW badges are made from recycled plastic material, including old fridge trays, plastic plates and even yoghurt pot off-cuts that were otherwise destined for landfill. They are produced locally in Cornwall, reducing our carbon footprint. The badges also arrive to schools in environmentally-friendly, biodegradable packaging.
OUR WOW BADGE DESIGN COMPETITION 2024/25 WINNERS
WOW Travel Tracker
Our award-winning WOW Travel Tracker brings our walk to school challenge to life. Pupils log daily journeys to school on the system. The WOW Travel Tracker also confirms which pupils have walked enough to earn a badge each month and these key statistics can be used to earn your school a Modeshift STARS award.
ON WOW TRAVEL TRACKER YOU CAN ALSO:
- Gain valuable insights into travel habits and track progress
- See which classes and schools are leading the way in active travel with our national and local authority leaderboards
- Find useful resources and guides.
