Walk to School Week 2021
walk with us!
Our five-day walking challenge is an annual celebration of the walk to school and the perfect activity to celebrate National Walking Month this May - order your classroom packs now
The fun and engaging week-long activity for primary schools has been built to make pupils experience first-hand the importance of walking to school. Children will be well on their way to reaching their recommended 60 minutes minimum of physical activity per day before even reaching the school gates! Not only will it set them up for a positive day in the classroom, but it will also help create healthy habits for life.
What better time to celebrate walking – the simple act that has brought many of us so much joy throughout the pandemic – than this spring?
join us 17-21 May 2021
THIS YEAR'S THEME AND ACTIVITY
Through the week, pupils will be introduced to the Walking Superpowers who will teach them all about these benefits and reinforce the power of walking, superhero style!
Welcome to the five-day Walking Challenge 2021: WALKING SUPERPOWERS
This year’s challenge will focus on the walking superpowers that benefit individuals, communities and the planet.
Each day pupils will be introduced to a brand new ‘Walking Superpower’ taking the form of a fun comic-book inspired design.
Walking has so many benefits from physical to mental wellbeing; aiding concentration and creativity and creating safer, less polluted and more welcoming streets. All that makes for a happy, healthy child set up for success in and out of the classroom.
ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE?
Each pupil will be challenged to travel sustainably (walk, school, cycle or Park and Stride) to school every day for one week using our fun and interactive wallchart and stickers to log their journeys.
Each class will work collectively to make as many active journeys to school as possible across the week. Each day you will record the number of active journeys made on the classroom wallchart and learn about a new walking superpower. Individual activity diaries, daily stickers and end of week pupil rewards will complement this activity, reinforcing the benefits and keeping children engaged.
Classroom packs contain resources for up to 30 pupils and are available in KS1/P1-3 and KS2/P4-7 variants, featuring differing, age-appropriate curriculum-aligned activities.
Inside each pack you’ll find:
- Teacher guidance and parent information
- One double-sided classroom wallchart / pledge poster
- Daily stickers for pupils and wallchart
- 30 pupil activity diaries
- 30 end of week pupil rewards
Did you know? You can use your PE and Sport Premium funding to cover the cost of your Walk to School Week packs.
Everyone can join walk to school week
As a walking charity we want to remove barriers to active travel. We support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities to enjoy walking, including travel by wheelchair or mobility scooter. Encouraging parents to park even a little way from the school reduces congestion and air pollution at the school gates and improves road safety. Pupils can walk the last few minutes into school with friends and family, and still earn a badge at the end of the week. However, "walking" to school, even part of the way, might not be an option for all. In these cases, we encourage pupils to become Walk to School Week ambassadors and assist the teacher in running the challenge, to earn their own badge.
Is your school already taking part in WOW?
On our shop page you will also find additional resources to make this Walk to School Week even more fun. From Walk to School banners, to limited edition badges to Strider mascot toys, make the most of your Walk to School Week! These resources are suitable for schools already taking part in WOW who want to offer an extra reward to those who walk to school every day of Walk to School Week.
"Walk To School Week is something we are very happy to get involved with and which the children have really enjoyed. It gives them the opportunity to do some exercise each and every day. As well as this, traffic is really heavy during term times so we will do anything to help alleviate the issue."
Philip Salisbury, Headteacher - Woodfield Junior School
"Walk to School Week has gone brilliantly, I've been really impressed. The best thing is seeing the children's enthusiasm for walking. They want to walk, they want to get that exercise, they want to take part, the parents want to take part too because the children encourage them which is brilliant. It's all about everyone encouraging each other. Where there's a possibility to walk, let's use our feet and let's keep the traffic off the streets so it’s a much safer place."
Mrs Baker, Headteacher at St Joseph’s Primary School, Bristol
The best bits from social media
🤩 It's not just pupils getting involved!
— Living Streets (@livingstreets) October 5, 2020
🍎 Mr Wadlow at @ElmAcademyAAT made a promise to his class that he'd run to school to kick off #WalktoSchoolWeek - what a hero! Leading by example ⭐️#WorldTeachersDay #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/ABsQilCvst
There's no better way to end the school day than a walk, cycle or scoot home 🚶♀️🚲🛴
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) October 5, 2020
Great work from our friends @livingstreets today to highlight what needs to happen so that more kids can!
More info ➡ https://t.co/CClGLwXtyI#WalkToSchoolWeek pic.twitter.com/eQh7tAklfL
It’s #WalktoSchoolWeek and we were up and out early to get to breakfast club. Olivia struggled to choose only three things that made her happy on her walk this morning @Mount_Carmel1 @livingstreets #innercitycommute pic.twitter.com/wjxRRokYvn
— Julie (@mountcarmelmama) October 5, 2020