Walking with Children

It is recommended that children and young people take at least 60 minutes exercise of moderate intensity each day.

• Leave plenty of time so that your child does not feel rushed.
• Make sure that he/she is wearing comfortable shoes and appropriate clothing.
• Take drinks and snacks on longer walks.

Walking to school is an excellent way of incorporating exercise into your child’s daily routine. It also reduces congestion and improves safety at the school gates. A Walking Bus can encourage children to walk to school, visit our Walking Bus webpage for more information.                                 

Walking Bus

A Walking Bus is an organised rota of children and parent helpers walking to and from school together. The Walking Bus follows a set route, stopping at agreed points to pick up more passengers.

Most walking buses currently operating within the county start off by running once or twice a week or maybe during the summer months only. This can often increase as the bus grows in popularity, and in some cases the bus will run operate five times a week, throughout the entire school year.

Some of the benefits of a Walking Bus include:

• It’s fun for children and parents
• It’s a healthy way to get to school
• It teaches children pedestrian skills and road safety awareness
• It reduces the number of cars on the road.

Please contact your child's school to see whether it is feasible to set up an informal walking bus.

Stepping Out

Stepping Out has been developed for children in Year 4 to help them develop their basic pedestrian skills. The project contains classroom-based work, as well as practical activities outside the school, using local roads.

Parent and volunteer adults are encouraged to help with the practical activities, and to support their children with the classroom based work.

A risk-assessed route is identified and the final activity for pupils is to walk along the route, using their road safety skills. Parent/ volunteer adults are situated along the route and will identify any areas of concern that they have regarding pupils abilities.

For more information call 01905 765 765 or email choose@worcestershire.gov.uk.