Children in the borough continue stepping to success

A staggering 96,000 trips where children walked or wheeled all the way to school were recorded as part of a challenge over the spring term.

‘WOW’, the walk to school challenge, run by charity Living Streets, is a pupil-led initiative where children self-report how they get to their primary school every day, with those who walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or park and stride at least once a week, awarded collectible WOW badges. 

WOW has been helping to reduce congestion and pollution at thousands of schools for 20 years. On average, WOW schools benefit from 59% fewer car journeys to the school gates and 43% more active journeys. Last academic year, the walk to school outreach project helped create 17.8 million new walking journeys and removed over 3.4 million car km from the roads at peak times across the country.

In the borough, the challenge has had a profound impact on the way children travel to school. Nineteen primary schools are now taking part in the challenge, nine of them joining this year. Walk/wheel all-the-way to school journeys are up over 16 percentage points on the baseline data, taking the average number across participating schools to 57.8%. This exceeds the government target of 55% of journeys to primary school being walked by 2025.

The 24-25 project was funded through a £3 million grant from Active Travel England, a government agency that promotes walking, wheeling or cycling as a preferred choice of travel in England.

Daniel O’Connell from Living Streets said: 

The WOW Walk-to-School programme is going from strength to strength across Blackburn with Darwen, with 19 schools now actively engaging in the programme and reaping the many benefits the simple act of walking to school can bring.

We’re seeing real impact with increases in active journeys to school and reductions in car trips, and with May being National Walking Month there’s no better time to get involved!

Schools taking part in WOW also have the opportunity to feature in the WOW Top Ten, an idea to boost engagement and increase walking rates. In the latest top ten, St Matthew’s Church of England Primary School in Blackburn took the top spot.

Students there have been taking part in the WOW challenge since Autumn last year and say that walking makes them feel more energetic. They’ve even been wearing step tracking bands to calculate their steps and if they can’t walk to school, they always ensure they get their steps while at school. 

Miss Sophie Ashton, a teacher from the school said: 

The WOW walking has really taken off with more children (who have no choice but to come in a car) completing their walks at break time and of their own free choice to do it. School Councillors are helping their friends to achieve their badges and being walking buddies, which is lovely.

Many of the children now have numerous badges on their school uniform and say they’ve made more of an effort to stay active with their family at home as a result of the challenge at school. 

Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Executive Member for Growth and Development said:

Yet again I’m overjoyed to see that the ‘WOW’ project is having such a positive effect on our school children, fostering healthy habits that will hopefully last with them for life.

It’s not just about encouraging active travel, but it’s also about adhering by our aim to reduce the borough’s carbon emissions, which is a crucial for our children’s future.

Councillor Julie Gunn, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education said:

I’m so pleased that so many of the borough’s children are continuing to put their best foot forward and travel actively to school.

With nineteen primary schools already signed up, there’s no reason why all the borough’s primary schools can’t get on board.  I hope to see the project going from strength to strength in the coming months.

The plan is to reach even more schools in the 25/26 academic year.

The nineteen schools currently taking part in the project are:

• Audley Junior School
• Cedars Primary School
• Daisyfield Primary School
• St. Barnabas Church of England Primary Academy, Darwen
• Longshaw Community Junior School
• Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School
• Roe Lee Park Primary School
• Shadsworth Infant School
• St. Antony’s RC Primary School
• St. Barnabas and St Paul’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School
• St. Cuthbert’s Church of England Primary School
• St. Edward’s Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn
• St. James’ Church of England Primary School, Earl Street
• St. Luke and St. Philips Church of England Primary School
• St. Matthew’s Church of England Primary School
• St. Stephen’s Church of England Primary School
• Sudell Primary School
• Wensley Fold Church of England Primary Academy
• Brookhouse Primary School

If you know of a school that would like to join other schools in the borough and take part in the ‘WOW’ project, please ask one of the school’s teachers to contact the project co-ordinator, Daniel O’Connell, by e-mailing daniel.oconnell@livingstreets.org.uk.