Cash boost to get children walking to school

A huge £800,000 lump of cash from the government will go towards encouraging families to walk their children to school at least once a week.

The ‘Walk Once a Week’ scheme run by charity Living Streets, gives children a collectable metal badge for every month they manage to walk to school once a week.

The extra funding will be used to expand the scheme to another 900 schools in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Tyne and Wear, where the numbers of overweight children are higher.

The scheme has now been running successfully for six years in areas where parents have been lucky enough to get their child into a school that is within walking distance of their home.

So far, 59 per cent of girls and sixty per cent of boys attending participating schools are now walking to school at least once a week.

Public Health Minister Gillian Merron said: “Ditching the car and walking to school is an easy way for children and parents to be more active.

“Living Street’s ‘Walk Once A Week’ scheme is doing a great job at helping families get out and about by foot. The £800,000 of Government funding I am announcing today will mean even more kids can get active on their way to school. By walking the journey to school it can count towards the 60 active minutes children need every day and the 30 minutes mums and dads should get five times a week.”