Skip to main content
N I Direct government services

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
  • Contacts
  • Help
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • RSS

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Travel, transport and roads
  3. Active travel and sustainable transport
  4. Walking

Walking to school

Walking to school is a great method of transportation for children whose schools are located within a reasonable distance. It improves children's health and allows them to travel independently - but their safety and security is vital.

Benefits of walking to school

Walking your child to school:

  • helps contribute to their daily amount of exercise
  • allows you to spend more social time with them
  • can help build good walking habits in them from a young age, so they choose to walk more when they can

Walking can also help build children’s confidence, as well as teaching them the rules of the road and how to walk safely.

It can help strengthen relationships with the friends they walk with, which can especially help those starting post-primary education.

While walking offers many benefits, it is understandable that parents and teachers may have some concerns around road safety. For more information, worksheets and resources on road safety are available on these pages:

  • Road safety for primary school children
  • Road safety for post-primary school children

Walking bus

For children who do not want, or who are not ready, to walk to school unaccompanied, there are a number of alternatives. The Walking Bus scheme, for example, enables children to walk to school in safe, supervised groups.

The Walking Bus concept is a safe, healthy and environmentally-friendly approach to walking large groups of children to and from school.

Each walking bus has an adult 'driver' at the front and an adult 'conductor' at the rear. The children walk to school in a group along a set route picking up additional 'passengers' at specific 'bus stops' along the way. The bus runs in all weather conditions and everyone wears a reflective jacket.

Each walking bus is different, as they are developed to suit the needs of children and their parents.

Some schools have a number of walking buses, while others only have one.

Some walking buses operate only on certain days, while others operate only in the morning or afternoon.

Many are set up and run by the school’s Parent and Teacher’s Association (PTA). Remember to check with the school principal for permission and support, they may be able to help with the setup.

Benefits of the walking bus:

  • good for children - a walking bus is a safe way for children to walk to school, allowing children to have regular daily exercise and reinforcing the habit of walking for shorter journeys
  • good for the environment - with less congestion and traffic, which means less pollution
  • good for you - an opportunity for you to have social contact with other parents, physical exercise and the feeling of well-being knowing that you're doing something worthwhile

Insurance

Remember to arrange insurance cover before starting a walking bus. Your school should be able to advise on this. Why not set up a walking bus at your school?

If the school has a Parent Teacher Association, check with Parentkind NI about insurance.

More useful links

  • School transport
Share this page Share on Facebook (external link opens in a new window / tab) Share on Twitter (external link opens in a new window / tab) Share by email (external link opens in a new window / tab)

Walking

  • Walking
  • Walking to school

Translation help

How to translate this page

Help improve this page - send your feedback

What do you want to do?
Report a problem
Which problem did you find on this page? (Tick all that apply)

Messages

You will not receive a reply. We will consider your feedback to help improve the site.

Don't include any personal or financial information, for example National Insurance, credit card numbers, or phone numbers.

What is your question about?

What to do next

Comments or queries about angling can be emailed to anglingcorrespondence@daera-ni.gov.uk 

If you have a comment or query about benefits, you will need to contact the government department or agency which handles that benefit.  Contacts for common benefits are listed below.

Carer's Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912
Email 
dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Discretionary support / Short-term benefit advance

Call 0800 587 2750 
Email 
customerservice.unit@communities-ni.gov.uk

Disability Living Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912 
Email dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Employment and Support Allowance

Call 0800 587 1377

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Contact your local Jobs & Benefits office

Personal Independence Payment

Call 0800 587 0932

If your query is about another benefit, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

Comments or queries about the Blue Badge scheme can be emailed to bluebadges@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk or you can also call 0300 200 7818.

For queries or advice about careers, contact the Careers Service.

For queries or advice about Child Maintenance, contact the Child Maintenance Service.

For queries or advice about claiming compensation due to a road problem, contact DFI Roads claim unit.

If you can’t find the information you’re looking for in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) section, then for queries about:

  • Restrictions or regulations — contact the Department of Health
  • Travel advice (including self-isolation) — contact the Department of Health
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations — contact the Department of Health or Public Health Agency

If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk and for queries about your certificate, email covidcertni@hscni.net.

For queries or advice about criminal record checks, email ani@accessni.gov.uk

Application and payment queries can be emailed to ema_ni@slc.co.uk

For queries or advice about employment rights, contact the Labour Relations Agency.

For queries or advice about birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates and research, contact the General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI) by email gro_nisra@finance-ni.gov.uk

For queries about the High Street Spend Local Scheme,  email HSSS.mail@economy-ni.gov.uk.

For queries about:

  • Car tax, vehicle registration and SORN
    contact the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Swansea
     
  • Driver licensing and tests, MOT and vehicle testing
    contact the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA), Northern Ireland

If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk.

 

For queries or advice about passports, contact HM Passport Office.

For queries or advice about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), including parking tickets and bus lane PCNs, email dcu@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about pensions, contact the Northern Ireland Pension Centre.

If you wish to report a problem with a road or street you can do so online in this section.

If you wish to check on a problem or fault you have already reported, contact DfI Roads.

For queries or advice about historical, social or cultural records relating to Northern Ireland, use the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) enquiry service.

For queries or advice about rates, email LPSCustomerTeam@lpsni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about  60+ and Senior Citizen SmartPasses (which can be used to get concessionary travel on public transport), contact Smartpass - Translink.

If you have a question about a government service or policy, you should contact the relevant government organisation directly.  We don't have access to information about you.

Related sites

  • gov.uk
  • nibusinessinfo.co.uk

Links to supporting information

  • Accessibility statement
  • Crown copyright
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • RSS