Walking to school
Walking to school is great for children whose schools are 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
- 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:
Walking bus
For children who do not want, or who are not ready, to walk to school by themselves, there are other options.
The Walking Bus scheme, for example, means children can walk to school in safe, supervised groups.
The walking bus 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 walking bus runs in all weather conditions and everyone wears a fluorescent and reflective waistcoat.
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 are 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 set-up.
A walking bus is:
- good for children - a safe way to get to school, allowing them to have regular daily exercise and get into the habit of walking for shorter journeys
- good for the environment - less congestion and traffic, which means less pollution
- good for you - an opportunity for you to have social contact with other parents while doing some physical exercise
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.