The humble walk to school could be the answer to the county’s obesity and traffic congestion woes according to Kent County Council chiefs and a leading children’s charity.

A meeting held at County Hall discussed the success of the KM Walk to School initiative, its role in improving children's health and reducing the number of cars on Kent's roads, and the importance of schools in driving the scheme forward.

Simon Dolby, chief executive of KM Walk to School explained to Cllr David Brazier, KCC’s cabinet member for environment and transport and David Joyner, the council’s transport and safety policy manager, the techniques the charity uses to excite children in green travel.

A key element of the strategy is supporting schools to name a Green Class of the Week based on their walk to school data. This is something pupils really want to win and the result is that children employ pester power to convince mum and dad to walk to school on Wednesdays.

Mr Dolby said: “Part of the strategy is that children convince grown-ups that if they really have to get in a car, they ought to park and stride. Even if they park 500 yards away and walk the remaining route they still remove congestion around the school gates. It’s also very successful in getting the complete switch to green journeys in total.”

Mr Joyner said the school run remains a key priority for KCC, in particular giving parents “easy and straightforward” options to get their children to school.

“We’re doing our best to keep Kent moving,” he said. “Walking to school is part of wider initiatives to improve public transport, improve the roads, and encourage people to think about their options. There are alternatives to using a car and they can have real benefits for parents and their children.”

KCC is a key supporter of the KM Walk to School initiative, which includes walking buses, Walk on Wednesday (WOW) and Active Bug, and encourages families to leave the car at home and walk, scooter, cycle, or park and stride to school.

Cllr David Brazier praised the Walk to School campaign. “I think it’s a commendable scheme in its greater objectives of keeping traffic off the roads, pollution down and encouraging children to take healthy exercise,” he said.

Cllr Brazier was impressed by the success of the scheme’s incentives including multiple Challenge Day events, where the competition is raised to inter-school level.

“The way [KM Walk to School] have gone about this in making it mildly competitive, not only between schools but also between children in different classes in individual schools, is also ingenious,” he said.

Cllr Brazier said: “If you can engender an outlook on life that involves physical exercise, then perhaps when children are grown up and away from adult supervision they’ll keep these good habits going and pass them on to their own children.”

Schools are being urged to register their interest without delay if their Walk to School scheme is to be in place for the next academic year.

Mr Dolby said: “Summer term is when we’re signing up schools to get involved in WOW or Active Bug for next academic year. Schools can use their Primary School Sport Premium grant to fund it. They receive everything they need including engaging schemes for the children, Ofsted self-evaluation evidence and publicity through the KM Group.”

For more information on KM Walk to School visit www.kmwalktoschool.co.uk. If you are a head teacher and you would like to register your school please call Louise Rogerson on 0844 2640291.

Sponsors of the Kent County Council-led initiative include Mini Babybel, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Specsavers, Eurostar, Countrystyle Recycling, Chaucer Foundation, Southern Water, Orbit South, Golding Homes, Jelf Insurance Brokers, Leeds Castle, Independent Music Productions, Whitefriars shopping area, Ashford Borough Council, Thanet District Council, Canterbury City Council, Maidstone Borough Council and Medway Council.

Fact File

• 200 primary schools use KM Walk to School resources to promote green travel every week.
• Last academic year 218,000 school run car journeys were removed from local roads by participating schools.
• KM Walk to School packages include road safety skill tests and provide Ofsted self-evaluation evidence for school management teams.