Best Practice Tips from KM Walk to School Awards 2011
The reasons why winners were selected are featured below.
These tips could be used as best practice for your own Walk to School schemes.
Canterbury and Swale
Top Established Walking Bus - Joy Lane Primary School
- Staging an annual Christmas party with a present for each child.
- Setting up a bus fund to pay for extra treats for the children at the end of each term.
- Used local radio for a live broadcast to promote the bus on air.
Top Relaunched Walking Bus- St Mary’s Catholic Primary School
- Organising walking bus trial days which encouraged lots of parents to step forward to co-ordinate the routes, even suggesting an extension for an existing route.
- Excellent promotion of the walking bus by reception staff, encouraging children to use it and hopefully remain on the bus throughout their time at St Mary’s.
Top WOW School – Minterne Community Junior School
- One Year 6 pupil puts a WOW class sheet centrally in the hall each Wednesday. He set himself a maths challenge, keeping all the data in a file and then working out the average percentage for each class at the end of each month.
- Each of the 13 classes has a monitor who counts the number walking in their class on Wednesday and fills in their class data at assembly, so the whole school can see how they are improving.
Dartford and Gravesham
Top Established Walking Bus – Rosherville Primary School
- Children enjoy the challenge of being budding risk assessors – spotting hazards and potential dangers on the way to school.
- All of the adults and children like fairness and all agreed to a step system which kerbs any behaviour issues and keeps everyone safe, the members of the bus helped to put this together and they all signed to adhere to these rules.
Top Walking Bus Volunteer – Karen Algar of The Gateway Primary School
- She is a reliable person, walking every day and quietly supporting and encouraging families to use the walking bus
- She is available in both the key stage 1 and key stage 2 playgrounds to network with mums and promote the walking bus.
Top Wow School – Meopham Community Academy
- Nurturing a healthy spirit of competition among the children using a high profile display in each class, boasting weekly totals collected by WOW monitors, with a WOW star on a class chart for the winning class.
- Encouraging staff to enter into the spirit of WOW by adopting car sharing on Wednesdays, consequently reducing motors on the roads.
Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks
Top Walking Bus –Hawkhurst Primary School
- Encouraging early membership by allowing siblings in buggies to join in on their way to the neighbouring pre-school. The little ones benefit from starting extra early with chats on road safety.
- Rewarding children with housepoints for every walk they make, encouraging them to take part.
Top Walking Bus Volunteer – Alison Ruff of Bishops Down Primary School
- Enormous enthusiasm and energy which benefits the children, particularly in day to day organisation of the buses and road safety training.
- This enthusiasm is infectious and her gentle persuasive techniques managed to encourage enough new parents to get involved on one particular route and prevent that route from collapsing.
Top WOW School – Borough Green Primary School
- The school’s office manager is a great ambassador, constantly keeping it in parents’ minds.
- She uses the Parentmail email system to send out weekly messages, reminding mums and dads how valuable and successful the scheme is.
Medway
Top Walking Bus Volunteer –Sandra Mumford at St Andrew’s School, Rochester
- Sandra’s bus meets 30 minutes before walking, benefiting parents who need an extra early start. She uses the time to organise early football matches and play, ensuring children start school rosy cheeked and energised.
- For a long time Sandra has funded prizes and goody bags out of her own pocket, including team footballs for year six boy leavers and gifts for girls.
- She is a great Mother Christmas, and a role model in colourful costumes, leading her bus for occasions like Christmas, Halloween, book day and Children In Need.
Top Walking Bus- St Andrew’s School, Rochester
- The fact that its three successful routes include 186 of the school’s 290 children with the other 104 doing WOW.
- Bus users get merits for every seven walks, and certificates at the end of term for 100 per cent attendance. Children also get end-of-term goody bags. >>>>
- Great innovations have included banner competitions, parking ticket competitions and a dogs’ mess campaign.
Top WOW School – Byron Primary School, Gillingham
- Posters created by the children to promote WOW are put up around the school.
- The best WOW class amongst both infants and juniors receive a reward at the end of term – usually a game they enjoy for wet play or golden time.
- Dedicated monitors have made a badge for each class to hand out to a specially good or new walker each week.
Ashford, Folkestone, Dover and Thanet
Top Walking Bus - St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Broadstairs
- Co-ordinator Barry Sussex recently set up a Scooter Club and Bike It scheme to run alongside the walking bus and keep up the children’s interest in green travel.
- This bus recently benefited from local roadworks - frustrated parents turned to the walking bus for a more reliable journey into school. One of the most positive stories we've heard about roadworks in a while.
Top Member of Staff - Liz Young of The Churchill Primary School, Hawkinge
- Getting Santa to walk with the children at Christmas with bags of gold chocolate coins as a reward and to boost their enthusiasm.
- Liz gets the Eco-Warriors to collect the weekly data. She organises walks to school themed to the time of year or linked to specific school topics and activities.
Top Walking Bus Volunteer – Angela Adams of Challock Primary School
- Introducing Walkies The Bear, who sings the walking bus song when his tummy is squeezed and goes home for a week with new walking bus members.
- Encouraging children to study for our charity's road safety tests and enthusing them with pride for knowing the Green Cross Code. She introduced road safety testing by the local police officer and community warden.
Top WOW School - St Martin’s Primary School, Dover
- Being in the centre of a very friendly community with local children at its heart.
- Many families share responsibility for getting the children to school and take turns in helping each other.
Tonbridge and Malling and Maidstone
Top Walking Bus Volunteer – Heather Dascalescu of Leybourne St Peter and St Paul School
- Heather's dedication to the school as an active PTFA member is reflected in her service to the walking bus. She has a 10 minute walk to the bus stop, but despite this, was there first, waiting for the children all through last winter’s ice and snow.
- Heather is always on time regardless of the conditions and can always be relied on to have spare tabards for any child who does not have one.
Top New Walking Bus – Stansted Primary School
- Although Stansted is a small school, the bus already engages about a quarter of its 80 pupils.
- Teachers have commented that walking bus children are more alert and ready for the day than those who travel in by car.
Top Member of Staff – Linda Martin of St Francis RC Primary School, Maidstone
- Generating interest with a “walk the headteacher” to school incentive over three weeks, helping interest and numbers to snowball.
- Our winner has constantly advertised for help by attending open evenings and giving talks, boosting numbers from two volunteers to a stalwart 10-strong team.
- Her work has been acknowledged by local residents phoning the school congratulating the walking bus, saying it is lovely to see children so animated and happy walking to school
To see the full story from the KM Walk to School Awards 2011
click here