Healthier routes to school

Do you dread the school run? Do you battle for a space outside the school gates as you try and get your child to school in time before whizzing off to work and then feel guilty because you haven’t walked them to school in plenty of time? Do you despair at getting older children to walk or cyle themselves? If you run a school, are you fed up with trying to educate the parents on healthier options for the school run?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, I’m sure you are not alone.

However, help may just be at hand with a new DVD packed with practical advice on how to tackle the school run.
As of November, this DVD will be available to all primary schools in Scotland. It promotes the benefits of walking and cycling to school and explains all about why creating a school travel plan is important. The DVD entitled ‘Healthier Routes’, was commissioned by sustainable transport charity, Sustrans, thanks to funding from Scottish Government’s Transport Directorate as part of the ‘Tackling the School Run’ programme.

It looks into the problems different types of schools face when trying to achieve safer and healthier routes to school for pupils and how schools might overcome these barriers. Narrated by presenter, Grant Stott, it shows what schools can achieve by the development and implementation of a school travel plan using examples of the work carried out at eight schools across East Lothian, Glasgow, Highlands, and Perth and Kinross.

Lynn Marshall, Sustrans Project Officer for School Travel, Scotland, said:”This free resource aims to encourage and empower children and young people to take action on sustainable travel whilst also informing teachers and others working in schools about the important links with health education and environmental studies. Teacher interviews at the end of the DVD show how it ties in closely with the themes embedded within a Curriculum for Excellence.

“We hope the new DVD will encourage safe and active travel to school by highlighting the different issues surrounding safe routes to schools and how to tackle them through the development of a school travel plan.”

(Back to children's health)