Burnley Stoneyholme Primary School leading the way with national WOW Living Streets walking initiative

Burnley Stoneyholme Primary School is one of ten schools on the WOW Top Ten leaderboard for February.

WOW - the walk to school challenge from charity Living Streets sees pupils record how they get to school using the interactive WOW Travel Tracker with those who walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or ‘Park and Stride’ to school being awarded a monthly WOW badge.

The WOW Top Ten helps boost pupils’ engagement in WOW and increases walking rates at schools. With a few challenges scattered across the school year, WOW Top Ten supports pupils’ health and wellbeing while reducing congestion and pollution around the gates.

This term, pupils at Burnley Stoneyholme Primary School took part in the spring WOW Top Ten which asked them to walk to school as many times as possible in February. Pupils who live too far away or are not able to walk the whole way to school were encouraged to Park and Stride by asking their parents or carers to park at least ten minutes away from the school and walk or wheel the rest of the way.

Stephen Edwards, chief executive, Living Streets said: “We’re very happy to reward pupils from Burnley Stoneyholme Primary School as part of the WOW Top Ten. Walking to school is a simple way for children to meet the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity a day needed to stay fit, healthy and happy. It can also reduce congestion, air pollution and road danger outside the school gates.

“It’s great that pupils at Burnley Stoneyholme Primary School are benefitting from walking to school. They are an inspiration and I’m sure that they’ll encourage other children and their families to follow in their footsteps.”

Lisa Davison, headteacher at Burnley Stoneyholme Primary School, said: “Our children have embraced the Travel Tracker scheme from Living Streets and have enjoyed collecting the different badges for a number of years. Our staff can often be found on the gates awarding stickers to our children that choose healthy ways to travel.”