Birmingham pupils step up for active travel 

Pupils from Lea Forest Academy in Birmingham had a special tour of West Midland Combined Authority offices yesterday (11 October) as part of International Walk to School Month. 

The school takes part in WOW – the walk to school challenge from Living Streets and reached the WOW Top Ten leaderboard in England in June. 

To celebrate pupils’ efforts to walk or wheel to school, Transport for West Midlands invited pupils to visit the offices to see the multi-agency camera suite used to manage transport across the West Midlands. 

WOW sees pupils record how they get to school using the interactive WOW Travel Tracker with those who walk, wheel, cycle or scoot to school being awarded a monthly WOW badge. Pupils can also earn a badge by using ‘Park and Stride’, parking at least 10 minutes from their school and walking the rest of the way.  

Pupils around the globe take part in International Walk to School Month each October. Walking to school helps contribute to the 60 active minutes a day recommended by health experts to keep children healthy and happy. Similarly, parents/carers accompanying them benefit from reduced risk of long-term chronic health conditions such as certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.   

A generation ago, 70 per cent of primary school aged children walked to school, now it’s only around 50 per cent. Living Streets is working to help more families choose cleaner and healthier ways to travel. WOW schools typically see an increase of 43% in active journeys (where pupils, walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or ‘Park and Stride’)  and a 59 per cent reduction in cars driving to the school gates.  

At Lea Forest Academy, active travel rates have increased to an impressive 95.26% across all modes, and the number of pupils whose parents or carers drive the entire journey to school has reduced by almost 85%. 

Catherine Woodhead, Chief Executive, Living Streets, said:  

“Walking or wheeling to school is a fun and simple way for children and their families to feel healthy and happy. It’s great for mental wellbeing and reduces congestion, carbon emissions and air pollution.  

“I’m delighted to see pupils in Birmingham enjoying the benefits of walking to school with WOW. We’re campaigning to make Britain’s streets child friendly by tackling deterrents like pavement parking and dangerous crossings. But we need support to be able to continue this work. Visit our website to donate to our urgent appeal and help secure a future where streets work for everyone.”  

Mark Corbin, Director of Network Resilience for Transport for West Midlands, said: 

 “We enjoyed showing the children how we keep a close eye on our transport networks with hundreds of CCTV feeds and live reports from our many bus, train and tram operators. I hope some of them found it inspirational and may be interested in a career in transport in the future. 

“They deserve praise for their commitment to walking, wheeling and cycling to school – by reducing car use they are contributing to cutting both pollution and traffic congestion in their neighbourhoods. For our part, we’ll continue working with organisations like Living Streets to help schools and communities improve safety on their local roads.” 

Bally Seera, Career Pathways Lead at Lea Forest Academy, said: 

“At Lea Forest, we take great pride in our commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.  
By using the WOW Tracker, we encourage students to adopt eco-friendly journeys to school, rewarding their efforts with WOW badges. Every Friday, during our celebration assemblies, we proudly honour the class with the most active journeys, fostering a culture of environmental responsibility and healthy habits. 

“The experience today celebrates the students’ dedication to environmental awareness and sustainable travel while inspiring them to consider future roles in shaping a more sustainable world.” 

This year, Living Streets is encouraging children and their families/carers to go on an Autumn Street Safari, with prizes being generously supplied by shoezone. Click below to find out more and enter the prize draw to win one of 10 £25 shoezone vouchers.