Active Travel to School
The average drive to school and back releases 800g of COs into the air – enough to inflate over 60 ballooons. And it’s not just bad for the environment. Inside your car, you and your child will be breathing in up to three times more pollution than if you were walking along the pavement.
Tweedgreen is working together with the local primary schools and Peebles High School to encourage our children to adopt active travel methods for their journey to school. This has the dual result of reducing carbon emissions whilst also improving children’s fitness levels. For children who live a short distance from school, Tweedgreen would like to see more pupils walk, cycle or scoot to school. Active travel to school not only improves childrens’ fitness levels but it also improves their ability to concentrate while at school. At present, 60 minutes of exercise per day is recommended for children. A walk or cycle to school makes a significant contribution to this target.
Tweedgreen is working closely with the schools and with Scottish Borders Council to encourage children to walk to school and cycle to school. We are supporting Walk to School week, an initiative that runs in schools in October and May each year. Building on the success of Walk to School Week, we would like to see parents and children commiting to walking (or cycling) to school once a week. In line with this objective, Tweedgreen will be supporting the Walk to School Once a Week initative. Some of our primary schools are already involved in this initiative, which has proved very successful with pupils and parents alike. We hope to encourage other schools to adopt this initiative.
Tweedgreen is also working with our schools to promote the Cycle Friendly Schools Award Scheme run by Cycling Scotland. This scheme provides a framework for schools to improve their facilities and infrastructure for cycling, encouraging more children to cycle to school. St. Ronan’s Primary School in Innerleithen registered with the scheme in July. Tweedgreen hopes to encourage other schools in the area to join the Cycle Friendly Schools Award Scheme. For further information or to register on the Cycle Friendly School Award Scheme, go to http://www.cyclingscotland.org/our-projects/award-schemes/cycle-friendly-schools/
For children who live further away from their schools, Tweedgreen would encourage pupils who are eligible for the free school bus to use this facility.
Our ultimate objective would be to see Fuel Free Days: once a week, parents and pupils commit to getting to school by any method other than the car – be it walking, cycling or scooting.