Schools

Around 27 per cent of children are now overweight and research suggests the main problem is a continual reduction in the amount of exercise children take.

Much of the exercise that children used to get was on the school journey. Increasingly however, children are being driven to school and parental fears keep them indoors out of school hours.

Children who get the walking habit early in the primary school years are much more likely to continue to walk into adolescence and adulthood. Active travel on the school journey can make an important contribution to increasing children’s physical activity levels and also reduce congestion and carbon emissions.

Walk England believe that young people have a right to be able to walk to other destinations as well as their school – including their nearest park, sports facility, library, medical centre and shop. If you have an opinion about this why not join our Forum or if you have more information on schemes where people have worked with young people to encourage them to walk more often to more places please let us know.