St Benedict's Pupils 'Free their feet'

Published on isbi School News dated Tuesday 20th of November 2012

Children from St Benedict's School, Ealing took part in the Free Your Feet Challenge organised by Living Streets at the end of October, which has officially been designated as the Walk to School Month. The challenge was to get children out of cars and buses and instead to walk to school for a full five days. Not everyone could manage to walk all the way, especially if the distance to school was considerable. Just over 500 pupils were encouraged to take part and the challenge was taken on most enthusiastically by the children in Years 7 and 8.

Living Streets is the national charity that stands up for pedestrians. They work to create safe, attractive, enjoyable streets where it's great to walk. Everyone taking part in the Free Your Feet Challenge had to record their walking that week on a special postcard or online. Children had to complete a survey and one participating pupil from St Benedict's will be the lucky winner of a £50 shopping voucher.

The children enjoyed the experience:
Isabelle Dove said, 'I live near Ealing Common and it's a bit far to walk all the way, so I have been getting off the bus early and walking the rest of the way. My friends who join me on the bus also walk so it's good fun.'

Cerys Edwards said, 'I try to walk every day from Pitshanger. I start out a bit earlier than usual and walk with my friends. We can have a good chat along the way and catch up with all sorts of things.'

The Senior School's Environment Coordinator, Kate Linton, was delighted with the response of the pupils. 'It's proven that a challenge like this actually raises walking levels in schools by up to 15%, not just during the five days of the challenge, but longer-term also. Walking to school is good for children's health and improves the environment also, with fewer car journeys being made. 20% of rush hour traffic is actually school run traffic.'