Get arty for walk to school week
Pupils across Liverpool are being invited to design a TravelWise mascot, which will be used to encourage children and young people across Merseyside to walk to school. The TravelWise design competition is being launched to celebrate ‘Walk to School Week’, which takes place from 5th - 9th October.
TravelWise Walk to School Week, which forms part of International Walk to School Month, aims to create greener schools and healthier, happier pupils by encouraging them and their parents to walk to and from school more regularly.
The winning character will be used in TravelWise promotional materials to help raise awareness of the health and environmental benefits of walking to school among families across the region. The new mascot will join last year’s character – “Walk Dog” – designed by Lauren Callaghan of Green Park Community Primary and Nursery School in Maghull and now a familiar face to pupils in the region.
Jane Moore, TravelWise Co-Ordinator is looking forward to receiving the first entries to this year’s competition. She said: “Walking to school has huge benefits to children’s health, develops their road sense and helps cut congestion around the school gates. Walking can be great fun as well, and we hope that the TravelWise competition and Walk to School Week will encourage children in Liverpool to make as much effort as they can to walk to school. Children who live further away from school can also benefit by getting out of the car earlier and walking for part of their journey.
“This summer, pupils from 61 primary and secondary schools in Liverpool and more than 80,000 children in Merseyside took part in our six week BIG Walk to School. Building on the success of this and of our school travel plan programme, TravelWise aims to help and encourage parents and children to continue to put their best feet forward this term.”
As well as seeing their artwork used in materials sent to schools across Merseyside, the winner of the competition will also be treated to a class trip to FACT. The competition is open to pupils at all Merseyside schools and entries must be received by TravelWise by 2 November. Schools will also be provided with resource packs ahead of Walk to School Week.
For more information about Walk to School Week, log on to www.LetsTravelWise.org and check out the schools pages, or call 0151 330 1253.
