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Why going for a walk should be on the National Curriculum

A few years ago we started a 'walking bus' at my school. Two of us would walk to the centre of our village and meet a group of children at 8:30 before starting our 'bus route' through the village, picking up more children, before arriving at school at 8:45.

We started this for two reasons, primarily due to the increasing demands on our school car park, which was becoming a dangerous place at the start and end of the day, and also because we had noted that many of our children lacked enthusiasm in P.E. sessions and felt that getting a bit more exercise would not do them any harm.

We were only a small village school, but on a good day we would have up to 25% of the pupils on the bus by the time we reached school, so it was proving to be quite successful. 

After a while, I noticed that, as well as achieving our initial aims, the children were benefitting from the journey in ways that I had not anticipated when we set it up. It became a social event, not just for the children, and many interesting and thoughtful conversations were taking place between us all. Travelling on the bus was having an uplifting effect on the children's mood, and many of them were arriving at school buzzing and looking forward to starting the school day after starting their journeys in much less of a positive state! I was noticing benefits in my mood at the start of the day too, and I was certainly getting my steps in as I was walking over a mile every morning at the start of the day.

This change in mood was particularly noticeable in our more anxious characters, and I am convinced that the walking bus was acting as kind of an intervention for these children, to use a school term. I don't think that all members of staff understood the value of our walking bus, and thought that the head teacher disappearing for 25 minutes at the start of the day was not the best use of his time, but I believe passionately that it was a vital part of the school day, and although I am no longer head teacher there, after 12 years of service, I hope that the walking bus is still running daily.

In the current climate, I would strongly advocate for all schools to find time for building a walk into the children's school day. If you do, I am sure that you will see the benefits we did.



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