Walking zones

Suitable for nursery, primary and secondary school pupils and families. Supports the Geography National Curriculum.

Overview

Education phase

Early years Key stage 2 Key stage 3 Key stage 4 Key stage 5 Key stage 1

Category of activity

Travel

Types of activity

Walking

How it helps

Supports Geography and Maths Curriculum
Eases congestion at schools gates
Encourages daily active travel
Improves air quality around schools

Useful Links

Watch Crowland School's walking zone rap Park and Stride

Useful Resources

Walking Zones Guide Walking Zone Example from Haringey

About the activity

Create a walking zone map of your school's local area to help pupils and their families to plan safer, active travel routes to school.

With your school at the centre, your map should include an area marked out showing everywhere that can be reached within a 5 or 10 minute ‘walking zone’.

Pupils can then use the map to show their parents/carers how they can get to and from school on foot, bicycle or scooter. Share your walking zone map (see Resources for an example) with the school community to support Park and stride.

Or, be more creative in capturing your pupils' parents'/carers' attention, like Crowland's Primary School who made a rap video about their 5-minute walk zone to help spread the word!

What you'll need

A map of the school's local area (scale 1:5000 recommended)
Information from your borough council about parking control zones in local area
Compass and pens

Activity steps

Step 1

Liaise with your borough council. Ask for information regarding restricted parking and any planned road works you may have to consider

Step 2

Get mapping. With the help of the walking zone guide (see Resources), create a walking zone map with your pupils

Step 3

Involve the wider community. Share the walking zone map with your pupils, their parents/carers and the wider school community, promoting it in newsletters, assemblies and on notice boards

Step 4

Check for success. Are pupils and their parents/carers using the map? Has it changed the way they travel to school or the amount of congestion outside the school gates?

Step 5

Tell your story. Upload your evidence to "my activities".