WoW scheme wows Minister for Public Health Gillian Merron

Showing off the WoW t-shirts

26 January saw all 450 of the pupils at George Spicer Primary School in Enfield wrap up warm and unite in flying the flag for walking to school.

Public Health Minister Gillian Merron joined parents, pupils, teachers and Living Streets staff to celebrate the launch of a grant from the Department of Health to expand Walk to School's popular WoW (Walk Once a Week) scheme in three regions across England - the West Midlands, North West and North East.

Children at George Spicer Primary School were given WoW t-shirts and asked to make a special effort to walk to school, counting how many minutes it took them. The number of minutes for the whole school were counted up on a special Walk to School 'totaliser', reaching a staggering 4,013 minutes in total (approx. 67 hours). Parents and children alike were extremely enthusiastic, with families queuing up to 'hand in' their minutes-count to helpers.

Some parents and children then went on a Community Street Audit led by Living Streets' Chief Executive Tony Armstrong.

The WoW scheme currently has widespread takeup in London, and is making inroads across the rest of the country. It is popular both because of its fun, easy-to-implement structure and because it encourages regular walking in schools where it is run.

To find out more about what WoW is achieving for schools and local authorities, click here.

If you are from a local authority in one of the areas the funding will be used in, please contact Liz Crampton on liz.crampton@livingstreets.org.uk to find out more.

If you are not in one of the specified regions and would like more information about the WoW scheme, please email walktoschool@living streets.org.uk.

Published Tuesday 26 January 2010