School children on the Central Coast are being encouraged to put on their walking shoes on Friday 20th May and participate in National Walk Safely to School Day.
The annual event encourages parents and carers to walk to school with primary school-age children to promote the health and environmental benefits of walking and help develop regular walking habits from an early age.
Taking place during National Road Safety Week (15–22 May), the day also aims to help children learn vital road-crossing skills.
Blue Haven Public School is one of the schools encouraging students to take part, and principal Dale Edwards said the school will be supporting the event with a variety of classroom activities.
“Walking regularly is a great way to encourage a healthy lifestyle not only for children, but for people of all ages, health and ability,” Mr Edwards said.
“It’s also important children are able to navigate the road rules to keep themselves safe when walking in the community and Walk Safely to School Day provides a great opportunity to do that.
“We will be delivering lessons on road safety and exercising safely in the lead up to the day, while the kids will take part in additional activities such as designing posters to promote and educate around how to walk safely around the community.
“We are fortunate to already have a number of students who are keen walkers, and we’ll be giving out stickers and other items to help encourage as many of our students and families to take part.”
Nigel Tebb, health promotion officer at Central Coast Local Health District, encouraged schools and families across the Coast to get involved.
“Walk Safely to School Day is a great excuse to start reducing our dependency on the car and embrace active transport as a means to get us around,” Nigel said.
“There are so many benefits to getting into healthy habits like walking to school – from its importance to a child’s health, development and wellbeing, to reducing congestion on our roads and the pollution that results from that.
“It’s great to see schools like Blue Haven getting fully behind Walk Safely to School Day, and we’d love as many as possible to encourage families across the Coast to get walking on the day.
“One of the keys to a safer walking environment for school children and other vulnerable road users is slower vehicle speed, so when driving, slow down and look out for pedestrians.”
For more information on National Walk Safely to School Day, visit www.walk.com.au.