Feet on Fridays for Beacon School

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Feet on Fridays for Beacon School

The Beacon Infant & Nursery School Use Their Feet On Fridays

The Beacon Infant and Nursery School, in Bodmin, has taken a big stride towards green travel with the introduction of a 'Feet on Friday' (FOF) scheme for parents whose children attend the school.

The new scheme is to encourage children to walk to and from school on Fridays to cut down on congestion and pollution around the school entrance. The school has introduced the scheme with the help of Cornwall County Council's Travel Awareness Team.

Matt McTaggart [LIB DEM], Cornwall County Council's Executive Member for Strategic Planning and Transport, who is very supportive of walking and cycling schemes, said "The Beacon Infant & Nursery School is aware of the importance of reducing congestion around the school gate and has worked hard to introduce initiatives that reduce congestion and help the children keep healthy.

"The walking scheme is designed to ease traffic congestion and improve safety at the school gate. We hope that as many students as possible that currently get driven to school and dropped off by car will take part in this scheme. It will not only improve safety but it will also enable parents and students to enjoy the many benefits of walking to school."

The School is keen that their pupils not only get a good academic grounding but also learn about the positives of having an active, healthy life style and are keen to encourage as many pupils as possible to walk to school for some or all of their journey. The FOF initiative is a simple and flexible scheme which can greatly reduce the number of children who are driven to school regularly and increase the amount of physical activity children take in their every day lives.

Sally Buts, Head of The Beacon Infant and Nursery School, said, "Walking to school is a wonderful opportunity for parents and children to talk and share the time spent together and the other benefits include a healthier lifestyle, improved fitness, less pollution and improved road safety around the school ground.

"I am very keen for as many of our students to join the initiative as possible, and am encouraging everyone to take part."

The Beacon Infant & Nursery School has a school travel plan and were one of the schools who won funding in the first round of government grants for sustainable travel initiatives and are looking to develop the achievements they have already made and want to continue their success with their new Feet on Friday scheme which will be launched on Friday 12 January. Each of the children will receive a FOF Diary to record how they travel to school.

Billy the Boots, the Cornwall County Council Travel Awareness Mascot, will be visiting the school to present prizes to children who already walk to school regularly.

John Mellor, Cornwall County Council's Senior School Travel Plan Officer, will be joining The Beacon Infant & Nursery School for the launch of the Feet on Friday scheme and will be talking to the children in assembly about healthy minds and healthy eating and why it is good to walk.

John said, "The Feet on Friday scheme and other sustainable travel initiatives like 'walking buses' and 'park and strides' aim to encourage children and parents to arrive at school having had a healthy and sustainable journey. Parents can focus on using the time they spend walking with their child as quality time to talk about their school journey and life skills, and, of course, we want them to walk on a regular basis not just on Fridays!"

John has been working with the school to produce an information leaflet for parents promoting sustainable and safer travel, which reminds parents and children to use School Crossing Patrol sites to cross roads and sensible parking for parents who have to use their car to take their children to school.

The leaflet gives parents and children good reasons to walk:

It's less stressful than travelling by car
It's cheap – walking to school is free!
You learn road safety skills while you walk
It's friendly: 'walk & talk' to friends and adults
It's considerate: less traffic = safer roads
It's healthy: getting fresh air & exercise

'Feet on Friday' and initiatives such as 'Walk on Wednesdays' and 'Park and Stride' form part of the School Travel Plan and the Healthy School Schemes work.



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