WOW stands for Walk Once a Week and is a way to encourage pupils and parents who usually come by car to regularly walk once a week
How Does it Work?
Pupils who walk to school (or travel actively by cycling, scooting or park and stride) at least once a week earn a badge at the end of each month as a reward.
Any school can run a WOW scheme – they just need to make sure the pupil's journeys are logged every day in class (using the online Travel Tracker). Those that travel actively at least once a week earn a badge at the end of each month.
The travel tracker provides a wealth of useful data to inform travel plans and provide evidence.
Find out more information about WOW which is run by Living Streets, the charity who also promote the national Walk to School. They have a range of resources to support this scheme. They also provide tips on securing funding for the project.
Why this is a Good Idea
It's easier for people to break their drive-to-school habit if you can persuade them to walk just once a week, rather then trying to persuade them to walk every day. Once they get into the habit they often increase their walking days too.
This is a year round challenge – not just for a special week or month.
Any school can take part using their own resources or they can purchase special badges from Living Streets.
Challenges
Although pupils only walk once a week, hopefully this will give them the chance to feel the benefits of walking so they are then encouraged to walk every day.
You have to pay for the travel tracker and badges, however in England the Sports Premium funding can be used to fund this (and many other) walk to school schemes.
Teachers need to allocate some time first thing in the morning to log onto the Travel Tracker and arrange for all children to log their journeys.