Get Living London has sponsored a local school so they can take part in a nationwide charity campaign to get children walking more.
We’ve backed Chobham Academy in East Village to enable them to take part in National Walk to School Week, which takes place from 16th-20th May. The initiative aims to challenge and encourage children to try walking to school and can be a stepping stone to increased year-round activity. Last year, over 14,000 classes took part resulting in approximately 400,000 more children walking to school.
The Walk to School Campaign is run by Living Streets, the UK’s charity for everyday walking, to help reverse the decline in walking to school. As a nation, we walk a third less than we did 20 years ago and since the 1970s, the amount of primary school children walking to school has dropped by over a quarter.
With the growing childhood obesity epidemic beginning to cause alarm among governments, teachers and parents, Living Streets aims to re-introduce activeness back into young peoples’ lives – showing them staying healthy can be an easy and enjoyable part of their everyday routine.
Joe Irvin, Chief Executive at Living Streets says: “It’s wonderful to see Get Living London generously donate funds to help children in its local community.
“The majority of children are not getting their recommended 60 minutes of daily exercise. At Living Streets, we know that encouraging more children to walk to school is one of the best places to start – for now and for the future.
“Walking to school is a free and easy way for children to build exercise into their day. Plus, physically active children are more alert and ready to learn.
“I’d encourage everyone to get involved and take part in the walk to school campaign.”
Neil Young, CEO of Get Living London says: “At Get Living London the wellbeing of all our residents is of paramount importance to us, therefore we’re always looking for new ways to support the East Village neighbourhood. We hope that by sponsoring Chobham Academy to take part in National Walk to School Week that local pupils will be encouraged to get active from an early age.
“We really encourage our residents to be active and get outdoors to enjoy all that the neighbourhood has to offer. Within the 25 acres of green space at East Village we also support a number of initiatives such as our partnership with Our Parks, funding free outdoor exercise classes, and take great pride in our nature conservation areas, including the Wetlands.”
Ben Starkey, Assistant Principal at Chobham Academy notes: “We at Chobham Academy are really excited to celebrate ‘Walk to School Week’. Getting children exercising and out in the local area are hugely important to us. The children can’t wait to take part!”
Find out more about Walk to School initiatives.
