Upton St Leonards C of E Primary School Tel. 01452 616109 Fax. 01452 614796

8 Oct 2008 - Walk to School Day 8th October 2008 (Letter home)

As you know from last week’s Newsletter, October is Walk to School Month, the week beginning 6th October is Walk to School Week, and Wednesday 8th October is International Walk to School Day. We are feeling very privileged to have been chosen by the County Council to be the focus for a whole range of activities on Walk to School Day.

Here are some of the activities that have been planned so far – more details will be coming to you later.

Park and Stride

The day will start with a ‘park and stride’ from the BMI Club car park. Parking will also be available at the Pavilion. We are very grateful to both the BMI Club and the Parish Council for their support with this.

The children will be invited to carry the flags of the countries we have been linked with in our Comenius Project (Italy, Germany and Poland) and our new British Council Connecting Classrooms Project (South Africa and Zimbabwe). They should be accompanied by a parent. There will be advisers and officers from Gloucestershire Highways present, but no child should be left to walk unaccompanied.

Quantum Theatre

Gloucestershire Highways have arranged 2 performances by Quantum Theatre of ‘What if it Rains?’ This is a musical comedy, written in association with Travelwise, which looks at the health and environmental issues of walking to school from a scientific angle and is based on the appropriate sections of the National Curriculum for Science whilst promoting the idea of walking to school. Children in Year 1 – Year 6 will be watching this.

Cycle Skills

The children in Year 4 will be invited to take part in a Cycle Skills training session. There will be a separate letter giving further details about this. The children will need to be accompanied by an adult on their journey to school, and if taking part in the ‘Walk and Stride’ will need to push their bikes or deliver their bikes to school beforehand.

Activities in the Village

Year 3 children will be taken on a Village Walk by officers from the Road Safety Department, and Year 5 children will be collecting data using a speed gun.

Other Activities

Our Reception children will be learning about the School Crossing Patrol, The Year 1 classes will be undertaking an environmental activity, the Year 2s will be learning about food miles and the Year 6s will be designing and making a bridge. All children in Year 1 – Year 6 will have a ‘Wake and Shake’ session – in French!

How you can help

This project is a fantastic opportunity for the children to develop their awareness of road safety, environmental and international issues. I hope you will support us by taking part in the Walk and Stride at the beginning of the day. We also need some parents to help with the Year 3 village walks (10.10am – 12.30pm) please.

You might like to look at the Walk to School websites, which can be found at:

www.walktoschool.org.uk

and www.iwalktoschool.org

We are also starting work on developing our School Travel Plan – again with support and guidance from the County Council.

Please complete the questionnaire with your child/children and return it to school as soon as possible.