Walk to School. KS1 & KS2 Assembly

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Ethel Skinner
7 years ago
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1 Walk to School KS1 & KS2 Assembly

2 1 Introduction This resource supports teachers and Key Stage 1 & 2 students in exploring their journeys to school. It has been produced by Living Streets, a charity who work to create safe, attractive and enjoyable streets where people want to walk. School Assembly, which should be used in conjunction with the Walk to School PowerPoint presentation which can also be downloaded from the Living Street website. The assembly lasts approximately 20 minutes, and can be event you are organising, or as a standalone session to Websites and Useful Information Information on walking and improving our streets. The walk to school website has information on schemes that help walking to school. Google maps is great for looking at journeys. Click on the get directions tab and pick walking from the drop down menu to plan your walk. Another tool that will help with planning walking journeys. A website developed by Transport for London that looks at the school journey and has examples of school journeys across the world.

School Assembly, which should be used in conjunction with the Walk to School PowerPoint presentation which can also be downloaded from the Living Street website.

3 2 Section One 1 Walk to school logo 2 How did you travel to school today? 3 Bus 4 Scooter 5 Car 6 Bicycle 7 Tram 8 Walking 9 Any other ways? 4 minutes Good morning everyone. In this morning s assembly we will be talking about the Walk to School campaign. Let s have a quick show of hands, first of all, to find out how you travelled to school this morning Hands up if You travelled by bus You travelled by scooter You travelled by car You travelled by bicycle You travelled by tram, or train (London Underground or an overground train) You walked to school Hands down. The Walk to School campaign is all about encouraging more of us to walk to school, and more often! Walking is a really good thing to do, and we should all do more of it! So in a minute we will be looking at walking in a bit more detail. But before then, hands up if: You travelled to school any other way, such as by skateboard or roller blades? Nominate a couple of children with their hands up to tell you what their other ways of travelling to school are.

Let s have a quick show of hands, first of all, to find out how you travelled to school this morning Hands up if You travelled by bus You travelled by scooter You travelled by car You travelled by

4 3 Section 2 10 Why walk to school? 8 minutes So why should we walk to school? Let s see if you can think of any suggestions. Turn to the person sitting next to you and have a quick, quiet chat about what you think, then I ll ask some of you to put your hands up and offer your ideas. (Allow for a quick discussion. Then take answers from a few children.) 11 Walking is fun! You can meet up with friends on the way You ve come up with some great suggestions. Some / All of which are up here too (indicate presentation). First of all, it s fun! Walking is a great time for talking, and you could meet up with your friends on your way to and from school. Hands up if you met your friends on your way to school this morning. Hands down. 12 It is good for the environment Walking is also good for the environment. There are over 10 million children travelling to school every morning in the UK. Nearly half of children travelling to primary school make that journey in a car. Let s try and imagine what that means I m going to need 10 volunteers to come up to the front and help me. (Pick 10 children and ask them to come to the front of the assembly, standing in a line facing the audience) For every 10 children travelling to primary school, 4 children are travelling by car (Ask 4 children from the line to stand to one side, miming driving a car) 5 children are walking to school (Ask 5 children from the line to stand to the other side, get them to walk on the spot) And 1 child is travelling to school another way on the bus, on the tram, on their scooter, or their bike for example.

Then take answers from a few children.) 11 Walking is fun! You can meet up with friends on the way You ve come up with some great suggestions.

5 4 Why is it better for the environment if we walk rather than travel in the car? Hands up if you have any ideas. (Take a few suggestions. Answers along the lines of: cars release gases that pollute the air and this contributes to global warming, whereas walking is clean and green. Prompt if necessary..) Hands down. If more people walked (Ask some / all of the children representing car journeys to go and stand with the walkers) There would be fewer people in their cars, and less pollution would be pumped into the air. Fewer cars would also mean less traffic, so our roads would be safer too! All the better for those walkers! (Thank the children at the front and ask them to sit back down in their places) 13 It helps you learn about road safety Walking to school will help you to learn about road safety. Can you think of three things that help to keep our roads safe that you might see on your way to school? (Take a few suggestions. Prompt if necessary. Things that help you to cross the road safely, for example.) Traffic lights tell cars when to stop and when to go. Zebra crossings, lollipop people and pedestrian lights all provide safe places for pedestrians to cross. 14 Walking is good exercise And last but not least, walking is good exercise. What happens when we walk? How do you feel? (Take a few suggestions. Prompt answers on the physical effects that exercise has on our bodies, i.e. our heart beats faster, our breathing gets quicker, we warm up, we feel energised. Prompt also for the emotional effects, i.e. we feel happy!) Next time you re walking, see if you can feel your heart beat faster and your lungs expand with air.

If more people walked (Ask some / all of the children representing car journeys to go and stand with the walkers) There would be fewer people in their cars, and less pollution would be pumped into

6 5 15 Exercise helps to keep our bodies healthy! It is good for your Exercise is important because it helps to keep our bodies healthy. It is good for your heart, lungs, muscles and bones. It is good for your mind because it can make you feel happy. Which is why this campaign is encouraging more of you to walk to school! Section 3 3 minutes 16 to walk to school?' 17 Put a walk into your day! ways that you can put a walk into your day even if it s not easy to walk the whole journey to school and then we ll have a quiz to see if you can remember the answers! If you have to come to school by car, because your mum, dad or caregiver has to drive into work after they have dropped you off, for example, then you could ask them to park minutes walk away from school, and walk the last bit - which is known as Park and Stride! Let children know they or their parents can come and talk to a teacher if they would like to know more about Park and Stride. (For more information on Park and Stride, see the Walk to School website (link in the Website and Useful Information box on page 1). If you have to catch a bus to school, you could get off 2 stops early and then walk the rest of the way! If there is no-one in your family who could walk to school with you, then maybe you could join up with a friend and/or their family and walk to school with them. Maybe they live a few streets away from you and you could call for them every day on your walking route.

' 17 Put a walk into your day! ways that you can put a walk into your day even if it s not easy to walk the whole journey to school and then we ll have a quiz to see if you can remember the answers!

7 6 18 Quiz Now we are going to do a quiz to see if you can remember how to put a walk into your day! Ask children if they can remember how to put a walk in if they are driven to school? Click once to reveal arrow which connects car picture to Park and Stride. Ask children if they can remember how to put a walk in if they have no-one to walk friend. Ask children if they can remember how to put a walk in if they have to come to school by bus? Click once to reveal arrow which connects bus picture to Get off 2 stops early. Section 4 19 Why is walking to school a good idea? 5 minutes So, to recap: Why is walking to school a good idea? Because it is healthy for us; Healthy for our environment; Helps us to learn about road safety; And we can meet our friends and have a chat on the way! 20 Imagine a world where Ask children if they can imagine a world where everyone is walking! Explains it all starts with each and every one of them putting on their shoes and walking! Tell children we all need to take action to get walking! If you are running a walk to school activity, this would be an ideal opportunity to introduce it to the school. 21 The Count me in! call to action Tell children it s time to get walking! Ask them to get on to their feet, crouch down and whisper count me in, getting louder and louder as they gradually start standing up properly and then march on the spot, hands outstretched. With the supervision of their teacher, ask them to lead out of assembly in their classes in snake formation, where each child places their hands on the shoulders of the child in front of them.

Ask children if they can remember how to put a walk in if they have to come to school by bus? Click once to reveal arrow which connects bus picture to Get off 2 stops early.

THE TOOL KIT. The ENCOURAGEMENT APPROACH uses events and contests to entice students to try walking and biking.

THE TOOL KIT. The ENCOURAGEMENT APPROACH uses events and contests to entice students to try walking and biking. Did you walk or bike to school when you were a child? Thirty years ago, more than 66 percent of all children walked to school. Walking or biking to school gives children a sense of freedom and responsibility,