• Working together gets pupils walking

     

    Scheme: Step Up
    Location: North East England  
     

    Step Up is a new campaign aimed at secondary schools to encourage students to walk for at least 15 minutes on their journey to school. Launched in October 2008, 150 pupils from ten schools in Northumberland, Middlesbrough, Darlington and Newcastle attended the Step Up launch event at Dance City in Newcastle upon Tyne. This event will lead directly into their campaigns for more walking at their school, leading to improved health (especially obesity levels) and links with their local communities and the democratic institutions that make decisions about the streets and public places around their schools.

     
    The event was designed to ‘kick off’ the engagement strand, as well as launching the national campaign. It also had a practical purpose, to disseminate ideas, skills and information about ‘walkability’, campaigning, and the benefits of everyday walking to a teenage audience.
     
    The pupils took part in issue-based, skills based and ‘fun’ sessions, including a ‘walking treasure hunt’, to identify the good (and not so good) things about the streets in which they walk, and the improvements they would recommend. They also met Tony Armstrong, chief executive of Living Streets, who spurred them on to run campaigns in their schools. He said “I find it exciting that we’re asking pupils themselves to identify the barriers that they face on their walk to school. It enables them to find their own voices – and to help campaign for change.”
     
    The day was very successful – one pupil remarked: “It helps you learn how to get people together.” Another said “I learnt how to develop my ideas for the campaign.” The adults (school staff and local authority school travel advisors) took part in a mentors training session, designed to give them the knowledge needed to support the pupil-led campaigns. One teacher noted that “pupils are already firing ideas around; they are all excited about this.”
     
    The next step is for the pupils to start working in their own schools to create and deliver a campaign to encourage walking, giving the health and environmental benefits involved. It will also promote community engagement and active citizenship to young campaigners.




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