Basingstoke ObserverA BASINGSTOKE pupil is one of eleven 11 young designers named as winners of a national competition.
The WOW Badge Design Competition was organised by Living Streets, the UK charity behind the national walk to school campaign. Over 115,000 primary school pupils entered the competition, with 11 winners being chosen.
This year’s badge competition theme was ‘Walk through time’, taking pupils back in time to explore millions of years of history on earth. Pupils were encouraged to research a pre-historic or historic period or event and depict it as a WOW badge.
Olivia aged 7 who attends St. Bede’s Catholic Primary School in Basingstoke will now see her creation turned into a collectable badge for thousands of pupils nationwide to earn when they walk to school.
Olivia said: “I chose to draw a woolly mammoth because I read a story about them and they look like big fluffy teddy bears. When I read the examples, the dinosaurs were tooooooo scary!”
The winning designs will now be turned into more than 300,000 badges to be awarded to pupils taking part in WOW – the walk to school challenge from Living Streets. WOW sees pupils who walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or Park and Stride to school at least once a week for a month rewarded with the recyclable badges each month. On average, schools taking part in WOW experience a 30 per cent reduction in cars at the school gates and a 23 per cent increase in children walking to school.
Stephen Edwards, CEO, Living Streets said: “WOW is a great way to help keep children healthy and happy by encouraging them to be active every day. More children walking to school also means fewer cars around the school gates - making them safer and cleaner places. We hope that designing this set of WOW badges has inspired pupils and helped them to understand that walking and wheeling to school has many benefits, whether social, road safety, health, or environmental.
“We’re stuck in a catch-22 where families see driving to school as the safest way to protect their children from traffic. Leaving the car at home will reduce chaos and road danger around the school gates. It’s also a great way for children to learn about road safety in a real life setting and build their confidence in managing risk. Walk to School Week is an excellent opportunity for families to give walking to school a go and reap the health and social benefits of moving more. We want to enable as well as encourage more families to walk to school. We’re here to help parents who are worried about safety around their child’s school. Car-free zones, 20mph limits and better crossings can all help make the walk to school safer and we’re here to help people campaign for them in their area.”
This year 90,000 pupils from 375 schools across Hampshire signed up to walk to school for Walk to School Week on 16 -20 May.
Speaking ahead of the week, Executive Lead Member for Economy, Transport and Environment at Hampshire County Council, Councillor Rob Humby, said: “I am delighted to see so many children and schools sign up for this important initiative. Walking to school can help children be more active and arrive at school more alert, improving general health and wellbeing, while at the same time easing congestion at the school gates at busy times. The scheme provides parents and carers with a great opportunity to teach lifelong road safety skills such as the Green Cross Code and is also beneficial for the environment, as fewer cars mean reduced emissions and improved air quality.”
