'Walk to school Week'- why, why, why?

[ampere]

What IS the point of this money wasting exercise?

Surely mums (as mums it practically always is!) who drive their DCs to school, by and large either do it because:

-they work and unless they have a very understanding employer who will accommodate them being late for a week, may lose their job over this; or

-mums whom wild horses wouldn't induce to walk, let alone a poxy sticker scheme!

Once again it's attempting societal engineering via schooling rather than attack the 'core' of the problem- if, indeed it IS a problem- being the fact none of us have any time any more and many of us have mortgages or rent to pay! Furthermore, really, why expect DCs to trog to school in all weathers when we, as adults, take the car everywhere?

I wish schools would spend the money on sticking to the point and schooling our DCs not rewarding behaviour 'walkers' already do and guilt tripping those who can't!

Riven Brain Gym is pseudoscience crap which is just trying to rake in money, see this link. It has been discredited now, but many schools still practise it. I almost exploded when my youngest DD came home telling me about brain buttons and went off to have a quiet word with her teacher...
To me it has the same effect as getting kids to do say 10 star jumps or running round the field to give them a physical break. So there probably are some benefits of stopping to have a break and doing some exercises, but the pseudoscience round it is just awful.

Not hard at all, just needs organisation, good adult control and pre-planning.
I take my rabble out all the time, around town, to the park, library, Art walks, onto the beach. Used to use the tube when I taught in London.
Always have done, from 5-13 year olds.
Of course, risk assessment paperwork is relatively new.

oops I see SGM has beaten me to it, you really will fall about laughing.

A lot of teachers thought that Brain Gym science was crap, but if your head thinks it's wonderful and tells you that it is to be done throughout the school on a daily basis, that's what you do. It's not harmful, just silly.

More people should walk to school if they can. We always do. We live 5 minutes way and some kids who live nearer are always driven.

But we need to be met halfway on this - children should be given places at their nearest catchment school.

Goblinchild I agree that in themselves the Brain Gym exercises are not harmful. The major problem I have is with teaching children discredited pseudoscience. It's hard enough getting children enthusiastic about real science as it is (gets off soapbox).
So for example in my DCs' school they do the Brain Gym exercises in some classes, but thankfully most of them do not get taught the background to it (although my DD did tell me where her "brain" buttons were).

Actually I know mums who don't work, live 5-10 min walk from school and still drive their kids up every day - then just drive back home. I don't know what it takes to stop them, but it would be good if something could!

Riven here is another entertaining link....

I think the scheme is a waste of time/money/effort at Ds's school.

I walk DS home from school 4 days a week. DP drops him off every morning on his way to work. DP parks a couple of streets back from school and walks him in. There is only one other parent who does so and they live a few streets away from the school.

We live 3km away from the school. Busy roads, no traffic lights/zebra crossings at all on the school walk. And it's a big bloody hill on the way home. I am the only parents who walks to school to pick up a child.

DS is 4 and manages the 3km quite well, he hated it at the start - but has slowly gotten used to it.

The 'walk to school week' has not changed a thing at his school - not one single child has walked to or from school since they started it (last week at our school) The school has allowed them to count other walking they may do during the week(which doesn't seem to be the point) so that they can get certficates etc.

His school provides a bus for children who live too far away or you can just pay to have your child dropped off (even if you live 10mins away) Which a few parents take advantage of - we pass the bus dropping them off. DS doesn't qualify for the bus as you have to live 3.2km away to get on it.

walk to school week is surely not about solving all of societies ills, it's about solving a problem that centres around the school - children not awake enough in the mornings, or too hyper and not had a chance to burn off any energy. AND traffic jams and congestion around the school.

the nearest primary school to me does a walking and cycling bus from a nearby ruby club with a big car park. most live near enough to the rugby club to meet there but the few who need to arrive by car are still driven there, without any congestion problems (car park designed for match day but empty on school mornings) and the kids get to go the 1km or so along the canal path from there.

i don't know who staffs the walking bus and cycle train but i think they're heros

Butterflyparty, our school takes the children out quite a lot - not to museums (I think it would be about a 30 mile walk to the nearest one ) but to the seashore, along the estuary, round the town to look at buildings etc.

Fortunately (apart from not letting children out in the rain ) they are very good - they even brought 60 children up to the farm that we used to live on (more than once!)

I agree with the OP's second point- about the core issues needed to be addressed, but I still think a campaign is a good idea.

I walk DD to her pre-school. I've got a car, but try not to use it for her school-run out of principle. I've got a baby so I do use it in bad weather or if I'm too knackered or late, but I try my best not to.
I'm glad I decided to make the effort, because it ends up being a lovely part of the day to share with DD. We look at all the ants and stones or whatever. DS gets his walk in too so it kills two birds with one stone
I usually pick her up in the car, though. I'm knackered by the end of the day

Mine do roughly two outside trips per term - obv in Central London with free school transport scheme from TFL they have enormous choice of free places to go, and there's a fair amount of exercise involved in travelling there and back. More would be good, but I think they have trouble recruiting parents to assist.

Walk on Wednesdays is a big thing in our school but kind of a waste of money since virtually no-one drives anyway and only a few take the bus - the catchment's about a ten minute walk. However I still agree that getting the kids involved in putting pressure on any parents who can walk but choose to drive is a worthwhile idea. It's a bit sad for the kids who genuinely can't walk but that's life for you - not everyone can have everything and it's only a few stickers.

I feel lucky that we do live near enough to a good school that we can walk. Although we are moving soon and one of the important things for me about a school was that we would be able to live near enough to walk.

Planetmum Are you suggesting that time is more important and valuable to mums that work than those who don't?

cause you get sacked if you're late?

"What IS the point of this money wasting exercise?"

1. Increase awareness among children about the importance of exercise and/or the importance of not relying on an environmentally unsustainable mode of transport. They will then put pressure on their parents to rethink their lifestyles
2. Show people how easy it is to walk (many people think it's hard to walk a mile - it really isn't, unless you suffer from a dibilitating medical condition. Even lazy couch potatoes might be surprised at how easy it is.)
3. To show people how lovely the school environs are when people aren't blocking them up with cars
4. To make walking the norm

"Surely mums (as mums it practically always is!) who drive their DCs to school, by and large either do it because:
-they work and unless they have a very understanding employer who will accommodate them being late for a week, may lose their job over this; or"

Not true- I know of many people who drive less than a mile simply because they think it's faster and more convenient. They are often deluded, but that's not the point. They are doing it because they choose to, not because they have to. They are lazy or think they're children aren't capable of walking more than a few metres

"Once again it's attempting societal engineering via schooling rather than attack the 'core' of the problem- if, indeed it IS a problem- being the fact none of us have any time any more and many of us have mortgages or rent to pay! "

I think a lot of people think it IS a problem, especially those of us who do religiously walk and have to put up with the noise, pollution and often aggressiveness of drivers rushing to drop kids off on route to work, making it dangerous for pedestrians, who, let's face it are treated like second class citizens. The reason this situation has arisen is because the choices of planners and government bodies re public transport, housing and the way schools are allocated, which have made it increasingly difficult for people to attend a school within walking distance, or find a safe route to walk even if it's close by. This, I would argue, is social engineering of a much higher order than that of schools trying their best to include healthy living in their remit.

Furthermore, really, why expect DCs to trog to school in all weathers when we, as adults, take the car everywhere?

Speak for yourself!