Walking Bus
Top Tips for Success
Start informally. Talk to parents in your immediate neighbourhood and just arrange to walk together. Let people know what you are doing and encourage them to just walk with you at the same time every day.
Get help. Contact your County Council Travel Plan Officer and Road Safety Department, ask your Community Police Officer for advice and support. Get the backing of the school; you need to have the head teacher's and governors' support. Find out if there are other Walking Bus Co-ordinators in your area who can offer advice. Look at other web sites on Walking Buses. Send us your questions.
Don't criticise or be negative towards those who do not join, who drop out or who never seem to volunteer to help. Instead, find out the reasons why and work towards a solution. Maybe they do not understand the scheme fully. Maybe they cannot take part because of the logistics of doing school-runs to two schools.
Start a Park and Stride scheme. Children living too far away to walk all the way to school will be able to take part. Find a car park five or ten minutes walk from the school, e.g. a pub, village hall, supermarket. Ask the owner if parents can have permission to park in the car park at school run times. If a Walking Bus route starts from or comes past the car park the children can join it and at least have walked some of the way.
Involve as many children as you can. Establish several routes to cover all approaches to the school. Try to set it up so every child has the chance to join in.
Make it cool for Juniors too. By setting up a Junior Conductor scheme, the older children can join in and have special roles as official helpers.
Involve as many parents as you can, especially dads who may not otherwise think of joining. Even if a parent or grandparent only makes it once, at least they can say they have been part of it.
Reward those children who take part with certificates in assembly or stickers. Make them feel as if they are in an important club. Make sure they understand that being on the Walking Bus is a privilege (for which they should not expect rewards but may get them).
Let the local media know what you are doing. Local papers love stories like this about children. The children love to see themselves in the newspaper or even on television. It is a good way to inform parents as letters from school do not always get home. Make sure you have parental permission before any press photographs are taken; you may need separate permission if the photographs are taken outside the school and out of school hours.
Become visible. For increased safety and insurance, wear fluorescent, reflective clothing. You will be noticed more as a group which helps others to learn about the idea and join in. Fun, non-industrial styles are available which will encourage more people to wear it and avoid them getting muddled up with the dustbin men.
Adapt ideas from Walking Bus schemes to suit your school. Walking Buses cannot be standardised as every school's neighbourhood, pupils and parents are different. Hand out “guidelines” to let parents taking part know how best to manage it.
Listen to complaints and grumbles from parents and children; your critics can be useful if they lead you to work out a solution to a problem
Maintain it by promoting again every now and then, especially after the start of a new term or in Walk to School week.
Make it part of the school's culture. As new children join the school you won't have to change old habits to get them to join in. They won't have formed their habits and will accept it as normal.
Make sure everyone knows it’s for everyone, not just a group of friends.
Put it in the school prospectus and as part of the School Travel Plan. Ask the head teacher to emphasise the importance of the Walking Bus and walking to school
Don’t expect it to solve all your school run problems. Look for other ways too. You can make big changes by having a Walking Bus but it may not be the best solution for everyone or every school.
Use it to teach independent walking. Avoid use of trollies - children need to learn to carry their own things. If they have too many things to carry, parents and schools can tackle this issue in other ways. When children are old enough to walk to school without an adult, don’t expect them to continue full-time on the Walking Bus. They may like to join occasionally as a Junior Conductor.
Find ways of measuring your success and finally be proud of your success.
Forms and Formalities
Back to top
|
