Over 10,000 children across the Harrogate District did not travel to school by car on Friday for the second-ever Harrogate District Walk to School Day.
Instead of their usual drive to school, pupils were encouraged to walk, cycle, scoot or take public transport.
Zero Carbon Harrogate, the charity that coordinated the day, said 44 primary and secondary schools signed up to take their stand against the climate emergency.
This is a 42% increase in uptake since the first Walk to School Day in June this year.
Birstwith Church of England Primary School was the district’s ‘Zero Hero’ primary school winners with 91% of children taking part.
Harrogate High School won the secondary school prize, with 85% participation.
Find the full results table here: https://www.zerocarbonharrogate.org.uk/school-leaderboard.
Read more:
- Green Shoots: Why Harrogate should be at the vanguard of tackling climate change
- Green Shoots: Harrogate’s most environmentally-friendly house?
Jill Collins, headteacher of St. Robert’s Catholic Primary School said:
“The children and families in school are good walkers anyway, but when it comes to Walk to School Day they always make an extra effort walking, scooting, biking, even jogging in and the dog sometimes comes too.
“The children are so enthusiastic about helping the environment and know that we can all make a difference, even by taking simple steps such as walking to school.”
Fiona Jones, events manager for Zero Carbon Harrogate, added:
“This is the first Walk to School event exclusively for our district’s community and it has had a huge impact from being a co-ordinated effort – streets were noticeably quieter during the school run on Friday. The enthusiasm and positivity from schools, especially the children, has been fantastic.
“As regular half-termly events, these are not just about a single day in time, but about building positive transport habits that become a daily occurrence. These are the significant changes that will really make a difference.”
