Harrogate district schools set to take part in Walk to School Day 2022

Local environmental group, Zero Carbon Harrogate, is set to hold its annual Walk to School Day for 2022.

The event will be held on Friday (October 7) with a focus on “building good transport habits”.

A further five walk to school days will be held in November, February, March, May and June.

This year, Zero Carbon Harrogate has changed the format of the walk to focus on taking part and building good transport habits, rather than calculating winners.

A spokesperson for the group said:

“This year, our strategy is slightly different. Instead of calculating winners and announcing our leaderboard, the event simply focuses on taking part, building good transport habits – ideally on a daily basis – and spreading the word.

“At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, we will present gold, silver and bronze certificate awards to all participating schools in the area, depending on the number of events they took part in over the academic year.”

The 28 schools taking part in the event on Friday are:

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Forty-one Harrogate district schools take part in ‘walk to school day’

Forty-one schools from across the Harrogate district took part in Friday’s walk to school day, which aims to tackle the impact on the climate from transport.

The event, which was the first of 2022 and the fourth since its launch in June 2021, saw pupils from across Harrogate, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge and Ripon take part.

Parents and children who were unable to stop using their cars completely were encouraged to “park and stride” by parking further from the school gate and continuing the journey on foot.

Kettlesing Fellscliffe Primary School won the district’s “Zero Hero” primary school award with 100% of pupils taking part.

Meanwhile, Harrogate Grammar School won the secondary school prize with 90% participation.

Winning pupils from Kettlesing Felliscliffe Primary School.

Winning pupils from Kettlesing Felliscliffe Primary School.

Holly Whyte, interim head of school at Kettlesing Felliscliffe Community Primary School, said:

“At Kettlesing Felliscliffe Primary School we are committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing for our pupils.

“While many of our children are local to the village, some of our families made the extra effort to take public transport for part of their journey to school before walking the final kilometre into school.

“This ties in with our schools plans to reduce the carbon footprint in the area with our child-led eco-committee.”

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Sarah Bissett, events coordinator for Zero Carbon Harrogate, the volunteer-led charity that runs the initiative, said:

“We have been positively overwhelmed by the level of support received from schools, families and children since the Harrogate District Walk to School Day initiative launched last summer. 

“This first event of 2022 has demonstrated the continued enthusiasm towards positive transport choices both on the day and beyond; building habits which benefit our environment and the health of participants in both the short and long-term.

“Encouragingly, there has also been an increase in the geographical spread of schools taking part across the district: a trend which we hope is set to continue throughout the year.”

The next walk to school day is set to take place on Friday, March 25.

10,000 Harrogate district children took part in Walk to School Day

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.

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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.”

 

Harrogate motorists encouraged to ditch car on Fridays

Motorists in the Harrogate district are being encouraged to ditch their car for one day a week and instead walk, cycle or take public transport to work.

It’s for a new weekly initiative called ‘Car Free Fridays’ that has been launched by local green charity Zero Carbon Harrogate. 

It will take place every Friday beginning October 8 and ZCH hopes it will encourage some new greener habits. Transport is the largest source of emissions in the Harrogate District, making up 49% of the total figure.

Jemima Parker, chair of Zero-Carbon Harrogate said:

“It’s a good way of encouraging people to have one day a week where they leave their car at home. It encourages good habits”.

“Reducing cars on our roads also has the added benefit of improving air quality and reducing traffic congestion, and active travel such as cycling and walking is great for our health and mental wellbeing. Good for us, and good for the planet.”

Car Free Fridays is being backed by Harrogate Borough Council and Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate.

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Walk to School Day

Car-Free Fridays will also coincide with the district’s second Walk to School Day on October 8.

More than 7,000 pupils from 31 schools across the Harrogate district ditched their usual method of transport to take part in the first ZCH event in June.

North Stainley Church of England School won the ‘Zero Hero Primary‘ award, with 94% of its pupils taking part.

Thirty-one Harrogate schools take part in ‘walk to school day’

Pupils from 31 schools across the Harrogate district ditched their usual method of transport to take part in the ‘walk to school day’ event last Friday.

More than 7,000 pupils in total took part in the Zero Carbon Harrogate (ZCH) initiative, which was aimed at reducing carbon emissions across the district.

Parents and children who travel long distances to school were encouraged to ‘park and stride’ by walking the last mile of their journey or taking public transport instead.

North Stainley Church of England School won the ‘Zero Hero Primary‘ award, with 94% of its pupils taking part.

The event also had the endorsement of Harrogate Borough Council and local MP Andrew Jones, who went to two schools to show his support.

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Fiona Jones, ZCH’s event manager, said;

“This is such an important event for our community. Often children do not feel they have a voice when it comes to climate change, but a Walk to School Day is something that empowers children to cut their family’s carbon emissions through their own actions.”

Coppice Valley pupils after their walk to school.

Pupils themselves also spoke to ZCH about their transport habits. Rosie, aged 10, said:

“I normally walk because I think it’s really important not to take unnecessary car journeys, because pollution comes from the exhaust pipes – it pollutes the planet, but it’s also bad for people’s lungs, especially young children’s lungs.”

And Ben, a Year 10 pupil, said:

“I try to cycle or walk to places as much as possible to try and cut down my carbon emissions. It helps you get fitter as well.”

The event was such a success that it will be continued half-termly, with the next due to take place on October 8.