PICTURE SPECIAL: Wendover schools launch new walking initiative

Wendover Junior School and John Hampden School have teamed up as part of the scheme which aims to reduce traffic in and around the busy school site they also share with John Colet secondary school and John Hampden School, who they are taking part in the initiative with.

This latest idea has been supported by Bucks County Council’s school travel team and the national charity Living Streets.

The junior school’s business manager Catriona Martin said: “We have been trying to encourage people to walk to school for years because the site gets so busy.

“We are always looking for new ideas to spread the message and now the county council have produced a colourful map showing the travel zone - an area around the school that we are asking people not to drive in.

“We are also marking up walking routes that people can use - one takes about ten minutes, the other about fifteen.”

The launch of the new scheme took place on a cloudy and wet morning on Friday January 12, but as our photographer Derek Pelling’s pictures show, plenty of enthusiastic children took part - and they were joined by Bucks County Council mascots for the occasion.

Catriona said: “We have a travel tracker at school so the kids can see how they are getting to school each day.

“Options include parking and striding, scooting or walking.

“If the children walk three times a week for a month they get a badge.

“We started that in November and it has gone down well.

“We promote messages around road safety during the assemblies which our Year Six pupils, our road safety officers, deliver every so often.”