The People’s Movement, Sheffield’s physical activity campaign, is congratulating parents who left their cars at home this week and made the school run ‘on foot’, as part of National Walk to School Week.

Walk to School week happens twice a year, and is part of a larger initiative to get parents, pupils and teachers to incorporate regular physical activity into their daily lives by walking to and from school whenever possible.

Pupils from Nethergreen Infant School showed that they are one step ahead, with not one, but two walking bus schemes, enabling children as young as five to walk to school in a safe, controlled environment, while getting plenty of physical activity to boot!

Headteacher Brigett Ball, said: “Our first walking bus scheme was so successful that there was great demand to start another. Both our walks are led by parents, and by setting this brilliant example to their children, they are encouraging them to think about issues such as physical activity.

“We are delighted to have support from The People’s Movement, as we care deeply about the amount of physical activity that our children are given the opportunity to take part in, and the walking bus scheme is one of many ways we encourage pupils to stay healthy.”

The People’s Movement was set up earlier this year to give everyone in Sheffield the opportunity to find out where and how they can increase their physical activity levels. The campaign website, www.thepeoplesmovement.com, features a host of information on how people can build activity into their busy lives, as well as being a valuable resource for anyone wanting to find out about activity in their community.

Paul Billington, spokesperson for The People’s Movement, said: “It’s very encouraging to see schools such as Nethergreen Infants taking positive steps to promote healthy messages about physical activity to their pupils.

“By showing children that increasing levels of simple activities such as walking, swimming and dancing, can have a wide range of health benefits, we can work towards reducing levels of children obesity and inactivity. We hope that other parents in the city will follow the good example set by parents of children at Nethergreen Infant School – and leave their cars at home in favour of walking to school in the future.”