Pupils and Parents walking to Diggle primary School (Photo: Stuart Coleman©2013)
Pupils have been putting their best foot forward and stepping out in support of Oldham Council’s campaign to get more pupils walking to school.
Recently the Local Authority ran a campaign encouraging parents to leave their cars at home instead of driving their children to class. The objective was to reduce congestion on our roads by encouraging children to think about the consequences of using transport.
As part of the initiative Oldham Council ran a competition asking young people across the Borough to design a poster illustrating the benefits of making the journey ‘in’ on foot. After hundreds of entries the winner and runner ups all came from the same school, Royton Hall Primary.
Winner Kai Steele, six, wowed the judges with his vibrant and colourful design which met the brief and encouraged healthy lifestyles. Speaking about his design the six-year-old said: “This is me and my mum going to school, I go to school on my scooter every day and its lots of fun.” He wins an exclusive pair of customised Converse boots with the winning design painted on the side.
Runners up were Carter Shuttleworth-Parkisson whose poster said: “Every time you take a step, another car gets a rest”, and Jack Lever with a poster which was titled: “Not everything is white and black, some things are green.” They were awarded ipod shuffles.
Councillor Amanda Chadderton, Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills, said: “I would like to thank all the youngsters who took part in this competition for coming up with such good entries. In the end we chose Kai as our winner because we felt his design was the most appropriate, walking to school can be fun and keeps you active and healthy.
“This was a fun competition with a serious message, if you leave your car at home you are cutting congestion on the Borough’s roads and helping to improve the environment, and ultimately the health of your children and yourself by being more active.”
