Brake, the road safety charity, is encouraging teachers to register for Brake’s Giant Walk, to promote the benefits of walking to school and to help teach road safety. This annual event takes place on Wednesday 10 June, and already 45,000 children from more than 200 schools are registered to take part. Every year the event sees tens of thousands of kids learning about road safety in their classroom, promoting the benefits of safe walking and cycling to school, and walking to call for safer driving in their community.
The Giant Walk involves children across the UK taking part in a short walk of a minimum of 500 metres from their school gates. The event is designed to act as a focal point for schools when teaching road safety in class and using resources and advice from Brake. Children could learn about travel to school around the world in geography, find out about the forces in road crashes in science or learn about travel through the ages in history.
Schools can also use their walk to call on drivers to slow down in their community or call for other local road safety measures. Brake can help schools get publicity through local media and promote the event in their newsletter or website to get the road safety message out.
The project also raises funds for Brake’s work to improve road safety and care for families devastated by a death or injury on the roads; most schools fundraise on the day.
Julie Townsend, Brake deputy chief executive, says: “Brake’s Giant Walk is a great way for schools to call for safer roads in their community for children to be able to walk or cycle without fear or threat from traffic. Every year as part of this great event schools use resources and support from Brake to run fantastic lessons across a variety of subjects around the theme of road safety and active travel. It’s a chance to teach children about road safety and why walking is healthy and eco-friendly, and also to call on local drivers to make a big difference by slowing down to protect children on foot and bike. We’re urging schools to sign up now to take full advantage of the resources and support Brake offers to help schools get involved.”
Primary schools wishing to register and access the free resources provided by Brake, should visit www.brake.org.uk/giantwalk, call 01484 550061 or email giantwalk@brake.org.uk
