Andrew Carey
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ARE you scooting to school?
This Monday saw the start of national scoot to school week which will come to a highlight with “Scoot on Wednesday” where children are encouraged (where possible) to go green and scoot to school.
The weeklong celebration of scooting on the school run is now in its second year as Green-Schools started the worldwide first of its kind event in 2015.
Schools who are working towards their Green Flag for Travel or have already been awarded the flag will be hosting colourful scooting events and encouraging children to scoot to school throughout the week.
Share your Lmerick scooting pics with us of your school is participating.
Increasingly popular, scooting is a great way to make the journey to school active, sustainable, and fun. Scooting to school is on the rise among students in Ireland and in 2014 Green-Schools launched their first national event to mark this: National S.O.W Day (Scoot on Wednesday/Weekdays) which grew to a weeklong event in 2015.
The highlight of National Scoot to School Week is National S.O.W. Day, which this year takes place on Wednesday, March 9. Over the past two years over 10,000 students have scooted to school on National S.O.W. Day.
Green-Schools Travel Officers will work directly with schools this week to promote scooting and offer scooting skills workshops from Monday to Friday.
This year selected schools have also had fully-funded scooter parking installed by Green-Schools.
Announcing the week, Green-Schools Travel Manager Jane Hackett said:
“We began Scoot to School Week to answer the growth in students arriving at school every morning by scooter. Scooting has since become an unstoppable force for students and to reflect this we’ve also installed scooter parking in selected schools this year. It’s not just for children by the way – with the advent of adult scooters adults can join them on the school run, and continue on to their workplace, too!”
Visit www.greenschoolsireland.org for more, including scooting tips and resources.
To date, over 1700 primary and secondary schools countrywide have taken part or are taking part in the Green-Schools Travel programme, implementing sustainable travel action plans in their schools.
Since 2008, 1,284 schools have been awarded the Green Flag for Travel, representing successful completion of the travel theme of the Green-Schools programme.
The ultimate aim of the Green-Schools Travel programme is to encourage students, parents and teachers to walk, cycle, scoot, Park ‘n’ Stride, use public transport or car pool instead of using the private car on the school run.
