Students ready to get active for Walk Safely to School Day

Bethel Christian School students will join thousands from across the State to walk, skip or dance to school for Walk Safely to School Day tomorrow.

This will be the first time the school has participated in the national event, which has been encouraging children, their parents and carers to walk safely to school for 18 years.

Year 4 students Isabelle Cameron and Schalk Kohrs, 9, said they were excited to walk to school with their peers.

“We can meet with friends while getting healthier,” Isabelle said.

“I want to make it a tradition and do it every year.”

According to Active Healthy Kids Australia, Australian children are failing to meet the basic physical activity guidelines, with Australia ranked 21 of 38 countries in the global 2016 Physical Activity Report Card.

Pedestrian Council chief executive Harold Scruby said with more than 25 per cent of Australian children overweight or obese, it was vital for them to be active every day.

“With these health statistics rapidly heading towards 30 per cent, we need to educate children on how to form positive exercise habits early in life,” he said.

“The best way to achieve this is to encourage parents to introduce simple ways to get their children moving, such as walking to and from school, so these habits become part of their daily routine.

“Active kids are smarter kids, but this won’t happen without investing in their future right now.”

For those students, like Schalk who do not live close enough to walk, they will be able to meet at Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre and walk the rest of the way as a group with parents and teachers.

Students from Mount Lockyer Primary School and Albany Primary School will also be participating in the walk, while Great Southern Grammar will hold a Walk and Ride to School Day on Friday, May 26.