🚶♀️ Why Walking to School Builds More Than Just Muscles
As we celebrate Walk to School Week, it’s a great opportunity to reflect on how this simple daily habit can have a powerful impact on children’s health, development, and the environment. Why walking to school builds more than just muscles is clear when we consider the many benefits it brings not just to individuals, but to communities.
💪 Physical Benefits: Stronger Bodies, Healthier Hearts
Walking to school helps children meet the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity, which supports cardiovascular health, builds muscle strength, and helps maintain a healthy weight. According to Living Streets, children who walk to school arrive at class more refreshed, fit, and ready to learn (1).
🧠 Mental Boost: A Calmer, More Focused Start
A brisk morning walk can help reduce stress and anxiety, improve mood, and boost concentration. Living Streets reports that children who walk to school are often happier and more focused in lessons, which can positively impact their academic performance (1).
🗺️ Life Skills: Building Independence and Confidence
Walking to school teaches children how to navigate their environment, assess risks, and make decisions—skills that build independence and confidence. Initiatives like the “walking bus” (a group of children walking with adult volunteers) offer a safe and social way to develop these abilities (1).
🌍 Environmental Impact: Small Steps, Big Difference
The school run is responsible for generating over half a million tonnes of CO₂ each year in the UK (1). By choosing to walk, families help reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, and lower emissions—especially around school gates. Programmes like School Streets, supported by Sustrans, have shown that restricting car access at drop-off and pick-up times leads to safer, healthier environments for everyone (2).
👨👩👧👦 Quality Time: Moments That Matter
For parents and carers, walking to school can be a rare moment of calm in a busy day. It’s a chance to chat, connect, and share observations whether it’s admiring the natural world, or talking about the day ahead. These small moments often become cherished memories.
🕛 The Midday Mile at Ouch Learning
At Ouch, we believe in practising what we teach. That’s why every day at midday, our team gets up from their desks, puts on the appropriate clothing, and heads out for a Midday Mile joined by the Ouch dogs, of course!
It’s more than just a walk. It’s a chance to:
- Reduce stress, anxiety, and fatigue
- Boost self-esteem and improve mood
- Increase circulation and oxygen flow
- Strengthen team relationships through casual conversation
- Improve cardiovascular health and reduce the risk of heart disease
- Stimulate endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals
- Support brain health and potentially reduce the risk of dementia
👉 View our Midday Mile Poster here
Why walking to school builds more than just muscles is echoed in our own workplace culture. The Midday Mile reminds us that walking is a powerful tool for wellbeing, productivity, and connection, no matter your age.
So, what’s stopping you? Plan a route, grab a crew, set a date, and do it!
Sources:
1: Living Streets – Walk to School
Edited By Business Manager Kimberly Fudge