Cornwall children smash results in active travel competition

Nearly 24,000kg of CO2 emissions and 35 kg of NOx saved during school run across the region.

School children in Cornwall made an incredible 26,864 journeys to school by foot, scooter, bicycle or wheelchair during Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel and three schools picked up prizes.

The UK’s largest walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling to school challenge took place between 11-22 March 2024. This year children across the country made over 2.3 million school journeys walking, wheeling or cycling.

Across Cornwall school children rose to the challenge to reduce carbon emissions and air pollution during the school run. Throughout the region 30 schools took part, including three secondary schools. That equates to 23,897 kg of CO2 emissions saved and 35 kg of Nitrogen Oxides.

The result was a massive win for the region, with 10,000 more active journeys compared to last year’s competition results.

Top participating primary schools St Agnes Academy (large primary school category) and St Stephen’s Primary in Launceston (small primary category) won a prize visit from Big Top Mania’s Cycle Circus. Pupils were given the opportunity to try out a range of wacky bikes.

Over 75 per cent of school children at St Agnes and over 70 per cent at St Stephen’s travelled to school on foot, scooter, bicycle or wheelchair during the 11-day challenge.

Maura Furber Headteacher St.Stephen’s Community Academy said:

“The Big Walk and Wheel event made such a positive impact on our school community with more children than ever either making their parents park further away so they could walk and scooters and bikes making their way out of hibernation ready for the summer term and better weather. The sustainable travel message is definitely out there!”

Matthew Howes (assistant head at St Agnes Academy) said “Wow….What an experience! The children loved it!”

Humphry Davy School in Penzance won the secondary school category with a third (33%) of pupils walking, wheeling, or cycling to school. Students were treated to the prize of a demonstration of breath taking tricks and stunts by the Extreme Mountain Bike Show.

The Big Walk and Wheel is delivered by Sustrans, the charity that aims to make walking, wheeling and cycling easier, in partnership with headline sponsors Schwalbe Tyres UK and Cornwall Council.

The event inspires pupils to make active journeys to school, improving air quality in their neighbourhood and discovering how these changes benefit the world around them.

Throughout the challenge Sustrans held events at schools in Cornwall to inspire families to ditch the car and try ‘active travel’ for the daily school run.

Families were invited to breakfast as a reward for travelling in by foot, scooter, bicycle or wheelchair. There were also playground cycle skills sessions and bike maintenance workshops.

Nick Ratcliffe, Sustrans Project Manager in Cornwall, said:

“Thanks to all the schools and local families across Cornwall who took part in the Big Walk and Wheel. This is a fantastic result for the region, and really demonstrates how a small change in the way we travel can have a big impact on our local environment.

“We know from our work with schools that children really love getting active on the school run. Parents save money by reducing fuel costs, it’s a great way for children to explore and gives them healthy habits to take into adulthood.”

Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is an annual event which is open to all primary and secondary schools in the UK, including SEN/ASN/ALN schools.

Free resources are available to encourage pupils to help reduce air pollution and learn about the benefits of active travel for themselves, their schools, their neighbourhoods, and the planet.

Sustrans works in partnership with Cornwall Council.

15 years of the Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel

Since data collection for the challenge began in 2011, a staggering 23.9 million miles (1) have been travelled by pupils taking over 15.9 million active travel journeys to school.

That’s around 200 trips to the moon, or over 1,900 journeys around the Earth (1), saving 12,700 tonnes of CO2 polluting the air on the school run, from 31.7 million car journeys had the participants been driven to and from school (1).

There were over 2.3 million (2,389,015) active journeys to 1727 participating schools took place during the 2024 challenge, saving an estimated 1,730,486 kgs of CO2 emissions if the journeys logged had otherwise been made by car (2).