The idea of the ‘walking bus’ was first introduced in Australia in 1992 and was soon picked up in the UK when it was established at Wheatfields Junior School in St Albans. The concept is that it is an organized group of children who walk to school together accompanied by volunteers.

The benefits of this type of scheme is that the children are able to develop social skills, so find it enjoyable and obviously undertake additional physical activity they wouldn’t get if being driven to school. Another benefit is that it reduces parking problems in and around the immediate vicinity of the school itself, and the children have an opportunity to learn about road safety and also become more aware of the surrounding environment.

On Wednesday 11 June 2014 at 10am tens of thousands of kids march for road safety from their school gates in Brake's annual Giant Walking Bus for primary schools. This brilliant event raises awareness of the dangers of traffic and how cool it is to walk, and raises funds for Brake's work to improve road safety and care for road crash victims so why not get involved with your existing scheme, or use it as a starting point for a new scheme.

A Parent- Accompanied Walking Bus is a great way to get a walking bus started quickly and to get both parents and children used to the idea. In this instance parents are responsible for their own children, and everyone meets at a pre-arranged time and place and walks to school together. It has been found that more people tend to join this type of group basically because they see it, they are actually going in the same direction and children always want to join up with their friends and classmates.

When you are ready you can make it more official, namely a volunteer-accompanied Walking Bus, but this will require support from the school and from the local authorities as well, so get lets make sure everything is done properly and you will soon have a column of kids in hi-vis vests emblazoned with the school logo safely walking to school