Launch of Travelling Green packs

A teaching pack which encourages children and their parents to feel more confident about walking to and from school has been launched.

Travelling Green is an attractive and user friendly active travel teaching pack which contains a Teacher's Handbook with lesson plans and worksheets, and individual pupil folders.

It is designed as a Primary 5 classroom based project to be implemented in a six week period, providing the opportunity to monitor short and long term changes in the attitude and commuting behaviour of children.

Links can be made to ongoing active travel and health promotion work within the school and should ideally be integrated into a School Travel Plan.

The Scottish Government have provided funding to make the Travelling Green project and resources available free of charge to schools in Scotland.

Within South Lanarkshire Council, the Road Safety Team, working in partnership with Active Schools, have introduced the resource to a group of schools in the Hamilton and Blantyre area.

Councillor John Murray, Chair of the Road Safety Forum at South Lanarkshire Council said: "There is increasing concern about the health and physical activity levels of our children and the damage caused to the environment through more vehicles on the road.

"Travelling Green is a wonderful project to promote walking to school, and to encourage children and their parents to make long-term changes to their mode of travel on the school journey."

Travelling Green is one of the ways that South Lanarkshire Council is supporting and highlighting the importance of Sustainable Development.

Photographed are children from Primary 5 at St Blane's PS in Blantyre with Mrs Macneil, Primary 5 teacher, Allison Corrigan, Active Schools Co-ordinator, Sarah Darroch and Sharon O'Leary, School Travel Plan Co-ordinators and Councillor John Murray, Chair of Road Safety Forum.