School Children across Plymouth take action to reduce harmful emissions around their schools
Journeys made on foot, by bike and scooter during Sustrans Big Pedal event could have created 37,000 kg of CO2 and 72 kg of NOx if pupil’s journeys to school had been made in cars
Sustrans Big Pedal, the UK’s largest walking, wheeling, cycling and scooting to school challenge saw 28 schools across Plymouth log an incredible 68,925 active journeys to school, totalling 10,000 hours of physical activity. Plymouth schools beat their previous Big Pedal record of 2019 by 600 journeys.
All the participating schools put in a huge effort and the winning schools had over 90% of people leave the car at home or parked away from the school gates to travel to school by active and sustainable means. Plymouth schools excelled in the South West Region and took 5 of the top 10 positions in the 3 main categories.
Data released by Sport England earlier this year suggests there was a decline in the physical activity levels of children due to the pandemic, with almost a third of children in England engaging in less than 30 minutes of daily physical activity in the 2019 – 2020 academic year.
If the children taking active journeys during Sustrans Big Pedal had travelled to school by car instead, this could have created 37,000 tonnes of CO2 and 72 kg of NOx. That’s enough to fill 4 hot air balloons with harmful CO2 emissions.
This follows a YouGov survey commissioned by Sustrans and published in April which showed:
- Just under half (49%) of UK children worry about air pollution near their school.
- 40% of UK children believe the best way to bring down levels of air pollution near their schools is for more people to walk, cycle or scoot to school.
Speaking about the results of the Big Pedal competition, James Cleeton, Director for south of England at Sustrans said, “It’s great to see how many journeys were made walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling in Plymouth during Big Pedal.
“This year, perhaps more than ever, it has been brilliant to see so many people enjoying their active journeys to school. Being able to make the Big Pedal happen again despite the pandemic has been truly great.
“The results of our recent YouGov survey show just how concerned children are about air pollution in their local area. As adults we should be doing more to make it easier for them, and us, to travel actively for everyday journeys like the school run.
“Sustrans is calling for national and local governments to prioritise high quality walking and cycling routes and to accelerate the roll out of school streets.”
Sustrans Plymouth Schools Officer, Claire Harris commented “We love working with Plymouth schools, and have been working with them here for nearly 10 years - Plymouth schoolchildren always show so much enthusiasm for making the school journey a chance to get active.
We know that being outside and being active is good for children’s well- being, we like to call it wheel-being, and it’s great that children are developing these healthy life style habits at a young age.
This year the Big Pedal allowed walks and bike rides at school to also be counted, which meant many of our schools with additional needs could participate, such as Courtlands Special School and Brook Green Centre for Learning, where we had the pleasure of opening their amazing off-road bike skills track.
It’s just a wonderful experience to see children so enjoy active travel and we hope to continue supporting schools to enable them to do this safely.”
For the small primary school 5 day challenge, Morice Town Primary came 1st locally and also took the top slot in the South West.
Joe Roberts, executive head teacher at Morice Town Primary, said “We are very proud to win the Big Pedal small primary school award this year reflecting our commitment to get the children to actively travel to school regularly.
It’s great to see children arriving at school after already getting some exercise and fresh air. I would like to thank the parents and children for engaging so positively not only during the competition but also during the whole of this school year.”
As part of the Big Pedal new school cycle tracks funded from successful bids to Plymouth City Council’s School Sustainable Travel Grants were opened for the first time to excited pupils. Several schools had grant funded brand-new scooters and balance bikes that were put to good use during the Big Pedal.
One of the schools which benefitted from a sustainable travel grant and took part in the Big Pedal was Marine Academy Primary, where teacher Alex Druce commented, “We had an excellent fortnight with the Big Pedal and it was great to see so many committed, happy children take part. Our next step is to continue to encourage high numbers to travel actively.”
Councillor Jonathan Drean, Plymouth City Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “I’m thrilled with how many pupils and families took part in Sustrans’ Big Pedal challenge. Well done to all the schools who got involved and congratulations for beating the already impressive record number of active journeys.
“We’ve made a commitment to increase the use of public transport, walking and cycling as more sustainable ways of getting around the city and our partnership with Sustrans, through our Plymotion programme, is key to helping more families walk, cycle and scoot on their journeys to school.”
For more information and a list of the overall winners visit:
