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Walk to School

Setting kids up for healthy, active lives.

A VicHealth initiative.

Neighbourhood & built systems
A photo of a school child holding hands with a parent
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Why Walk to School?

To get kids in the habit of walking to school young to help them feel great now, and lead healthy, active lives into the future. 

That’s what VicHealth’s Walk to School initiative is all about. This includes working with schools and local councils to make it easy, safe and accessible.

When does Walk to School happen? 

Springtime will always be a great time to Walk to School, so we’ll spotlight this message during October (and you can, too!).

But just like school terms, our work with councils and communities happens throughout the year. So you don't need to contain your plans to just one campaign month. 

Why Walk to School?

Being active every day is great for kids. Why? It helps: 

  • Mental wellbeing
  • Mood and self-esteem
  • Confidence and life skills
  • Connection with family, friends and neighbours  

Moving commutes from the roads to the footpath also helps: 

  • Make school streets safer
  • Reduce traffic congestion
  • Contribute to a healthier environment

Watch this case study interview about Walk to School in Greater Shepparton City Council:

Get involved

  • Schools and families

    Sure, getting regular physical activity has lots of great benefits.  

    But kids just want to have fun! 

    Make the Walk to School awesome for kids

    1. Check out some ideas below
    2. Use our worksheets and resources (dust off your laminators!)
    3. Tag @VicHealth on your Walk to School! We love seeing these moments on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.  

    Ideas for Walk to School 

    Brainstorm anyone?!

    If you want to get involved and need some ideas to get started, read on...

     Schools, this one's for you: 

    • Set up multiple drop off zones to help ease congestion  
    • Remind families that part way is okay, or even once a week is good  
    • Offer incentives and rewards by using strategies to make walking, riding and scooting more appealing by ‘gamifying’ activities.
    • Vary incentives and actions to suit different age groups; for example, stickers or badges appeal far more to younger students than older ones.  
    • Calendars can be used to help track the number of trips and also give recognition. VicHealth has a free downloadable classroom calendar.  
    • Footpath chalking! Kids chalk active travel and road safety messages on nearby footpaths  
    • Online passports and competitions to track kids’ active travel that can be designed and monitored by kids.  
    • Share success and personal stories in newsletters, social media posts, school app prompts  
    • Public commitments are great! Make a statement in your community about using active travel to support physical distancing and road safety through prominent messages at the entrance to school buildings.  
    • Create an active travel for ‘return to school’ page on your school’s website with information for parents.
    • Link any active travel return to school actions to student committee planning, by running on online active travel event to capturing storytelling about local walking experiences. 

     Families, we’ve got you covered too: 

    • Part way is OK! Remember if the walk to school is too far, you can park a few blocks from the school and walk the rest of the way.  
    • Take it in turns with other parents to walk/ride/scoot to school with the kids, but ensure you maintain physical distancing with walking buddies outside your household.  

    How we’re helping 

    Did we mention we work with local councils to help make it safe, easy and accessible to walk to school? You could contact yours to see what they have planned.  

    We also fund grassroots projects.

  • Worksheets and resources

    Fun worksheets

    Sure, regular physical activity has lots of great benefits.  

    But kids just want to have fun!  

    Use these worksheets to help make active travel to and from school awesome for kids. 

    More Walk to School resources

    Download and print a range of Walk to School resources:

    • Range of posters (A3, A4, blank, ready-to-print)
    • Social media tiles (square and rectangle)
    • Calendar
    • Colouring sheet
    • Worksheets for fun activities
    • Badges/stickers 
    • Walk to School certificate
    • Decals 
    • Letterhead & Word document templates
    • Separate headers and footers
    • Digital banners

    Browse resources 

3 quick facts about Walk to School  

Curious about our Walk to School campaign history and results? 


Here’s some quick facts: 

  • It started out as an activity month that schools could get their students doing each year. You could even win prizes (like meeting an AFL hero). All you had to do was walk (or ride/scoot/skate) to school. 
  • 2019 had the biggest turnout in the history of the campaign – approximately 1 in 3 Victorian primary school kids from all over the state.
  • After 14 fun-filled years of the annual Walk to School month, coronavirus hit. So Walk to School adapted. Now schools can get involved anytime of year! 
Illustration of two parents, each holding the hand of their child as they walk down a street.
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Artwork by Dexx (Gunditjmara/Boon Wurrung) ‘Mobs Coming Together’ 2022
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Artwork Credit: Dexx (Gunditjmara/Boon Wurrung) ‘Mobs Coming Together’ 2022, acrylic on canvas. Learn more about this artwork.