Park and walk to school

Park and Walk simply means driving some of the way to school, then parking and walking the rest of the way. It is ideal for families who live a long way from school and can’t walk the whole way. It also reduces congestion around the school entrance, thus making it safer for children to walk and ride to school.

Park and Walk is a brilliant way to encourage parents, carers and their children to add some physical exercise to their journey to school, learn road safety skills and socialise with other families. To Park and Walk, all families need to do is choose somewhere to park. This will depend on how far they want to walk to school, and feasible parking places. 

How does it work?

There are two ways in which Park and Walk can work: 

1. Parents or carers are encouraged to find a suitable parking spot away from the school gates. They then walk the rest of the way. 

2. Schools can promote an ongoing Park and Walk campaign and choose official Park and Walk meeting spots that are 5-10 minutes from the school. This makes it easy for parents to take part, especially if there is a shortage of car parking around school. It’s also a great opportunity for parents/carers and their children to meet with others, walk together and chat. 

Park and walk meeting points

The ideal meeting points are empty car parks near the school which are on a safe walking route. Options include car parks at local parks, ovals, sporting clubs, churches or local supermarkets. 

You could map where your students live in order to choose meeting point/s that are on their way to school. See complementary activities below.

Promote and celebrate Park and Walk 

To run a successful, ongoing Park and Walk campaign, it’s important to communicate details of your Park and Walk meeting points to your school community. Order and set up some ‘meeting point’ signs and put up posters around the school to promote the campaign. You’ll find a sample letter in the downloadable resource that you can use and send home to families. Also include information in the school newsletter, on your website and school notice board.

Launch the campaign by holding an event day and thank everyone for participating by providing faction points or a healthy breakfast for students, and tea and coffee for parents. Post stories on the Your Move website about your Park and Walk campaign to earn Your Move points to spend on rewards.

Complimentary activities

A whole class or school access guide will show how far your students live from school, where they travel from and where Park and Walk meeting points could be located.

Lesson Plan: Map My Journey to School

The ‘Map My Journey to School’ lesson plan is a great complementary activity, where students will use their senses to ‘rediscover’ their trip to school, creating a personal map that reflects the path they took and all the things they discovered on their journey.

Lesson Plan: Map Safe Routes to School - Stencil Painting Activity

Another good activity to help identify potential  ‘Park and Walk’ locations near your school is the ‘Map Safe Routes to School - Stencil Painting Activity’. In this activity, students complete a site audit of the active transport network around their school, then use the results of the audit to conduct a mapping exercise to identify and mark the most popular ‘Safe Routes to School’ and ‘Park and Walk’ points using the Google ‘My Maps’ tool.

Download the how to guide below

Read our handy resource below for more details, sample letters and handy tips on getting a ‘Park and Walk’ scheme up and running at your school.