Kāpiti kids have been getting active putting enormous amounts of effort into incorporating sustainable travel in their everyday lives by walking cycling and scooting to school.
This hard work paid off when Raumati South School students recently discovered they had the highest participation rate in Movin’March on the Kāpiti Coast.
The active school scooped five prizes last week thanks to the initiative run by Greater Wellington Regional Council, including a $300 Avanti voucher for an individual student and three art challenge prizes.
Movin’March lead teacher at Raumati South School Hillary Houston says she loved the enthusiasm and ideas displayed by senior students on how to keep the school motivated.
“Our teachers have been working with their classes on identifying safe and unsafe areas to walk or wheel during their journey to school.
“We have also loved watching children being dropped at the end of our street and then pushing their scooters or bikes from the car to finish their journey to school. It is a great strategy to reduce traffic congestion around the school gates.”
Hillary says a big part of the success of the moving month was due to the dedication of Movin’March Student Ambassadors.
“These were the students who promoted this initiative at assembly each week. They arrived at school at 8.15am and left at 3.20pm to stamp the cards of the students who walked, scooted or biked to school. They were a great help to me.”
Greater Wellington Travel Choice Coordinator Kirsty Barr says these prizes were well deserved.
“This was Raumati South’s first time taking part in Movin’March and they did a fantastic job at encouraging students to jump on board.
“They have also opened a ‘Bikes in Schools’ track, showing support for active modes of transport,” Kirsty says.
Across the Wellington region 125 schools participated in Movin’March 2019, with close to 106,000 individual journeys recorded.
