Children from seven Island schools have launched the WOW (Walk to School challenge), a national initiative from the charity, Living Streets, encouraging families to choose active travel.

The campaign began with a lively visit from Strider, the colourful WOW mascot, who greeted pupils at the school gates and joined in activities throughout the day. He was accompanied by the IW council’s road safety officer, Lewis Campbell, and Living Streets co-ordinator, Juliette, who handed out badges and helped promote the scheme.

WOW rewards pupils who walk, wheel, cycle, scoot, or ‘Park and Stride’ to school at least once a week with a monthly badge. The initiative is already active in more than 2,000 schools across the UK and has been shown to cut car journeys by 59 per cent while increasing walking and wheeling by 18 per cent.

Participating schools include Greenmount, Dover Park, St Blasius, Brading, St Francis, Gatten and Lake, and Queensgate. Junior travel ambassadors (JTAs) at each school are supporting the project by tracking travel data and distributing badges.

Mr Campbell said: “We’re thrilled to be launching WOW on the Isle of Wight alongside our JTA scheme. We’re asking families to consider active travel at least once a week and experience the benefits for themselves.”

The JTA scheme provides road safety education and supports School Travel Plans across the Island. The council funds the programme to help build healthier, safer and happier school communities.