This cold winter weather proved to be no match for our friends at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School and Green Communities Canada. Their Winter Walk Day 2015 proved to be a big success in the St. James Town community, and they have sent along the following information on the event and how their school is encouraging students to walk to school.
March 5 was the date of the school’s Winter Walk and wow, what a success!
Nearly one year after starting their School Travel Planning Project, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, Toronto experienced a 15% increase in walking for morning trips and 11% for afternoon trips. Currently, they are in year two of their School Travel Planning process and they are successfully building momentum while addressing some of the many travel issues. They took a unique approach to promoting walking in winter by first addressing the need to dress properly for the cold – and this was even more necessary this winter as Toronto experienced 38 extreme cold days! Our Lady of Lourdes held an innovative Winter Walk Kick-Off assembly on February 12. After a short video prepared by student volunteers of their St. Jamestown community, Principal Peterson was ‘dressed for the weather’ with the assistance of Physical Education teacher Mr. Longo and the students. Principal Peterson came out on stage wearing shorts and a t-shirt; students yelled excitedly which clothing items should go on first, starting with long johns. See the result below! Thanks to the Heart and Stroke Foundation for providing a short presentation linking walking to school year-round with a healthy heart.
Click the photos to enlarge.
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