Western Isles Way Walking Project

November 2005

Western Isles youngsters have recently been helping to walk their way to health by taking part in the Western Isles Way walking project, developed and promoted by the Active Schools team

Bayble School P4 - P5 enjoy a wet-weather walk!

“All P4 – P7 children were issued with a pedometer to count the number of steps they were taking during the school day.” said Active Schools Team Leader Tony Wade “Over the space of four weeks, youngsters counted their steps every day and recorded the results in their personal log books. The returns were quite phenomenal with Western Isles children covering a distance equivalent to twice around the earth in only four weeks!”

Airidhantuim School recorded the highest average number of steps per pupil and their reward will be a trip to a local Sports Centre for a fantastic activity session.

Active Schools is a Scottish Executive initiative aimed at making young people more active, more often. “The idea of this project was to raise awareness of how much walking they are actually doing and how such a simple activity can help their overall health and fitness. The national target is that 80% of all primary age children should be physically active – this means an hour or more per day, on at least five days of the week” said Tony. “It was an inspiration to hear some of the stories from schools including one youngster who was taking part on crutches and several lunch queues that were seen to be marching on the spot in order to accumulate some extra steps!”

“Active Schools relies on the involvement of the whole community to make a difference to our young people’s lives.” Tony continued. “If anyone would like to offer their time to help with any aspect of physical activity – it could be an after school club or even driving a group to a coaching session, I would encourage you to get involved. I can be contacted on 707458 and will pass on details to our staff; you can also get more information, volunteer or make suggestions here. In this way we can all play a part in improving the health and well being of the next generation“.

Western Isles Way Walking Resource Pack (MS Word 860KB)