Pupils from Gillespie Primary School with London’s walking and cycling commissioner Will Norman
PUPILS struck gold at an awards ceremony celebrating initiatives encouraging walking and cycling. The children, from Gillespie Primary School, were invited to the Kia Oval Arena for Transport for London’s Travel for Life awards.
The school was awarded gold accreditation for its bikeability programmes and its upcoming summer fair.
It also won a special award in the student achievement category following the delivery of student-led assemblies about climate change and a puppet show starring the school’s travel mascot, Rosa.
During the awards ceremony, pupils learnt more about life at TfL and took part in activities, including a public speaking workshop. They were also challenged to design a poster about the dangers of looking down on your phone while using public transport.
Teacher Florie Smith said the pupils’ success was “entirely their own doing and I very much took the back seat allowing the pupils to lead the way”.
The Travel for Life accreditation programme aims to encourage young Londoners to travel actively, by walking and cycling, as well as safely and responsibly when using public transport.
There are three levels of accreditation – bronze, silver and gold – each awarded according to the number of activities completed by the school.
Since Travel for Life started in 2007 it is estimated that pupils, staff, parents and carers across London have replaced 22 million kilometres of car journeys with walking and cycling.