Story: John Mellor & Gaby Spinks
Photo:Anwar Suliman
The Walking Bus was started in October 2006 by Community Wardens and local volunteers to help parents, children and the environment.
Getting on board the Walking Bus is an exciting and healthy way to start the school day. The ‘drivers’ and ‘conductors’ ensure that the children are kept safe at all times when crossing roads and travelling along pavements. Research has proved that children who walk to school arrive fresh and ready for learning and their brains are wide awake. Walking buses also try to help keep traffic off the road and away from school gates.
The Walking Bus operates on two routes. The first starts at the junction of Scott Road and Ellesmere Road North at 8.20am. It goes along Scott Road past Kirton, Blayton and Sturton Roads, picking up waiting ‘passengers’ en route. It then turns left into Abbeyfield Road and along Firshill Road to the pedestrian crossing on Barnsley Road. Children attending Firs Hill School alight at the gates and the rest continue up to St Catherine’s, overtaking the traffic jam!
The second route is a “Park and Stride” service which starts at the Sheffield United Football Academy where parents can drop off their children who are then taken down to St Catherine’s School by a team of staff and parents.
There is plenty of room for more children to come on board, but volunteer ‘drivers’ and ‘conductors’ are needed, especially when New Deal funding for the Community Wardens comes to an end at the end of March.
Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer for the Walking Bus should contact Gaby Spinks (extended school worker at St Catherine's) on 242 1177.