St. Mary’s School breaks records in big pedal challenge

ST Mary’s Broughton Gifford Primary School has finished near the top of the charts in a national challenge to get children making active trips to school.

In their best result to date, pupils, staff, and parents at the village school have finished fifth in the Sustrans Big Pedal 2021 South West region. 

The competition aims to encourage schoolchildren to make active journeys to school. Schools around the country compete to have the highest proportion of their staff and pupils making a journey to school on bike, scooter, by walking, or using a wheelchair.

With over 84% of their pupils and staff travelling to school actively, St Mary’s Broughton Gifford has finished the challenge in the top 100 nationally

To keep everyone involved motivated, the school organised a number of activities including daily prizes for lucky pupils, a ‘Golden Wheel’ trophy for the classes with the highest proportion of active travellers, and a final day where children were encouraged to decorate their bikes, scooters and shoes.

Event organiser and teacher Tamsin Daddow said, “Even though we’re still in our bubbles due to Covid-19, it has been really fun taking part in an event as a whole school. Keeping fit and active is an important part of learning, and it’s fantastic that this event has created such a buzz!”

St Mary’s Broughton Gifford is a member of The White Horse Federation multi-academy trust, responsible for 32 schools across Swindon, Wiltshire, Gloucester, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire.