Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley schools celebrate Walk Safely To School Day 2023

Thousands of Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley kids will be hitting the pavement this week for Walk Safely To School Day. Here’s how you can be involved:

Leith Hahn, Zipora Muhiire, Amie Frost and Walter Gunneen are just four of the thousands of Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley kids who will hit the pavement to get to school this Friday.

The Helidon State School students will join dozens of other campuses across the Darling Downs participating in Walk Safely To School Day on Friday — a celebration of health, road safety and the environmental benefits of walking to school.

Helidon principal Mark Robertson his entire school will meet at the nearby cricket club before walking more than 1km to the campus on School Street.

Helidon State School students (from left) Leith Hahn, Amie Frost, Walter Gunneen and Zipora Muhiire and their classmates are participating in Walk Safely To School Day on Friday.

“We’ll ask parents to drop their kids off there and then we’re going to walk down the main street of Helidon,” he said.

“It’s to show we’re a part of the community — we’re starting to work hard creating authentic connections, to show students about making good choices while they’re out in the community.

“(On road safety), we’ll show they can’t just run across the road, they’ve got to look both ways to make sure when they go to school, they go from point A to point B.”

Amie and Zipora both said walking to school was a great way to catch up with friends outside of the classroom.

Mr Robertson said he wanted to see more kids walking to school if it’s feasible.

The national event is now in its 24th year, with the initiative encouraging both parents and teachers to teach road safety skills and support the importance of regular walking.

For more information, head to the website or the Facebook page.