Striding towards the Golden Boot

Walking to school may be tough work for little legs, but pupils at Scoil Cholmcille take it all in their stride, Education Correspondent Niall Murray reports

IT MIGHT not have the prestige of the prize given to Fernando Torres as Euro 2012 top goalscorer, but the boys of Caroline McCarthy’s first class are equally as proud of their Golden Boot.

Rather than for their collective footballing prowess, the 13 seven- and eight-year-olds won the prize for having the highest rate of walking to school during a recent week promoting greener travel.

“I think I was about the only one who came in by car,” said teacher Caroline, who travels from the other side of the city to work.

Scoil Cholmcille CBS on Blarney St became the first Cork City primary school to achieve the green flag for travel in May.

But it took more than the efforts during the Walk to School Week to earn the 190 pupils and their teachers the accolade.

As well as encouraging pupils to make the journey on foot, a Park and& Stride scheme is also in place. This encourages boys who normally get dropped off at the school gates to take a lift some of the way and then walk the final part of the trip.

For walking all or part of the way to school, Ms McCarthy’s first class boys earned the Golden Boot.

It’s not exactly a sparkling treasure — actually, it’s more like one of the staff’s old running shoes — but it’s a source of immense pride for the entire class. “There was a big push because every class wanted to win and 90% of our class walked during the week,” said Ms McCarthy.

According to Kieran Murphy, green schools co-ordinator at Scoil Cholmcille, the proportion of pupils walking to school & has risen from just under half to 70% as a result of the campaign encouraging walking on Wednesday.

The figure is a fair achievement, even for an inner city school, as boys come from a wide catchment across the northside. And while some come from as far as Blackrock on the southside, the hilly terrain of this part of Cork can be tough work for small legs.

But for the likes of twins Craig and Dylan Doherty, the 20-minute stroll to and from home in Gurranabraher twice a day is no sweat. “We play soccer, hurling, and football. We prefer walking because it gives you loads of energy,” explained Craig.

Dylan said they have to leave home at about 8.20am every day and even had to walk through the rain that morning, but they still prefer coming to school on foot.

Craig Sweeney, a fourth class pupil and green schools committee member, said a lot more people now walk to school and it brings benefit of getting more exercise and keeping fit.

Shay Slavin, also in fourth class, said there were some boys living near him who hardly ever walked to school even though he said they live nearby.

“I went around to their houses and said it to them and now they nearly all walk to and from school,” he said.

Green Schools opportunities

Junior infants are only learning how to learn in their first year of school, but the message about a greener environment starts early at schools like Scoil Cholmcille CBS.

Charlie Leary explains it very simply: “I walk down the hill and then up the hill back home.”

Teacher Mark Russell has 11 boys in his junior infant class and said that many of them get lifts to school because of their age.

But there are many other aspects of the Green Schools programme integrated into the average day.

“The last boy out of the class always turns off the lights. They love the idea of having a job to do. It’s like an honour to have the responsibility.

“When we’re doing geography or going on nature walks, we bring in some of the Green Schools stuff. Even in maths class, we could be asking them how many cars they saw on the road that day. Or doing SPHE [social, personal, and health education], you teach them about their environment,” said Mr Russell.