What is Active and Safe Routes to School?

Active and Safe Routes to School is a provincial initiative that strives to create an environment that is conducive to, and supportive of, safe, walkable communities.

As stated on Green Communities website (the promoter and champion of the program):

"Active & Safe Routes to School promotes the use of active and efficient transportation for the daily trip to school, addressing health and traffic safety issues while taking action on air pollution and climate change."

What are the eight initiatives of Active and Safe Routes to School?

1. Walking School Bus: Parent volunteers walking a route, picking up children along the way and taking them to school.



2. Walking Wednesdays: One day a week is set aside as the day to walk to school.



3. iWalk (International Walk to School Week and Day): This is an annual event held during the first week of October where schools and their surrounding community have the opportunity to learn about the many issues surrounding transporting children to and from school and to discuss alternatives.



4. Walk a Block: A drop off zone for parents and school busses is set-up a block (or more) away from the school to encourage walking. This also helps to decrease traffic congestion at the school grounds.



5. Neighbourhood Walkabout: A community group including the police, school staff, parents, public health nurse, and appropriate municipal/city employees conduct a tour of the school area looking for safe routes and appropriate infrastructure to support the walk to school.



6. Walking Buddies: Older students are ‘buddied’ with younger students for the walk to school.



7. No Idling at School: Initiatives are adopted to promote parents to turn engines off while they wait for their children



8. Classroom Mapping: A program that is available to teachers to assist them in having the children map their neighbourhood to discover the enablers and barriers to active and safe transportation.

Schools often pick one or two of these initiatives to concentrate on during the school year.

How do I get involved in this program?

Currently the Halton District School Board has formed an Active and Safe Routes to School Steering Committee. We have a number of community members involved in getting this program into our schools.

If you are interested in joining or finding out more about this committee you can call the Halton District School Board at 905-335-3663 ext 2228.

The Active and Safe Routes to School Project

In June 2009 Trustees of the Halton District School Board approved an expansion of the Active & Safe Routes to School program to 25 schools across the Region.  A Project Manager was hired in September 2009 and planning for the expansion began.

This multi-sector, multi-component project will bring collaboration between the Board, the four municipalities, a variety of Regional services and community groups.

In January 2010, the Halton Catholic District School Board joined the project submitting  5 schools to the project.

Please refer to the Downloads section of this page to access the Project Plan and other project documents.