Get kids active

Set lifelong healthy habits and reduce local traffic, by enabling 75% of school children to walk, cycle, scoot, or take public transport.

  • Children’s safety is absolutely paramount and there are long-term benefits to both our kids’ and the nation’s health of establishing healthy habits. Kids learn to enjoy more independence and parents gain valuable time back in their day, without the grind of school drop-offs and pick-ups.

  • Kids tell us they really want to walk, scoot or bike to school, especially with their friends. Our streets are public places where kids should be free to travel, play and explore. The issue is our governments at all levels stopped designing our streets for people, and prioritised travel for large, fast cars instead. Over time, we’ve just come to accept that our streets have to be noisy, traffic-filled and dangerous for non-motorists to use. This approach is keeping us from having the confidence to allow our kids to become independent and walk or ride a bike or scooter on their own.

  • Luckily in Australia the school catchment system ensures kids generally live close to their school, so we don’t need to change many of our streets in order to make active school travel a safe choice for kids. State and local governments can prioritise healthy, safe streets around schools by providing cycle and pedestrian infrastructure (think bike paths, walking tracks and pedestrian crossings), lowering speed limits and calming traffic to reduce risk and improve access. Many schools are also trialling specific periods to open nearby streets to people who walk, ride, scoot - without traffic. The start and end of each school day are ideal windows to introduce the concept.

  • Parent & Citizen associations, school leaders and local business groups are ideal organisations to create change around specific schools as they know the area, have a collaborative relationship with school leadership and are part of the local community. They also stand to benefit the most from delivering better streets to schools.

  • Bring your Parent & Citizen (P&C) group, school, community group or other organisation into the Better Streets coalition and create safe, enjoyable active transport choices for kids in your area.

  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Overweight and obesity among Australian children and adolescents. Accessed: 25 August 2024, available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/overweight-obesity/overweight-obesity-australian-children-adolescents/summary

    Children Health Initiative, School streets: Putting children and the planet first. Accessed: 24 August 2024, available at: https://www.childhealthinitiative.org/media/792262/school-streets-globally.pdf

    Royal Children's Hospital, Tavelling to school: Habits of Australian families. Accessed: 24 August 2024, available at: https://www.rchpoll.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/20190207-travelling-to-school-habits-of-australian-families.pdf

  • Merri-bek, VIC

    Willoughby, NSW

Crosswalk with children and parents crossing while a crossing guard directs traffic at a residential street.

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