At Waverley Junior Academy we believe being active is extremely important for our physical and mental health. We encourage all our pupils to lead an active lifestyle including how they travel. We teach the children that switching more journeys to ‘active travel’ will improve their health and quality of life and also support the environment. These are ‘win-wins’ that will benefit individual people and the Waverley community as a whole.

 

Active Travel Achievements, Events and Initiatives

 

We are very proud to announce that Waverley Junior Academy have achieved Gold Awards for both the 'School Games Mark' and 'Active Travel'. Mr. Taylor has worked extremely hard this year and the gold 'Schools Games Mark' is a reflection of all of the fixtures and competitions we have entered and how active our children are. Mrs. Milner has been dedicated to ensuring that our academy achieved gold for 'Active Travel' through increasing active travel at school, organising events and workshops and introducing the first ACET Junior Road Safety Officer Meeting. 

   

WOW – the WALK TO SCHOOL challenge

At Waverley all children in Years 1 to Year 6 take part in the WOW - walk to school challenge. Every morning the class teachers record how the pupils in their class travel to school on the WOW tracker. If the children travel to school in an active way e.g. walk, cycle, scoot at least once a week they can earn a different WOW badge each month. The badges have been designed by pupils across the UK and are made from recycled yoghurt pots. You can find out more about this years’ badges at LIVINGSTREETS.ORG.UK/WOWBADGEGUIDE.

At the end of each month Mrs. Milner looks to see which class has the best results and they celebrate with an extra playtime of more… physical activities!

   

Bikeability

Year 5 and 6 take part in Level 1 and 2 Bikeability training each October. The training equips them with vital life skills. Pupils not only learn to cycle, they gain independence, social skills and a sense of wellbeing.

Level 1 takes place on the school playground where the children can learn in a traffic-free environment. They learn -

• How to maintain their cycle and make simple repairs
• How to glide: smooth, calm and collected
• How to control their bike: including setting off, cruising, slowing down, braking and stopping
• How to pedal: without feeling wobbly or out of control
• To be aware of their surroundings: looking behind and turning around obstacles.

Level 2 takes place on quiet roads so the children can experience “real” cycling. They learn –

• How to start and stop with more confidence
• How to pass stationary vehicles parked on a road
• What different signals, signs and road markings represent
• How to negotiate the road: including quiet junctions, crossroads and roundabouts
• How to share the road with other vehicles

At the end of the week the children are better at responding to risk and report increased confidence in cycling on the road.

   

Bling Your Bike

Each year at Waverley we hold a ‘Bling Your Bike’ event where pupils are invited to decorate their bikes or scooters in exciting ways. Each class then takes part in a parade to show the rest of the school their amazing creations. Winners are chosen from each year group and the pupils receive a Road Safety prize!

   

Dr Bike Day

To ensure our children can stay active and safe, Dom from Modeshift Stars visits the academy to help maintain the pupils’ (and staffs’) bikes. He does a fantastic job at fixing any problems we have and it always very busy. During his last visit he fixed 43 bikes!

  

Educational Walks

Our pupils enjoy going for walks in the local area. This can include visiting Waverley Lakes, the Advanced Manufacturing Park and local businesses, as well as exploring the large residential estate.

Most recently the FS2 children walked to the woods as part of their ‘Understanding The World’ topic. They enjoyed looking for signs of Autumn and using their checklists to record what they found. The pupils collected items such as leaves and twigs and used them to make Autumn collages back at the academy.

   

Y6 Crucial Crew

Each year, as part of preparing our Year 6 pupils for the next step in their education, they visit Crucial Crew. A big change for them may be travelling to their new school by bus each day. The Crucial Crew team teach them the skills they will need. The children learn; how to wait for a bus safely, how to stop a bus, to have their money ready to pay, why they should walk round the back of a bus when getting off, what to do in an emergency and why it’s important not to distract the driver.

The pupils also recap road safety by acting out everyday situations such as using a zebra crossing and taking part in discussion including estimating how long it takes a car to stop when travelling at 30MPH.