The IWALK Club

The IWALK Club – OVER 10,000,000 KILOMETRES AND STILL WALKING!

SCHOOLS:  For a healthier world, join the IWALK Club by completing our online registration form. Your school will receive IWALK Club cards and golden sneaker stickers for your students.

The IWALK Club makes physical activity FUN!  And it contributes to a healthier world by reducing harmful air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change.

Join the IWALK Club today!  By joining, your school can:

• reduce car trips to the school
• encourage walking and active travel
• reduce pollution and climate change emissions
• promote healthier lifestyle choices for students and their families
• walk around the world - all activity ideas are curriculum-linked

• École Ste-Jeanne d'Arc, London

All students can participate in the IWALK Club:

• students who come to school on a school bus can participate in related in-school activities such as Kilometre Club, Walking Club or community walks
• students who take transit already have to walk part way, so they qualify
• students who have to be driven can encourage their parents to park safely and 'walk a block' (schools are encouraged to set up 'walk-a-block' zones around their school; students who are unable to walk all the way to school can still qualify for a stamp on their club card if they have walked at least from the start of the 'walk-a-block' zone.  Walk-a-block zones are typically a minimum of two full blocks from the school.  Local municipalities can work with schools to identify suitable areas.)
• students who live within walking distance can walk or use other active travel to get to school as often as possible

Students and schools walk to win in the IWALK Club:

Schools:

• Receive a free gift for registering – Charlotte Diamond’s CD, The Walking School Bus (Listen to a little bit of the song: MP3 (MP3 - 821 KB). Download the lyrics: Word (DOC - 119 KB) PDF (PDF - 73 KB)

Students:

• Receive certificates of accomplishment for completing their IWALK Club cards and receiving 5 'golden shoe' stickers
• Can be rewarded through in-school incentives.  Note:  incentives offered to the students are determined by the school community, and can be provided in-kind.  Examples of simple, innovative incentives are:  an extra recess for winning classes, golden shoe or boot awards, or visits from local celebrities (we've heard that Mr. Potato Head visited a Mississauga school!).

• Cooksville Creek Public School, Mississauga

WALK AROUND THE WORLD:

By joining the IWALK Club, your school will be part of a province-wide challenge to walk around the world by walking to school or walking at school (other active modes are acceptable).

The IWALK Club was inspired by:

• Go for Gold, a project of the Safer Routes to School Team of Buckinghamshire County Council. Go for Gold was first piloted at Holmer Green First School in Buckinghamshire and was the winner of the first ever International Walk to School Award in 2003 (www.iwalktoschool.org).
• The Toronto Heart Health Challenge, a physical activity initiative of Toronto Public Health.
• The Frequent Rider Miles contest of the Safe Routes to Schools project of Marin County, California (www.saferoutestoschools.org).
• We thank these organizations for their guidance and expertise as we developed the ideas for the IWALK Club.

The IWALK Club is an initiative of Green Communities | Active & Safe Routes to School.

Active travel is any form of transportation that is human-powered, like walking, bicycling, canoeing, kayaking, cross-country skiing, etc.

• John Sweeney Catholic School, Kitchener