Ty’n Y Wern Primary School, already the recipients of the ‘Active Journeys Silver Award’, have now been awarded with the gold title. The school is only the third school in Wales and the first school in Caerphilly to receive this prestigious award. It recognises and celebrates the commitment and dedication of the children, teachers, and parents to active travel to creating a happier and healthier community.
Since Ty’n Y Wern Primary School began their journey as an Active Journeys School in September 2019, they have worked hard to encourage as many children as possible to choose an active journey to school.
Health and well-being are at the heart of everything Ty’n Y Wern do, and the importance of physical activity has been recognised, on both the physical and mental health of children.
The school have participated in many events to raise the profile of active journeys and to achieve the Gold Active Journeys Award, these events include ‘Bling My Ride’ and ‘School Streets’, participating in national events such as ‘Big Walk and Wheel’, as well as holding skateboarding and BMX workshops for children to experience different ways of travelling and have also started a ‘walking bus’ to encourage more children to walk to school. Due to its level of importance, active travel also features heavily in their curriculum design.
Everyone at Ty’n Y Wern Primary believes that all children should learn to ride a bike, so it was added to their ‘Pupil Passport’ with the goal of every child being able to ride a bike by the time they leave Ty’n Y Wern. One of the pupils, who has a physical disability, would find this difficult so the community fundraised over £1,500 to provide him with an adaptive bike so he can learn to ride a bike the same as his friends.
Sophie Goodliffe, Head Teacher of Ty’n y Wern Primary School, commented “We are absolutely over the moon to have achieved this very special award. A massive thanks goes out to Miss Lippiett our Active Journeys lead and the Active Journeys crew for all their hard work and to our whole school community to who have supported our many events and activities and for making a big shift to travel actively to school each day.”
Cllr Carol Andrews, Cabinet Member for Education and Communities, said “This is an incredibly well-deserved achievement for Ty’n Y Wern Primary School. The dedication shown by the pupils and staff is commendable, being the first school in Caerphilly to have achieved this is something to be extremely proud of. Well done all!”
