Graceville State School (GSS) is among the new schools to participate in the Brisbane City Council’s Active School Travel (AST) program in 2018.
The Active School Travel (AST) program encourages primary school students and their families to keep an active and healthy lifestyle by actively travelling to school.
AST is not just about letting the kids walk to school for healthier and more active students, but the program also promotes road safety and sustainable travel modes via cycling, walking, carpooling, scootering, or public transport. This will also help reduce traffic congestion on busy streets and school zones.
The program is tailored to each school with a dedicated officer, passports, rewards, active maps, and many more.
Schools under the program will have direct access to a range of free resources, tools and incursions. To help students joining the program, GSS offers an Active Travel Map that students and parents can easily see the active travel routes here.
The map provides detailed public transport routes, walking, and cycle paths. It also highlights public facilities that are useful for program participants.
It also allows parents and students to know the distance from their house to the school through the measuring scale. This is also a great way to discover nearby bikeways and walking paths for those who plan to walk around during the weekend.
The pink polygon or the “no excuses zone” on the program map shows homes that are within a ten-minute walk from the school, challenging residents of that zone to stay active and walk to school.