Pupils step up to give charity help

Pupils took pairs of old shoes to school to donate to people in Africa as part of a walk to school day on Wednesday.

Children from Lowe’s Wong Infants’ School walked to school with their parents rather than travelling in by car.

Pupils who travel by bus walked from their homes to the bus stop.

Children who walked to school or to the bus stop received a sticker.

Pupils collected more than 100 pairs of old shoes, which will be sent to Africa as part of Nottinghamshire Police’s aid convoy.

The school’s head, Mrs Vanessa Platt, said they collected the shoes as part of the walk to school day to get children thinking about what it would be like to walk long distances without shoes.

She said: “Children and young adults in Africa often have to walk miles to school and they have no shoes.”

Mrs Platt hoped taking part in the walk to school day would encourage pupils to walk more often.

She said: “It is encouraging children to be healthy and try and having a walk in the morning wakes them up, gets them active and helps them get ready to concentrate during the day.

“The hope is that parents will walk into school more often.

“It makes everything round the school much safer when there aren’t so many cars parked out there and when people aren’t trying to drop children off illegally on double yellow lines.

“Hopefully parents will realise if they are just a little bit more organised in the morning they will be able to just walk to school.”