Active SMiles
The Health Protection Hub are running a scheme for our pupils called Active SMIles, to promote active commuting – walking, cycling or wheeling to school.
Those who sign-up and are selected will be offered financial incentives in the form of a £50 supermarket voucher for completing 10 active commutes during the 4-week period from 17th June to 12th July
There is a wealth of evidence to show that active commuting has these benefits:
- You’ll save money on fuel
- You’ll get fitter
- Your mental health and well-being will improve
- You’ll beat traffic congestion
- You’ll help to improve local air quality and fight climate change
We’re looking for people to take part who don’t typically walk or cycle to school, so would be replacing car journeys with active travel.
It’s appreciated that you may have concerns about walking or cycling to school, and it won’t be for everyone, but the benefits are huge and most if not all of your concern will be easy to overcome. If you’re interested, we’d recommend that you download British Cycling’s commuter e-book, by following this link: https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/commuter-ebook and check out the resources at: https://www.telford.gov.uk/info/20464/cycling
A few points on how the scheme works:
- A commute is either to or from school, so if you go from home to school and back again on the same day, that will count as 2 commutes.
- Support will be provided by us in the Health Protection Hub at the Council if you need it. We want you to succeed!
- You’ll need to create an account on the fitness tracking app Strava, following our full, easy-to-follow instructions. You’ll then need to record your commutes on your ‘phone using the Strava app. This is simply so your active commutes can be verified before the rewards are issued. The app is free in its basic form
- If you do sign-up but don’t manage to meet the target of 10 commutes, you’ll still be rewarded but will lose £5 for every commute short of 10 you didn’t manage to do, so for example if you achieved 8 commutes you’d get £40.
- Travelling to or from a railway station or bus depot counts as a commute provided the minimum distances below are achieved
- The minimum distance to count as a commute is 0.5 miles walking or 1 mile cycling
- You will be asked to complete a 5 minute survey after the project period has ended
- Rewards will be distributed as soon as the verification has taken place and the survey has been completed
In the meantime, apart from dusting-off your bike or walking shoes, if you’d like to discuss the scheme feel free to call Wayne Jones at the Health Protection Hub on 01952 380753 for a chat, or email HealthProtectionHub@telford.gov.uk
Otherwise, email any expressions of interest to HealthProtectionHub@telford.gov.uk – act quickly as spaces are limited!*
*Selection criteria will apply if over-subscribed; a “space” is for one family, so multiple children at the same school actively commuting will only attract one £50 offer (but would make selection more likely in the event of over-subscription) Priority will be given to those children/families who don’t currently actively commute to school.
