What do you do if you want to promote environmental awareness and the benefits of physical activity to school children? If your one of the administrators at St. Mary's school in the town of Falmouth, Cornwall, you start a walking school bus.

The concept is pretty simple (but also pretty brilliant): set up a designated meeting spot in the morning, give the kids high visibility jackets to wear, recruit a "driver" and some parents to supervise, and then walk to school together as one big group. Walking is one of the greenest ways you can travel and the children (and participating parents!) receive the added bonus of getting some exercise at the beginning of the day. And as if there needed to be another selling point, the children also have the opportunity to socialize with their schoolmates before they even sit down at their desks.

Whoever originally came up with this idea deserves some serious accolades because not only is it good for the earth, but parents and teachers have been provided the perfect opportunity to talk to the kids about what makes this activity friendly to the environment, and of course, why it's important. With obesity rates in children rising, this is also just one more way to get kids active in a fun, lively setting.

Head teacher Jacqui Scarborough said: "The benefits are enormous. Besides walking to school to get fit and be healthy the pupils arrive alert and ready for their lessons."

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