WoW! What a lovely morning we had walking to school for our Park n Walk event! The weather was perfect as students, teachers, parents, our principal Sue Cattell, Auckland Councillor Chris Darby, Sam Smith from Auckland Transport and a guest appearance by a very special zebra walked from New World, Milford to school.

A coffee van with hot chocolate for the children, coffee for parents, and fruit snacks for all, awaited those who walked to school with us.

Thank you everyone who came along and made the event such a success!

We would love to encourage parents, grandparents, older siblings and caregivers to take advantage of the perfect location of the Milford Mall, to leave their cars in the car park and walk up to school with your children. You can meet up with other Milford School children and parents and make some great connections at Milford School and within the Milford community.

There are so many reasons to park and walk on a daily basis or become one of our wonderful Walking School bus parents/caregivers.

For kids

• Children enjoy meeting up and talking to their friends.

• They gain a sense of independence.

• Friendships develop across different age groups.

• They learn about road safety from a pedestrian’s perspective.

• They develop a positive attitude towards walking.

• Improve their overall health and decrease obesity levels.

• Daily exercise can aid academic achievements, as it helps improve concentration, memory and learning.

• Kids just love the fun, organised activities and resources.

For parents

• Enjoy extra free time when you do not have to drop off or pick up your children every day.

• Get to know the families in your neighbourhood.

• Save on fuel costs.

• Learn new skills from the optional workshops provided. All workshops have certificates suitable for a CV.

• Have the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping the school, your child and other children.

• Take advantage of the routine exercise walking to school provides.

• Help make your school safer by reducing the congestion around the school gate.

We understand parents are often rushing off to work after the school drop off but if we work together we can help each other out by sharing the walk.

If you are able to walk to or from outside New World to school just one morning or afternoon a week please contact Melanie Dixon in Room 12 and we will see if we can get a group of parents together to take turns and make everyone's journey to school easier. Walking is a great way to start the day!