Former professional cyclist Richie Porte has thrown his support behind Walk Safely to School Day. Video by Aaron Smith (6/5/2024)
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00:00I think that now my children are of the age of, you know, the school age, it's a fantastic
00:05thing to have a school like Punchbowl where, you know, it's beautiful surrounds to walk
00:10to.
00:11And I think anything that, you know, kids being active, I'm a big fan of that.
00:16So anything that helps with that and also, you know, spending a bit more quality time
00:21with the kids as well, it's a great thing.
00:24Full discretion, I'm probably like most parents, but I have to drive the bulk of the journey
00:31to drop my son at school.
00:32But I think come Friday, which is the national day, we'll park a bit further away and walk
00:39in with my son and his little friends.
00:42Have you taught him to ride at this stage?
00:45He's starting to ride a little bit now and it's a fantastic thing to be able to do with
00:52my son.
00:53Riding a bike has brought me so many things in my life and to be able to share that with
00:57my young children, it's a fantastic hobby.
01:01We are really not recreating the wheel.
01:03It's just an opportunity to gain extra exposure and to encourage more families to join in
01:09that routine, parents to join on the days they don't work or also take comfort in the
01:14knowledge that there are parents that are walking with the children to school.
01:19It's a really easy way for children to get some of their recommended hour of daily exercise.
01:26By having groups of children and parents involved as well walking to school is sort of the ideal.
01:32So it's important that we provide those opportunities and it's also about children of different
01:38age groups mixing together as well and walking together.
01:41I think we recognise that being a school within the outer suburbs of the city, there's lots
01:46of people around and there's lots of easy access and paths that the children can use
01:52to get to school safely.