Make sustainable transport your post SATS focus for a week this term

The Environmental Transport Association (ETA) has launched a set of online lesson plans and resources designed to promote and support both Walk to School week this month and Green Transport Week in June, as part of an ongoing programme of educational development.

The ETA is the alternative breakdown service, providing first class breakdown cover while campaigning on environmental issues. It recognizes that many excellent resources sit unused in staffrooms because they are not immediately relevant to the main school curriculum.

The new ETA resource aims to solve this problem by providing a full themed week aimed at children in years 5 and 6 which will address day to day planning objectives. There is enough material in the resource to last for at least half a term, and teachers will need to select what is appropriate for them. Similar resources for other age groups are planned for the future.

Further information, teaching plans and downloadable resources are now available online at eta-schools.co.uk. Teaching plans can be downloaded in editable Word format, allowing teachers to customise them for their own classes and adapt them to their own school planning frameworks.

In the lead up to Walk to School week, which begins on 21 May, the ETA schools website aims to educate children about the positive effects of walking to school, particularly focusing on global climate change and local pollution and congestion.

The Walk to School Campaign asks parents, pupils and teachers to think about their journey to and from school, and the many benefits of making it on foot. Over 50% of children don't walk to school regularly, and more and more pupils are being driven to school in a car. This trend is contributing to reduced physical activity and increased childhood obesity, urban congestion and air pollution.

Green Transport Week, which takes place this year from 16-24 June, was first launched as one of the Environmental Transport Association’s leading campaigning initiatives in 1993. Andrew Davis, director of the ETA, created Green Transport Week to provide members with support and information about transport and the environment. Its aim then, as it still is today, is to involve millions of people in activities that highlight our transport impact on the environment and show how it can be reduced.

Speaking about the new resource, Andrew Davis says: "The schools website aims to provide a forum for support, feedback and the promotion of best practice in this area. We hope that local authorities as well as schools will use and promote these resources widely."

Founded in 1990, the Environmental Transport Association aims to raise awareness of the impact of excessive car use and help individuals and organisations to make positive changes in their travel habits. The ETA is the ethical alternative to other motoring organisations and by providing high quality services from car breakdown to home insurance to anybody concerned about the impact of transport on the environment, funds are generated for the ETA’s campaigns. For more information about ETA products and services visit eta.co.uk .

Green Transport Week takes place around Britain from 16-24 June 2006.

Visit greentransportweek.co.uk for more information and a list of participants.