Students at 16 schools across the district clocked up 46,520 active and shared trips on their bikes, scooters and in carpools as part of NPDC’s School Fresh Air Challenge this year -  doing their bit to reduce emissions.

New Plymouth’s Westown School took out the primary school award for the second year in a row, while Manukorihi Intermediate in Waitara picked up the intermediate school award.

The challenge encourages students to walk, ride, bus-share, or park and walk, instead of getting a ride in the car and has been run by NPDC for more than 10 years.

The winning schools were recognised at special prizegivings this week, where the winning schools receiving their trophies.

“Our students and their whānau have made a big effort towards ongoing sustainable travel,” said Kim Theyers, Principal at Westown School.

“The benefits of this improvement include student wellbeing, fostering independence, reducing congestion around the school gate, improving road safety and most importantly, it's fun!”

Run over two weeks, participating schools recorded all trips taken, including ride shares, and logged them on the Fresh Air Challenge website.  Every trip earned points for their class and school overall.

While competing against other schools and taking part is a lot of fun, there is a bigger goal behind the event.

“This is a really simple way for people to play a part in reducing emissions, while making the most of our sustainable lifestyle capital,” said NPDC Sustainability Behaviour Change Lead, Jenn O’Connell.

“It’s awesome to see tamariki picking up the kaupapa of the sustainability work we do here at Council.”

As well as a trophy, the winners receive prizes including class passes to NPDC’s Todd Energy Aquatic Centre.

Fast Facts:

• During last year’s Fresh Air Challenge, a total of 57,883 sustainable (active and shared) trips were taken, which was a 10,000 increase on the year before
• 16 primary and intermediate schools signed up for the challenge -reaching a total of 5,592 students
• Last year’s winners were Westown School and Highlands Intermediate School.
• The challenge is one of many sustainable promotions aimed at increasing sustainable transport/sustainability with mainly urban schools across the district.

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