The Age-Friendly Walking School Bus is a formal and innovative version of the traditional WSB program, whereby groups of elementary-age students who live within 1.6 km from school walk to school together in a group led by one or two registered volunteer AFWSB leaders from the school community (such as parents, guardians or older adults) following a safe waling route and a fixed schedule, just like a real school bus!
This pilot is the age-friendly version of the formal school-based HRCE-funded and approved WSB program that was successfully tested for 4 weeks at Bedford South School in 2019, and due to its success expanded to two other schools in 2019-20. The program was intended to include older adults as WSB leaders in the Spring of 2020 and had to be put on hold due to Covid-19.
Sir Charles Tupper Elementary is one of the HRCE schools chosen to take part in the program this year and ran the first AFWSB pilot last Spring. A 4-minute video showcasing some of the Spring pilot participants experiences can be found at https://youtu.be/AbpYppJbFoU.
As noted on the FAQ, the program is free and open to all families who are interested in their children walking to school and willing to formally register and take turns with others in the community to lead a group of 5-10 children to school one or twice a week only for 4 weeks, between October 20 and November 14, 2025.
The program will operate Monday to Friday in the morning only, 2-5 times a week, depending on the number of families who sign up in a particular area. Walking routes and groups will be determined based on participants' address, not to exceed 15 min, or 1.6 km walking distance to school. Students who live over 1.6 km are encouraged to join the program as long as parents or guardians are willing to drive them to one of the designated WSB stops along the route, so that they can also benefit from the program.
The more families who sign up the more WSB groups there will be for students to join!
**IMPORTANT** By filling out this form you are only expressing interest in taking part in this pilot, and agree for Natalia Diaz-Insense, the AFWSB Pilot program coordinators to contact you on behalf of the school to clarify any information about the program or the information you provided, and confirm your participation.
A note about privacy: All personal information collected will be kept strictly confidential and only used for the purposes outlined above.
