SCORES of children, armed with rain coats, umbrellas and woolly hats, met teachers, parents and police to walk to school today.

Stride and ride is a joint campaign being hosted by Swindon Council and police to encourage parents to ditch their cars and walk their children to and from school.

There has been a number of mass walks being run all week at different schools across the borough.

Around 50 pupils turned up yesterday to the police point at the Orbital retail park to walk the one-mile with their parents and teachers to Catherine Wayte School, in Abbey Meads.

Each child received a high-visibility jacket free of charge from Spec-savers, who are sponsoring the events, and a torch keyring.

Leading the walk was Year 5 teacher Hannah Minter, who said it was important to raise awareness to families about alternatives to driving to school.

“We try and do as much as we can to get children and their parents to walk to school,” said Hannah.

“It is healthier for the children and means we don’t have lots of cars stopping outside of the school.”

Catherine Wayte School has four travel ambassadors who work to encourage other pupils to be active in the morning and evenings by not getting a lift to and from school.

Nine-year-old Luke Cripps is one of those ambassadors.

He said: “Walking to school helps to save the planet as there is not as much pollution from cars.”

Lisa Clements, 40, of Abbey Meads, was at the event yesterday. She said she walked her five-year-old daughter Keira to school every day.

“We live close by so it is easier for us and Keira really enjoys walking,” said Lisa.

Tiffany Cox, 25, of Hudson Way, said her four-year-old son Spencer loved walking with his friends.

“He was too excited to eat his breakfast this morning because he knew he was walking to school with his friends,” said Tiffany.

“We walk most mornings. There are a lot of parents who drive. I think schemes like this are really good as it makes people think more about walking rather than jumping into their cars.”

The mass walks to school have been running all week as part of the council’s plans to tackle issues surrounding parking problems outside schools.