A Medway school has achieved national recognition for its commitment to active travel.
Greenvale Primary School placed fifth in the Living Streets Autumn WOW challenge, a nationwide competition encouraging pupils to walk, wheel, cycle, or scoot to school.
The competition ran throughout the whole of October, and to mark the school’s achievement the Leader of Medway Council, Cllr Vince Maple, visited the school for a special celebration assembly, presenting a certificate and a £100 Halfords voucher as their prize.
We fund the WOW campaign for local schools through its Active Travel Capability Fund, supporting initiatives that promote healthier, greener journeys.
Amazing achievement
Cllr Vince Maple, Leader of Medway Council, said: “It was fantastic to be able to celebrate with the pupils and staff at Greenvale Primary School – what an absolutely amazing achievement, to be in the top five in the country is outstanding. As a council, we are committed to doing all we can to support active travel and make it the obvious choice for people, especially when it comes to journeys to and from school. I would like to say a big well done to everyone at Greenvale once again, another example of why I am proud to be Medway!”
Alongside this national success, we have also announced the winners of its own active travel competitions, held during International Walk to School Month in October 2025.
The two challenges - Little Trekkers for primary schools and Striders for secondary schools - encouraged pupils across Medway to make their journeys active, fun, and sustainable, helping to build lifelong green travel habits.
In the Little Trekkers category, Twydall Primary School and Nursery claimed first place with an impressive 90.8% of pupils travelling actively, earning a £500 Halfords voucher. Greenvale Primary School followed closely in second with 85.3%, winning a £300 voucher, while St Margaret’s at Troy Town CofE Primary School secured third with 81.1%, receiving a £200 voucher.
Some of the winning pupils from Twydall Primary School and Nursery receiving their award.
There was also special recognition to Balfour Infant School, which recorded the biggest improvement, increasing active travel by 16.5% compared to last year and receiving a £100 voucher.
In the Striders category for secondary schools, The Victory Academy led the way with the highest percentage of active travel journeys, earning a £500 Halfords voucher.
Huge congratulations
Cllr Maple added: “Our team runs and supports competitions encouraging active travel throughout the year, and it is always inspiring to see schools across Medway taking part. I would like to offer a huge congratulations to all of our winning schools, but also say well done to every single person who took part. Challenges like this help to engage our children and young people, but importantly they have fantastic benefits for health and help to build positive habits from a young age. We will continue to play our part to encourage active travel here in Medway, and I know that our schools, parents and carers, children and young people will continue to step up to the challenge.”
All winning schools received a personalised framed certificate, while every participating school was awarded an e-certificate in recognition of their efforts. Throughout the challenges, schools monitored how pupils travelled - whether by walking, wheelchair, cycling, scooting, or using ‘park and stride’ (walking the last 10 minutes of the journey).