VicHealth’s Walk to School month involved more than 3200 students from 13 schools around Ballarat who clocked up more than 23,000km on their feet travelling to and from school.

The local children were among more than 140,000 students across the state to get active as they headed to school or home during the month.

They were encouraged to walk, ride or scoot to school and, collectively, covered more than 1.6 million kilometres – the equivalent distance of two return trips to the moon.

This year students were also encouraged to decorate their shoes, bikes or scooters, and many schools held special walk to school days to involve as many children as possible.

The growing Walk to School program involved more than 750 schools and was particularly strong in regional and rural Victoria with 427 participating schools from regional areas.

The success comes despite a recent study which found that perceived disapproval of family and friends, not fear of strangers or traffic, was one of the strongest factors in parents not allowing children to make their own way to and from school.

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VicHealth chief executive Jerril Rechter said with physical activity levels among children on the decline and obesity rates on the rise, it was critical that children were supported to make active travel part of their day.

“The proportion of Victorian children walking to school has declined dramatically in recent decades, from around 50 per cent in the 1970s to less than 20 per cent today,” she said.

“The success of this year’s Walk to School tells us kids and families want to walk to school and they want to do it more than one month a year.

“Walking, riding or scooting to and from school every day helps students get some of the physical activity they need to be healthy.”