According to the Heart Foundation only around 19 percent of NSW children reach the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day while one in five NSW primary-school children and one in four high schoolers are overweight or obese.

The Heart Foundation say these statistics could be improved if more children walked, cycled or scooted to school.

Unfortunately however the trend is towards the opposite, with an increasing number of NSW primary-school children getting to and from school by car – up from 46 per cent in 2010 to 54 per cent in 2015.

Kerry Doyle, Heart Foundation CEO NSW, said taking small steps is key to solving this problem including walking to school.

“This is one sure way to boost children’s physical activity, which can have big benefits for their physical and mental health, as well as their social and intellectual development,” Ms Doyle said.

“Active children tend to take this habit with them into adolescence and adulthood, and there is overwhelming evidence that physical activity helps prevent disease across a person’s life.”

The Heart Foundation is a leading not-for-profit organisation dedicated to fighting the single biggest killer of Australians – heart disease.

For close to 60 years, it’s led the battle to save lives and improve the heart health of all Australians. Its sights are set on a world where people don’t suffer or die prematurely because of heart disease.

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