Te Waka Hīkoi Walking School Bus

Leading a Walking School Bus project at your school.

Lesson information

Curriculum level: Level 3, Level 4

Year level: 4-6, 7-8, Whole school

Class time: 90 minutes plus

Learning area: Social Science

Download files (ZIP ≤ 3.7MB)

Community WSB steps (pdf, 1.2MB) Community WSB school guide (pdf, 2.2MB) WSB flyer for schools 2025 (pdf, 278KB)

Akoranga takamua Before You Begin

Consider how you might use this activity alongside Walkability, Map my Journey, Walking Pou or Park and Stride.

About this resource

This resource is written for teachers who want to support a student-led project to set up a walking school bus (WSB) at their school.

This may have come about because there are congestion or road safety issues. Or teachers may want to support a student leadership project that sets up a WSB for student wellbeing or in response to the climate crisis.

(2.2 MB, Pdf)

Steps for student-led project

This supplementary resource provides a step-by-step guide for kura (schools) who are interested in setting up a Walking School Bus (WSB). It is intended to be led by ākonga (students), with support from whānau (family).
See the Walking School Bus guide (above) for more tips, guidance and resources.

(1.2 MB, Pdf)

Supporting resources and links

You may hear a Walking School Bus referred to as a Walking Train, Scooter Train or by various names in Te Reo Māori.

While Wellington City uses Pahi ā-Waewaeopen_in_new on their signage, for our resources we use Te Waka Hīkoi.

Auckland Transport uses Te Hīkoi Kura Pahiopen_in_new and you may see other names around the rohe.

Some kura even have Bike Trainsopen_in_new or Bike Buses!

Walking School Bus Checklist (1.2 MB, Pdf) – helps plan who does what and when during the project.
Map My Journey, Walking Pou and Park and Stride (coming soon) – school resources than can be used alongside this WSB resource.
Active Travel Actionopen_in_new resource – choose from three lessons that explore how kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga, citizenship and mauri can support this WSB resource.
Te Taiao (Environment) – A Movin’March resource that complements the setting up of a WSB.

(278 KB, Pdf)