East Lothian Courier | News | Vodka reward for walking to school

Thursday, 20th November, 2008

Published: Thursday, 15th May, 2008 08:00

Vodka reward for walking to school

TEACHERS at Knox Academy are blazing a trail and doing their bit for the environment, by taking part in a highly-successful car share scheme.

Knox is the first secondary school in the county to introduce a fuel-saving care shareand Car Share Friday has proved so popular that school bosses are considering extending it to cover all normal working days.

Since last August, the school, which employs 70 teachers and 10 teaching auxiliaries, in addition to 20 catering and administrative workers, has been stepping up its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

On Fridays, staff are encouraged to share cars, or find alternative means of getting to and from work.

To motivate and reward people for sharing their journey to work, cycling or walking, the school management runs free prize draws during breaks and provides coffee and home baking from the school food court.

Consistent with keeping its carbon footprint low, the school has sourced all prizes from the wealth of high quality food and beverage producers in East Lothian.

Local businesses have been very generous, and lucky winners have benefited from organic fruit and vegetables from Phantassie, baked goods from The Trusty Crust, and delicious fruit vodka from Scot’s Cheer.

The famous Glenkinchie Distillery and Belhaven Brewery have also shown their support.

So far the scheme has reduced the number of cars in the school car park from an average of 73 to as low as 56 on Fridays.

Depute headmaster, Martin Duddin, said the potential was there to make car sharing a five-day project. He added: “I’m fortunate in that I live in Haddington and can walk to work in 10 minutes.

“But a lot of the teaching staff live in Edinburgh or elsewhere in East Lothian, so for them travelling by car is the preferred option.

“There was a good response from staff to Car Share Friday when we introduced it last August, and we’ll be looking to expand it now that people have got into the car sharing habit. With the rising cost of fuel it certainly makes a lot of sense. ”

Teacher Jayne Easson, who co-ordinates the scheme, said: “Knox Academy is both a health promoting school and an eco school, so this initiative supports our aims, improves the environment and preserves resources. And the scones are good, too!”

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