Getting children to walk to school has a wide variety of benefits both for themselves and the wider community.

In an effort to encourage more children and parents to opt for the two-legged approach, one Stevenage school’s pupils did the conga in their playground on Monday morning.

The town’s mayor, Howard Burrell, was there to get the kids jiving and said: “We all need to do exercise and walking to school is a good healthy start to the day. Walking in sets them up and gets them ready to do some work.”

The event was held at Woolenwick Infant and Nursery School and organised by charity Living Streets – which has worked to promote walking since 1929.

Since it began promoting walking to the Bridge Road West school last September the number of children taking part has risen by 75 per cent.

Headteacher Usha Dhorajiwala said: “We believe in getting our children to walk as part of a healthily lifestyle and hopefully they will continue exercising as they get older. Getting more children to walk to school also reduces congestion which improves safety and is good for the environment.”

Living Streets mascot Strider led the conga and was followed by all of the school’s teachers and students as they danced to Happy by Pharrell Williams.