A DESIGN by an North Oxfordshire schoolboy is to be transformed into a badge to promote “Walk to School on Wednesdays”.

Eleven-year-old Kieran Quigley, a pupil at Bletchingdon Primary School, was one of 1,296 children across the country who came up with a design to be printed on badges going to all schools taking part in the campaign.

His picture of an acorn and an oak leaf — fitting in with the competition’s theme of nature in the UK — was one of nine selected to be made and distributed to schoolchildren from September 2009.

Kieran said: “The reason I chose the acorn and the oak leaf is beacause I thought they were quite British.

“I was pleased that I won and I am proud that my design will be one of next year’s badges.”

Kieran said he always walked to school, sometimes on his own, sometimes with family and friends.

He said: “People in my village try their hardest to walk on Wednesdays.

“If we are all driving to school and yet live nearby, it is a waste of the environment.”

Bletchingdon Primary School’s healthy schools and walk to school co-ordinator, Alison Stewart, said since being involved in the Walk to School on Wednesdays campaign, about 55 of the school’s 65 pupils were now walking in at least once a week.

Mrs Stewart said: “Most of our children live within the village but we also have a lot of children from out of the catchment area.

“If they have to be driven, we encourage parents to park at the car park on the edge of the village and then allow their children to walk from there.”

She added: “We are trying to get our pupils to realise the benefits of walking for a healthier lifestyle, to be able to converse with their parents as they walk and also to think about pollution and trying to reduce their carbon footprint.

“Being such a tiny school, we didn’t think we would have a chance in a national competition, so it was exciting that Kieran’s design was picked as one of the winners.”