Dozens of diligent schoolchildren were rewarded with prizes last week after winning competitions for reading and walking to school.

Pupils and teachers from twenty-six schools across Kent were invited to Leeds Castle by the KM Charity Team and presented with a voucher for every child in the class – either for the castle or the Planet Ice rink in Gillingham.

Their classes were the winners in two February competitions as part of the Active Wow and Green Footsteps walk to school schemes, and the Buster’s Book Club home reading scheme - both run by the children’s charity.

The aim of the schemes is to get as many families walking to school as possible and for children to spend more time reading at home.

Each week, pupils compete in their school to win the class of the week trophy, while monthly inter-school challenges offer major prizes for the best or most improved walkers and readers.

KM Charity Team chief executive Simon Dolby said: “They have done fantastically well.”

Since January, pupils at all 101 schools taking part in Buster’s Book Club have read for a total of 3.6 million minutes between them.

Justine Roddan, head of school at Rosherville Primary Academy in Northfleet, said: “It’s been brilliant to see the classes working together and trying to improve the amount of minutes that they’re reading each week.

“It’s also been a fabulous way of getting parents involved in their children’s reading.”

Caitlin Banfield, 10, a pupil at West Borough Primary School in Maidstone, added: “I like Buster’s Book Club because it helps with my vocabulary and I can learn different words.”

The KM Charity Team’s walk to school schemes have also removed 175,000 school run car journeys from the roads of Kent, Medway, Bexley and Bromley.

Gia Brach, 10, from Wrotham Road Primary School in Gravesend, said: “I think encouraging walking to school is amazing, because when you go in different vehicles it creates pollution and that’s not good for the world.”

Fellow pupil Rudy Brown, also 10, added: “It’s nice to walk because it’s nice to enjoy and appreciate the environment and what’s around you.”

Also at the event were supporters from Orbit, Leeds Castle, Medway Council, Countrystyle Recycling, Bexley Rotary Club, Maidstone Borough Council, Ashford Borough Council, Eurostar, and Volker Highways.

The KM Charity Team’s work is also supported by Golding Vision (part of Golding Homes), Kent County Council, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Whitefriars, Specsavers, Little Cheyne Court, Kent Community Foundation, Hornby, Wildwood, Whites Transport, Ashford International Hotel, and the London Borough of Bexley.

For more information or to join Buster’s Book Club or Active Wow, visit www.kmcharityteam.co.uk.