School Travel Plans
Each day during the school term, millions of
pupils and their parents travel from home to school in the morning
and make the return trip in the afternoon. The school journey
affects public transport patterns, causes localised congestion
around schools and contributes to the sharp road traffic peak
around nine o'clock each morning and three o'clock in the
afternoon.
Over the past 20 years the proportion of children travelling to
school by car has almost doubled, yet many live close enough to
school to school to walk. This change in travel habits has a
negative effect on the environment and the health of young
people.
Northumberland County Council has been working hard to promote
and support the changes that are necessary to reduce car dependency
and encourage greater use of sustainable modes of transport.
Sustainable Modes of Travel Strategy
A Sustainable Modes of Travel Strategy
(SMOT) for Northumberland has now been published; this can be
viewed by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page- the SMOT
is currently being reviewed and the new version will be available
shortly. The SMOT has been published as a requirement of the
Education and Inspections Act 2006. The strategy aims to
promote the use of sustainable modes of travel for the school
journey.
Local authorities are required to provide safe
route to school information to parents and pupils, to fulfil this
duty we have launched iSchool -Travel. This is an electronic
map of Northumberland, displaying information related to school
travel. It is envisaged that these maps will provide a
valuable source of information to enable parents to choose the
safest and most sustainable means to get their child to a
particular school. To access this map go to http://maps.northumberland.gov.uk/schooltravel/frontsheet.asp
What is a School Travel Plan?
A school travel plan is a document setting out
a package of measures aiming to reduce the number of car trips made
to a school by parents and staff. It encourages sustainable travel
and raises awareness of the harmful effects of increasing car
use on children’s health, safety and independence. A travel
plan looks in detail at children’s needs on the school journey and
the parents, governors, teachers, and pupils work together to find
the right solutions for their school. This may include
proposals for physical improvements and facilities to make the
journey safer and more pleasant for those on foot or bicycle such
as Safer Routes to School, cycle parking facilities etc.
Benefits of a School Travel Plan
Schools with an approved Travel Plan in place
will often benefit from the following factors:
- Improved health and fitness of the school
community
- Improved safety of the journey to school
- Reduction in traffic congestion outside the
school gates
- Reduction in atmospheric pollution
- Increase in children’s independence and
social interaction
Ideas to encourage walking/cycling
- Improve pedestrian and cycle routes to the
school
- Ensure the school site is pedestrian and
cyclist friendly (consider separate entrances for pedestrians and
cyclists, provide secure storage for books, equipment, bikes
etc)
- Take part and organise promotional schemes
and initiatives (walking buses, cycle trains etc)
- Ensure children are equipped for the journey,
i.e. training, changes to uniform, provision of high visibility
clothing etc.
Initiatives
Walk to School Week
Held during May every year, this is a national celebration of
walking to school. This is an ideal time to kick-start and organise
any walking activities, such as sponsored walks and walking
competitions to promote the importance of walking as a fun and
healthy way of travelling to school.
Walking Buses
Walking buses allow pupils to walk to school
in a fun, safe and sustainable manner, with all volunteers
receiving training, route risk assessed by highways engineers,
timetables and pupil code of conduct.
Walk on Wednesdays
An initiative which aims to reduce congestion
outside the school gates by encouraging children and parents to
walk to school. Events such as ‘Walk to School Week’ have proven to
be a success in the past, however trends have shown that once the
scheme is over, car dependency soon returns. This is where ‘WOW’
can make a real difference! The scheme not only promotes walking
throughout the entire school year, but it is also flexible enough
to change if Wednesday is not a suitable day, to ‘Walk once a
Week’.
Five Minute Walking Zone
A good alternative for those children
who have to travel to school by car. The idea of the scheme is to
set boundaries 5 minutes away from the school where parents can
park their cars and continue the remainder of the journey on foot
with their children. This reduces congestion at the school gates,
improves road safety for children, reduces air pollution and
encourages healthier lifestyles.
Bike Week
Bike Week is an annual celebration in June to
promote cycling and show the community how easily cycling can
become a part of everyday life. Taking part is easy! You could host
a bike breakfast, a sponsored cycle ride, cycling competition or a
cycle to school day.
Bikeability
Bikeability is ‘cycling proficiency’ for the
21st century, designed to give the next generation the skills and
confidence to ride their bikes on today’s roads. There are three
Bikeability Levels. Bikeability adopts similar principles to those
behind training standards designed for motorcyclists and car
drivers in that it teaches how to assess risks and consider likely
obstacles in addition to basic skills such as signalling and
balance.
Scooter Training
Scooter training aims to educate children to
become responsible scooter riders, whilst ensuring they are aware
of the safety implications of riding a scooter in public
spaces.
Northumberland Car Share Scheme
Car sharing allows people to benefit from the
convenience of the car, whilst alleviating the associated problems
of congestion and pollution. To register please follow this link:
http://www.northumberlandcarshare.com/
You and your car...
If you have to drive:
- Park well away from school entrances and yellow zig zags;
- Find a location some distance from the school so that you can
"park and stride". This will help your children to experience some
of the benefits of walking to school and reduce school gate
congestion.
- Talk to other parents about sharing lifts to reduce congestion
and pollution.
- Make sure that your child gets out on the pavement side when
you are dropping them off.
- Don't leave your engine running when waiting to collect
children - an idling engine produces 80% more pollution than when a
vehicle is in motion. 1 in 7 children have asthma. Medical evidence
suggests that this is related to traffic fumes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do we ensure the travel plan remains
active?
A: Part of the travel plan process includes a commitment from the
school to review their travel plan regularly to ensure targets are
being met and the plan is being amended where necessary. The travel
plan team monitor this on an annual basis.
Q: How can the school travel plan be
integrated into the school ethos?
A: Bring the National Curriculum to life by integrating the
message of sustainable travel: There are many ways that STP’s can
be integrated, some examples of this:
- Numeracy: analysis of travel surveys
- Science: the effects a poor health can have
on the body
- Citizenship: responsible living to reduce
environmental damage
- Literacy: descriptions of the journey to and
from school
- Geography: mapping routes to school
- Art: design posters to promote sustainable
travel
- Carry out promotional events and competitions
on an annual basis; this can be done as a school or through your
School Travel Advisor.
- Ensure pupils are involved in reviewing the
STP; the school council could also be given projects to be carried
out.
- Ensure the message of safe, healthy and
sustainable travel reaches the pupils and parents of the new intake
each year, this can be done by including the message in the school
prospectus or other publications or even presentations during
welcoming events.
Keep in touch with the Travel Plan Team; we are always happy to
help!
External links:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/
http://www.schooltravelplans.org/
