Roads

What is a School Travel Plan?

A School Travel Plan (STP) is a document relating to a specific school that:

• sets out a number of practical steps for improving children’s safety on the school journey and for reducing the number of car trips made to school;
• is a whole-school initiative and should demonstrate support from children, staff, parents, governors and the wider community;
• enables parents and children to choose walking, cycling and public transport with confidence and seeks to cut congestion at the school gate;
• looks in detail at children’s needs on the school journey and attempts to address them by finding the right solutions for each individual school;
• does not have to concentrate on transport alone but can also address health, safety, environment, education and social equity issues;
• has clearly stated aims, objectives and targets which are achievable, measurable and are supported by the whole school community;
• may be a very simple statement of school policy or a comprehensive document which deals with all aspects of the school journey;
• focuses on the problems experienced by pupils, parents and local residents around the school, and identifies ways to improve them.

STPs are a key component of Safer Routes to School (SRtS) projects and will act as a guide for action at identified project schools.

While SRtS project schools are selected on the basis of need, a successful STP supported by the whole school community demonstrates a commitment to improving safety and reducing congestion.

Producing a school travel plan

A STP is developed as a partnership between Medway Council, head teachers and governors of primary and secondary schools, parents, pupils, the health authority and local businesses in the area that take part in SRtS projects.

The scheme does not just incorporate issues about transport, but also has links to other initiatives, such as those relating to improving the health of children. In addition, it also helps to promote awareness and enhance education, while encompassing the principles of Medway’s Local Agenda 21 strategy. This is especially so in relation to sustainable development within Medway's communities, protecting and enhancing the environment and meeting social and economic needs. These can all be addressed through developing a school travel plan.

For further information on developing a school travel plan, visit www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/schooltravel/schooltravel?page=3#a1005.

Key elements of a School Travel Plan

• Solutions
  Each school is unique, with its own set of problems relating to the journey to and from school. This means that a school travel plan must set out solutions that are right for each individual school. Funding for solutions will be sought from Medway Council’s safer routes to school budget.
• Aims
  The plan should have clearly stated aims, which encourage fewer parents to bring children to school by car and create an ethos that encourages the use of more sustainable travel patterns.
• Partnership approach
  The plan should operate through a partnership approach, which requires both parties to sign up. Medway Council believes that this approach will have a positive impact, by declaring a commitment to promote long-term change in school travel behaviour.
• Providing safe routes
  These are routes that both pupils and parents feel are free from dangers and give a real choice in how the journey to school is made.
• Demonstrating support
  The plan should show evidence of support from the wider community and should display enthusiastic involvement from a school champion to be successful. It must also demonstrate support from governors, teachers, parents and the pupils themselves. This would mean that the school would effectively take ownership of the scheme.
• Targets
  The targets set have to be challenging, practical and contain elements that can be easily measured and reviewed on a regular basis.

The main idea of an STP is to promote and encourage a safer and more environmentally attractive network of routes for children on their journeys to school. It should also address the various environmental implications involved with different methods of travel.

The main aims of a school travel plan are to:

• reduce congestion outside the school gate;
• improve health and fitness through walking and cycling;
• allow parents and pupils to feel confident about walking, cycling and using public transport to and from school;
• make sure children are aware of traffic dangers and road safety and familiarise them with using public transport;
• make the journey safer to and from school;
• provide a focus for recognising safety within the national curriculum.

These aims can be achieved through setting up a walking bus, providing secure cycle stands, putting in place engineering initiatives which will assist with sustainable transport and educating pupils on road safety and safer routes to school within the curriculum.

The need for a School Travel Plan

The most important reason is to provide a safer route and allow people to feel confident about using a more sustainable method of travel to and from school.

Such a scheme also contributes to meeting the objectives outlined in the Medway Local Transport Plan on reducing the growth in car use and improving safety on the school journey. A school travel plan can also be an important contribution to meeting road safety targets set by the government, which the council has adopted within its Road Safety Plan.

The school run generates a significant number of journeys, with too many parents driving their children to school unnecessarily. In the last 20 years, road traffic volumes have doubled and it is predicted that they are set to rise by a third by 2020. It is reasonable to assume that for some parents, there is no alternative to the car, with ever increasing distances to travel and little suitable public transport available. For others, the school run serves a dual purpose, as it can form an integral part of the journey to work, with drivers dropping children off on the way. However, many drive their children to school over relatively short distances, where the use of other modes of transport to school can be real possibilities. The Department for Transport's statistics show that, nationally, 29 per cent of children now travel to school by car. That is double the amount driven in the mid-1980s. The result is that one in five car trips on the road at 8.50am are specifically for taking children to school (National Travel Survey). This has been accompanied by a corresponding decline in the overall number of children walking, using public transport or cycling.

This trend is based on a number of factors:

• Parents can now exercise a greater freedom of choice over the schools to which they can send their children.
• There has been an increase in car ownership and use in the UK.
• There has been an increase in the proportion of households with a second car.
• Parents are concerned about road safety.
• Parents are afraid of strangers assaulting or abducting their children if they travel to school on their own.
• The school journey forms part of the journey to work.

This escalating dependence on car-centred school trips can have a range of implications:

• Increased congestion on roads during peak times.
• A concentration of air pollution from vehicles close to the schools.
• Reduced independence and social interaction amongst pupils.
• A lack of exercise due to a more sedentary lifestyle, which affects general health and wellbeing.
• Children are missing out on learning life skills such as how and where to cross roads properly and personal safety skills.
• Unsustainable travel habits are learnt early on in life and become difficult to alter.

A STP is an opportunity for schools to identify and promote practical alternatives that meet the varied needs of the school community, which will encourage parents to consider different ways of taking their children to school.

The benefits

Adopting a STP can only enhance the reputation of the school and will also bring about the following benefits:

For the school:

• An enhanced reputation, attracting pupils with its commitment to safety.
• An improved relationship with the local community.
• A reduction in traffic congestion around the school site.
• A raised profile through media coverage.
• The illustratration of its commitment to environmental and community issues.
• A favourable School mention of travel issues in Ofsted inspection reports.
• A focus for class work in the national curriculum – geography and personal social and health education (PSHE).

For pupils and parents:

• The promotion of general wellbeing and levels of fitness through walking or cycling on the school journey.
• Improved and safer access to the school for pupils.
• A chance to acquire better road safety skills, helping to reduce the number of school run casualties.
• Giving both pupils and parents a sense of ownership, a chance to have their say and integrate with the local community.
• Developing the ability to use problem-solving skills.
• Helping to reduce the time spent by parents escorting children to and from school.

Benefits for the local community:

• Raising the awareness of local travel issues and problems.
• Reduced traffic and congestion at peak times.
• Route improvements to benefit the whole community.

Has your child's school got a travel plan?

At the moment 14 per cent of Medway schools have produced a school travel plan and have received a grant to overcome some of their school travel issues. Primary schools are entitled to £3,750, plus £5 per pupil and secondary schools are entitled to £5,000, plus £5 per pupil.

^ (back to top)