School travel plans
A school travel plan aims to:
- Cut the number of car journeys people make to school.
- Encourage more journeys by public transport.
- Encourage more walking and cycling.
- Help to make the journeys safer.
The plan helps pupils and parents understand the harmful effects
that the increased use of cars has on our health and safety. It can
also help children begin to travel independently.
It gives ideas and encouragement about finding other ways to
travel to school and explains how these can help.
Why do we need a school travel plan?
More children travel to school by car now than ever before. For
these children, this means:
- Less exercise.
- Less understanding of where they live.
- Less experience of making journeys on their own.
Working with us to develop a travel plan can help to change this
for the better.
A school travel plan can:
- Reduce the number of accidents on journeys to school.
- Give you and your children more confidence to walk, cycle or
use public transport.
- Reduce the amount of traffic at the school gate.
- Improve children's health and fitness through walking and
cycling.
- Give children better awareness of road safety and an
understanding of public transport.
- Give children the opportunity to have a say in decisions which
affect them.
- Provide an interesting focus for classwork as part of the
national curriculum.
- Build links within the whole school community.
- Make the area around the school safer and more enjoyable for
everyone.
What is included in a school travel plan?
A range of travel options and ideas can be put into a travel
plan, including:
There are many more ideas that could be included. Every plan is
different, and depends on the needs of the school.
How can we see the travel plan for our school?
Search for your school in the
searchable database. View the 'Safer travel to school'
information page and access the School Travel Plan from there.
Who needs to be involved in developing a school travel plan and
ensuring that it is effective?
The whole school should be involved. Children, staff, parents,
governors and the wider community can all contribute. It is
important to get support for the idea.
The head teacher and the governors must fully support the
project for it to be successful. We can suggest other people and
organisations who could be involved, including our Road Safety
teams, Eco-schools and the Healthy Schools officer.
Is there guidance available for the development of school
travel plans?
There is a team of School Travel Plan Advisors who can help and
advise. See our pages on Kent
TrustWeb for contact details and more information.
Can the school travel plan link to the curriculum?
Involving pupils in developing the travel plan gives them a
great learning opportunity and will help make it a success.
Developing the plan can fit neatly into the national curriculum at
Key Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 and can be included in Maths, Geography,
Science and Citizenship.