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A school travel plan is a set of measures to help cut the
number of car journeys people make to school, encourage more
journeys by public transport, and more walking and cycling. It can
also 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.
Who needs to be involved in developing a school travel
plan?
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 funding available for school travel plans?
Yes. At the current time capital funding to help support your
school travel plan is available from central government, but only
until March 2010. We can help make sure the plan covers everything
it needs to get funding. The amount of funding depends on the type
of school and the number of pupils at the school.
- Primary, infant and junior schools will receive £3,750 and an
extra £5 for each pupil
- Secondary and SEN schools will receive £5,000, and an extra £5
for each pupil.
Schools who have their travel plans approved by March 2010 will
receive their funding in instalments up to March 2011. Plans sent
in after this date will no longer be eligible for funding.
The funding is to help schools put the ideas in their travel
plan into practice and may be spent on a variety of things
including cycle storage, footpaths and sheltered waiting areas for
parents.
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 various lessons:
maths, geography, science and citizenship.
See our pages on
Kent Trust Web for contact details and more
information |