Beckbury CE Primary School

Travel Plan

Introduction

This School Travel Plan document sets out a package of measures to reduce the number of car trips made to and from school, to promote healthier and more environmentally friendly forms of transport and to improve safety on the school journey.

Why have a School Travel Plan?

The need for travel plans has arisen due to growing concerns over:

• increasing congestion associated with the ‘school run’
• pupil health concerns and lack of exercise
• children’s reduced opportunities to gain important road sense and independence
• road safety issues and concerns, partly generated by school run related traffic

In 1985 15% of school journeys by children aged 5 to 16 were by car. By 2003 this had doubled to 30%. 18% of cars on the road at 8.50am in urban areas are on the school run.

Some 25% of children are now overweight or obese compared to 4% in 1972. This is partly due to a decline in physical activity with reduced levels of walking and cycling an important factor. 20% of boys and girls take less than 30 minutes activity a day, half that recommended for a healthy lifestyle.

The Government through its ‘Travelling to School Initiative’ wants to see all schools with a travel plan by the end of the decade.

“We want to bring a step change in home to school travel patterns to cut congestion and pollution, but also to allow many more pupils to take regular exercise.”

(Travelling to School: An action plan DfT/DfES September 2003).

This school travel plan sets out how our school community intends to play its part in reducing unnecessary car travel for the school journey and promote more sustainable and healthy travel.

The school is registered as an Eco-School and this plan will contribute much to the transport issue within that scheme; is part of the Healthy Schools project and will be registering for Safer Schools this spring term.

General description of the School

Beckbury CE (Controlled) Primary School

Shifnal

Shropshire

TF11 9DQ

DfES No. 893/3010

Beckbury Primary School is situated just within Shropshire’s eastern boundary, south east of Telford and south-west of Albrighton. The village of Beckbury is at the junction of 4 minor roads and the school is at the eastern extremity of the village. It caters for children aged from 4-11 years.

The site map shows its position on the corner, next to the Village field. The main road through the village has footpaths most of the time, but there are gaps and sometimes the path resumes on the opposite side of the road. However, there is little through traffic, so roads are relatively quiet.

The original school buildings now just house the caretaker, and the school hall, whilst the classrooms are in demountable buildings behind it. Access is either from the front via a pedestrian gate onto the playground, or from the village car park via a gate and tarmaced footpath through the school garden to the playground.

The school day is from 9am until 3.15pm, although children can come into school from 8.50am. Staff are on duty at these times and children are met by parents in the playground. There are seating areas in the garden which are used by waiting parents.

There are 5 full-time members of staff (2 teachers, 2 teaching assistants and an administrator) and 7 part-time (2 teachers, 2 TAs, 2 lunchtime staff and a caretaker/cleaner. Most have to drive to school and parking is available in the adjacent village car par, built recently with much support from school parents.

There are 20 spaces in this car park, which is used by both staff and parents.

The front entrance to school does have vehicle access to the caretaker’s house, though this is rarely used at school times. For large or bulky deliveries, these gates can be opened and a lorry brought close to the school, but most deliveries just come via the car
park.

There are no cycle stands, but the narrow area behind the school and within the fence is used for storing bikes and scooters.

The school is served by a special bus service, which this year only brings 5 children, so a people carrier is the vehicle used. There is a designated and labelled space for this vehicle outside the main front entrance. Scheduled bus services from Telford to Bridgnorth do come through the village, but are very infrequent. A pupil with special needs who spends half of each day in school is brought by taxi, which uses the car park.

After-school sports clubs occur on 2 nights each week, so the picking up of children is staggered on those occasions.

Other users of the site

There is a pre-school on the site, using another demountable building. This operates in the mornings and caters for around 12 children. Some of these will be siblings of school pupils and parents use the same entrances from the road, or from the car park.

In the summer term key stage 2 children go to Bridgnorth for swimming lessons. Coach transport is used for this and children are picked up at the front entrance. For inter-school sports events, parents provide transport in their cars. Children do occasionally walk up through the village to services in the church.

Issues raised by the site assessment

The school site itself is very safe, as no vehicles access it during school time, and there is a very safe path from the car park. However, the car park can get overcrowded, and there is danger from cars manoeuvring within it whilst children are walking across it. At busy times cars are double-parked.

Current initiatives

• Road safety is included as part of the PSHE curriculum and the new Rural Road Safety resource will be of use here.
• Cycle training was provided last summer term and most of the Key stage 2 children participated in this.
• The school has registered for Eco-schools and this plan will contribute much to the transport issue within that scheme.
• Walk to School Week is encouraged, with a variety of special events, such as the Crazy Walk to School in May where children came to school via unusual modes.
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How pupils usually travel to and from school – our baseline

Trends from previous years are shown below;

This year has seen a large rise in car use, and subsequent decline in walking. Bus use has fallen again sharply.

Detailed Survey Findings

• Pupil survey analysis

46 pupils took part in a detailed survey concerning their journey to school with the following results:

The vast majority of pupils currently travel to school by car, but the graph shows that the overwhelming preference is for travel by bike. This will not be feasible for many children, but may be possible for some families. Certainly if the number of cars on the roads around the village was reduced, it would be a much safer environment for cyclists.

Pupils often prefer a more active way of getting to school, rather that individual car journeys, and this is reflected in the reasons they give for their preferred choices.

Many pupils do car share, with 33% sharing with two or more other pupils. Only 21% of this sample came alone in the car to school.

73% of the journeys to school are of less than 10 minutes duration, so there may be scope fro switching from car use amongst this cohort. Only 2 pupils said that they felt unsafe on their journey to school.

There was quite a positive response to the idea of cycle training, with 61% saying they would like to participate in this.

Items identified that would make walking to school better were:

Cycling to school would be easier if the following items were in place:

The full list of children’s comments is in the Appendix. Some recurring themes are highlighted here:

What do you like about your journey to school?

8 comments were about enjoying the sights and sounds around – “Open countryside, sweet smell of the morning air”

5 mentioned the social side of walking to school – “I like walking to school because I can talk to friends, see things and stay healthy”.

The car riders enjoy listening to music and keeping dry.

What do you dislike about your journey?

A number commented on their boredom!

Others mentioned sibling arguments in the car, and “the coldness of the car on cold and frosty mornings”

Dog mess on the pavements was also identified.

3 referred to possible danger, but did not specify from what.

Safety messages for parents and carers when they drive to school

What would make the journey to school better for you?

To be able to ride my bike to school – 4

To meet up with my friends – 3

If the lanes weren’t so dangerous/wider paths -2

“A bit more adventure and a bit more excitement.”

• Parent survey analysis

27 parent surveys were returned representing 32 pupils, a 64% sample. There was a range of walkers, and car and bus users amongst them.

63% of those who travel by car said they would be willing to give a lift to other pupils at the school. Only 35% of the drivers said that they went on to work directly after school, so they may be scope for people to walk on some occasions.

Suggestions for improvements within the school grounds included a secure cycle shed (5) and an all-weather shelter (2). A dedicated cycle path was another suggestion.

There was some positive response to the idea of a Walking Bus in the village, with 7 parents indicating that they might be willing to help with such an initiative, and 14 saying that they might be willing to let their children participate in it. This would be worth investigating further.

More that 92% of the parents said they would like their child to take part in cycle training, and 9 indicated that they might sometimes be able to cycle to school with their children. This would be worth pursuing, and possibly launching in a “Bike to School Week”.

Particular areas causing concern on the route to school

No particular locations are mentioned, but there are common problems on the routes to the school

• The narrow lanes around the village are identified by many parents
• Overgrown hedgerows
• Speed of traffic
• Lack of footpaths

The only (serious) idea to encourage sustainable and healthy travel was to have a walking bus from Beckbury Square to the school.

Main School Travel and Transport Issues

The main issues that emerged from the surveys and from discussion within the School Travel Plan Group are as follows:

The large rise in the percentage of pupils coming to school by car made easy by the large village car park adjacent to the school

The dispersed nature of the school pupils as seen on the postcode map

The consistent fall in bus numbers

The interest of the pupils in active forms of travel, particularly cycling

Their positive comments about enjoying the world around them and the social side of coming to school with friends.

The Action Plan

Parents who had expressed an interest in discussing these issues met together on 18th January 2006 with the Headteacher and School Travel Plan Adviser to discuss some ways of addressing the issues.

The School Travel Plan Working Group consists of:

Jonathan Brough – Headteacher

Parents:

Olga Ward

Julie Pleydell

Julie Want

Sarah Place – Teaching Assistant

Lisa Correa  - Teaching Assistant

Julie Potter – SCC School Travel Plan Adviser

The suggested initiatives and targets are shown in the table below.

Objective 1: To encourage walking to school

Target 1: To increase the % walking to school from 21% in 2005 to 23% in 2006

Objective 2: To promote cycling

Target 2:To increase the % cycling to school from 2.1% to 4%

Objective 3: To encourage sensible and safe car use

Target 3: To reduce the % coming to school by car from 65% in 2005 to 60% in 2006

Objective 4: To improve the involvement of children in road safety and sustainable travel education

Objective 5 ; To establish systems within the school which support and monitor the Travel Plan

SUMMARY OF TARGETS FROM TRAVEL PLAN

Ideas for use of School Travel Plan Grants

A covered cycle storage area is the main suggestion.

Some sort of shelter for parents or pupils would also be popular

Consultation and Stakeholders

The Governing Body has been made of aware of the development of the Travel Plan by the Headteacher, as has the Pre-School which meets on the school site.

Monitoring and Review of Our School Travel Plan

We recognise that this plan is a start and we need to monitor and review our objectives and planned initiatives. We therefore aim to:

• Take part each year in the autumn County Travel Survey to monitor progress with targets to reduce car use
• Update the STP document annually and ensure that the lead/working group reports on progress to Governing Body and to parents, after the November County School Travel Survey.
• Consider pupil travel needs arising from new developments in education and travel provision and take account of these in revision of the plan.

Our first annual review will take place in March 2007 and will involve the STP group who will report to the Governors.

• feedback following implementation of any major initiatives
• Provide parents, pupils and staff with updates on the school travel plan
• Continue to maintain links with the County Council on road safety and sustainable travel issues

This agreement is an expression of commitment and goodwill on the part of the stakeholders to achieve a positive outcome for the pupils and the local community.

Signed...............................................................................................Date.........

Headteacher

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Chair of Governors

Signed...............................................................................................Date.........

School Travel Plan Working Group

Signed...............................................................................................Date.........

School Travel Plan Adviser, Shropshire County Council

Signed...............................................................................................Date..........

Pre-School leader

Signed...............................................................................................Date..........

School Council Member

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Assistant Director, Children and Young Peoples’ Services Shropshire County Council

Signed...............................................................................................Date..........

Assistant Director, Economy and Environment, Shropshire County Council