School Travel Action Plan (STAP) A TEMPLATE FOR SCHOOLS

Insert your school logo here School Travel Action Plans (STAP)

1 Do people living close to your school complain about traffic congestion or parking? 2 Is there a road safety issue near your school? 3 Do you want to encourage children to be healthy and stay active? 4 Are you looking for ways to link healthy schools, environmental education and community engagement into your curriculum? 5 Do students who are late often site travel problems as a reason why?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, a School Travel Action Plan can help.

School Travel Action Plans set out how a school community will plan for and support school journeys that reduce congestion, engage local communities, promote environmental sustainability and encourage healthy travel.

The School Travel Action Plan (STAP) can help:

· minimise congestion associated with “the school run” · help children and parents make healthier travel choices · help children and parents choose more environmentally sustainable travel · improve safety for journeys to school and during school trips · give children an opportunity to develop road sense and independence

The School Travel Action Plan can be used by all those connected to the school ie staff, parents, pupils, governors and even neighbours. It will inform them of actions and goals and explain who is involved.

This document provides some ideas about the structure of your plan. Your school travel action plan should include:

1 School Background – an introduction to the school, the travel action plan process and details about current travel opportunities 2 Current problems – information about any travel issues that your school faces 3 Aims & Targets – what the school wants to achieve 4 Action Plan – how you plan to achieve the objectives and a timetable for implementation and clearly defined responsibilities 5 Monitoring and Review – how you are going to track your progress.

STAP for schools Page 2 of 10 March 2012 Template for a School Travel Action Plan (STAP)

This form provides a quick and simple format for a STAP. You can type straight into the boxes provided.

The plan should include some basic information about the school and set out what the school hopes to achieve and how this will be done. It may be that later on some further exploratory information is needed, such as a travel survey, but initially it will be a document that focuses much more on the intended aims and outcomes.

STAP for schools Page 3 of 10 March 2012 1. About the School

Describe your school and the current travel patterns of staff, students, visitors, suppliers etc.

Gather data that helps build a picture of travel and transport at your school. Data might include your catchment area; where children travel from to school; what local transport infrastructure is there? e.g cycle routes, bus services, trains. The local authority can help with data including road safety data and local transport services. You can gather data yourself from within school, a simple survey to find out about current journeys to school by staff and pupils for instance.

Insert a map of your school and the surrounding area showing car and cycle parking, cycle paths, pedestrian crossings, bus stops, train stations and walking bus stops etc. You can use this in your prospectus.

2. Problems identified

List any current transport-related problems with your site at present (e.g. no safe pedestrian crossings nearby, inadequate cycling facilities, demand for car parking too high, inadequate arrangements for disabled access).

3. Aims of your Plan

Changing the way people travel to your school can have many benefits such as promoting greater safety for pedestrians, improving relationships with the local community, and enhancing students’ awareness of current travel options for today and the future. Prioritising benefits will be different for each school.

1 What do you hope to achieve with the travel action plan for your school?

2 What changes do you want to see and for what reasons?

3 Prioritise your aims so that you can target activity.

Remember to record your actions and make sure your aims are measurable so that you can evidence your success. E.g : x% reduction in students travelling to school by car; an increase in the proportion of students cycling or walking to school ; an increase in the number of staff involved in car sharing; an increase the number of staff travelling to work by public transport.

STAP for schools Page 4 of 10 March 2012 Priority Aim How will you know that change has been made? H/M/L example:1 Reduce congestion outside school a) Reduction in complaints from local community HM during peak hours of drop off and home time b) Reduction in numbers of cars parked outside school during peak hours H

c) Reduction in number of children being driven to school

example:2 Promote healthy lifestyles by a) Increase in children choosing active travel to school H encouraging active travel

4. Action Planning

It is important to set out what measures you intend to undertake, implement or trial at your site. Some examples of actions which could be included are given in Appendix 1.

STAP for schools Page 5 of 10 March 2012 W h How will success be measured? Completion date o ca n y o Person AIM Activity u responsible g et to h el p ? 1 & Example: L Ms. Smith Number of students cycling? to school Oct 2013 2 Make cycling an option through oc offering Bikeability courses al A ut h or ity 1 & Implement a count of bikes parked in C The caretaker Increase in number of bikes parked in bike Jan 2014 2 bike sheds and around the site. hil shed and around the site. dr e n

STAP for schools Page 6 of 10 March 2012 STAP for schools Page 7 of 10 March 2012 5. Implementing your action plan

a. How can you integrate developing, monitoring and reviewing your action plan into the curriculum?

b. How could staff and governors model good travel behaviour to students?

c. How will your STAP link to other strategies e.g. Healthy Schools; Environmental Policies; Children and Young People’s Plan etc?

6. Monitoring and Review

a. How will you engage and involve all members of the school community including children, staff and governors?

b. Who will agree your STAP and take responsibility for monitoring its delivery?

c. How will your STAP be monitored? (e.g. included in your School Improvement Plan (SIP))

d. When will your STAP be reviewed and who will review it?

e. How will you measure and celebrate your successes?

For further advice, guidance and information on school travel action plans or sustainable transport contact [email protected] or visit www.ideasinmotionsouthend.co.uk

STAP for schools Page 8 of 10 March 2012 Appendix 1

Action Plan Ideas

Measures to promote public transport:

· Information, about buses, school buses and trains. Details of online resources such as www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk, www.googlemaps.co.uk, www.transportdirect.info , www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/essex/,www.arrivabus.co.uk and www.c2c- online.co.uk/travel_information/current_timetable · Provide staff supervision at school bus stops · Code of conduct for students using public transport · Use of public transport (or walking) for school trips · Local school trips

Measures to promote walking and cycling:

· Information about recommended walking or cycling routes · Provision of an area for drying wet clothes · Provision of secure storage such as lockers for heavy items, cycle helmets etc · Road safety in the curriculum (pedestrian and cycle training) · Certificates and or stickers for students travelling consistently on foot/cycle · Involvement in walking/cycling campaigns · Set up or extend Walking Bus routes · Set up a Park and Stride scheme · Adult cycle training for staff and parents (could be provided free by SBC) · Install (more) cycle parking · Promote the Recycle Centre and Comfy Saddle to buy cheap reconditioned bicycles

Measures to promote car sharing:

· Set out prime spaces in the car park specifically for car sharers · Reduce parking space · Building an in-house car sharing scheme or encourage use of an existing one e.g. Liftshare

STAP for schools Page 9 of 10 March 2012 General measures

· Healthy and sustainable living in the curriculum · Monitoring air quality around the school · Notice board or display about travel to school · Marketing and promotion of travel action plans and their benefits · Using drama to promote the sustainable travel message · Publicise events and achievements · Regular meetings with interested parties, e.g. local residents or providers of before/after school clubs to discuss travel concerns · Appoint a governor to co-ordinate regular reviews of travel issues via the SIP.

STAP for schools Page 10 of 10 March 2012