London Borough of Bromley - Winner
Poetry in Motion was devised by the London Borough of Bromley’s School Travel Plan team to promote Walk to School Week. The initial aim was to implement a scheme that would be unique to Bromley, have links to the national curriculum, intensely promote walking throughout the participating schools and create a final article that would commemorate Walk to School Week and celebrate the input of the schools and pupils. The aim was also for each pupil to produce work individually rather than have it swallowed up by the group dynamic.
With this in mind Poetry in Motion was conceived. Essentially a poetry writing competition, Poetry in Motion resulted in the publishing of the best poems from each school in a book, to be distributed to the schools, pupils, parents and other relevant local bodies.
For Poetry in Motion to succeed it was essential for the creative process to take place on the walk to school, whilst taking in the sights, sounds, smells and emotions encountered on the walk to school. Schools were asked to select the best three poems produced by their pupils, from which a winner was selected. Prizes and certificates were awarded to the winners and presented to the pupils in whole school assemblies across the Borough.
All schools in the borough were contacted to gauge interest in the scheme. 10,000 pupils were catered for on a first-come-first-served basis, although once the resources were depleted, schools were still welcome to take part and a number did exactly that. Poetry in Motion was such a success that it will run again in 2010. This time however, 15 other London boroughs will join Bromley to take part in a truly ‘pan-London’ enterprise that has the potential to reach over a quarter of a million pupils.
St Philomena’s CP School
St Philomena’s CP School is situated in the middle of several main roads, with fast-moving traffic and much congestion. Many children, and their parents, are keen to ride their bikes to and from school but often face many obstacles. The school has strived to improve conditions and has implemented a variety of schemes to improve safety and security such as: Level 1 and Level 2 Cycle Proficiency Training; a cycle proficiency training pilot for adults; fantastic Cycle Storage facilities; a Slogan Competition (the winning slogan was put onto a plaque and was placed up in the bike sheds: “Keep Wheely Fit – Go on and Bike it!”).
The school also forged links with a local bike shop and run “Bike Surgeries” with “First Aid for Bikes” during the school lunchtime. They also provided discount vouchers to have bike safety checks in the shop–especially before proficiency training days. Security gates and barriers were installed all around the school to prevent theft. Visitors have to be allowed access by staff and cyclists have been advised to bring their own locks too. These measures were later reinforced with a bike marking project involving the help of the local community police.
The school has recently been awarded funding (£1000) to purchase a pool of bikes, helmets and locks. Through sheer determination and perseverance, the amount of children cycling is again steadily increasing and the school is determined to convince more pupils to "Get on their bikes!"
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Scootsurfers project is designed to promote the use of scooters and to incorporate aspects of both practical road safety training and classroom activities in a package which appeals to both children and teachers. The aim of ScootSurfers is to offer a tool with which to encourage safe and responsible scooting.
There were three strands to the development of the programme, one being practical training, and the others being the supporting resources, lesson and assembly plans and designing the delivery method for maximum sustainability.
Upon a successful pilot, the council faced the challenge of structuring a programme which was sustainable and offered good value for money. As it wasn’t possible to pay instructors to deliver training to every pupil, the ScootSurfers Week was designed as an efficient way of involving the whole school and relying on teachers to take responsibility for delivery across the school.
ScootSurfers has been extremely successful in promoting sustainable travel to school, in fact in the five pilot schools scooting to school has increased by 90% (from 5 to 9.5%) against a baseline in non participating schools of a 33% increase (from 3 to 4%). The completed ScootSurfers package has been available to schools since Easter 2010. The Council is delighted to be delivering twenty ScootSurfer weeks this year. Other boroughs are already expressing an enthusiasm for the project and will be running it from September 2010.
Oaks Park High School
Oaks Park High School has a hardworking and creative student Travel Green Team (TGT).
Last year the TGT decided to work with primary school pupils and their parents in an effort to influence children to get into good travel habits early and keep them as they progressed through the school. The challenge was a safe, healthy green travel message across to both the children and their parents; as a result the Travel Green Transition Project was developed.
The TGT first made a DVD (scripted, acted, filmed and edited by them). The aim was to convey the safe, healthy, green travel message in a fun but informative way, so that it would appeal to the children as well as their parents. The DVD has been well received and presented the recent LBR Travel Plan Review Workshop to inspire other Redbridge schools to do something similar.
Next, the TGT delivered a series of lessons about travelling green to the Year 6 students when they came to Oaks Park for their Transition Day in July 2009. The lesson involved the children putting a sticker of where they lived on a map of Redbridge so that students could get an idea about who might realistically walk or cycle to school. The second lesson introduced students to TfL Journey Planner and showed them how to plan their possible routes to Oaks Park.
Other initiatives include a monthly Travel Green Friday competition, assemblies, and a coffee morning for parents.
A recent survey has shown that the project is having a significant impact. The number of pupils walking to school has increased from 73.5% in May 2009 to 78.2% in January 2010. The number of pupils being driven to school has reduced from 22.7% in May 2009 to 19.6% in January 2010.
