School Travel Plans

Introduction to School Travel Plans

School Travel Plans look at the needs of children on their journey to school and attempt to address them by finding appropriate solutions.  A number of practical steps will be identified to help cut the number of car journeys to the school and improve safety.  The Travel Plan will outline support from various stakeholders to promote sustainable transport and state aims, objectives and targets that are achievable and measurable. 

National statistics show that during the school term 20% of the cars on the road are associated with the school run and in Herefordshire the latest figures show that 38% of pupils travel to school by car.

The aim of a School Travel Plan is to bring about a change in home to school travel patterns which will cut congestion and pollution as well as allow more pupils to get regular exercise by walking or cycling to school.

This site gives you an outline of what a School Travel Plan is, its aims and objectives, how to write a School Travel Plan and the help that is available to enable your school to develop a Travel Plan.

The aims and objectives of a Travel Plan

Safety of the school community on the school journey

• Promote and encourage sustainable methods of transport
• Reduce the use of the private car
• Support healthy lifestyles

There are many options available to schools to cut down on car use. 

A few suggestions:

• Car-sharing
• Park and Walk schemes
• Walking buses
• Drop-off /pick-up only zones
• More use of the school bus
• Join in the Walk to School Weeks - pupils can gain points/stickers for car-sharing, parking and walking, using the bus, cycling, as well as walking to school.
• Start a WOW (Walk Once a Week) scheme where pupils can collect badges for walking to school at least once a week.

What a School Travel Plan should contain

• A description of the school, its site and travel issues with maps and pictures
• The results of a survey of pupils' travel patterns
• Clearly defined targets and objectives
• Details of proposed measures to help achieve targets
• Detailed Action Plan for implementation of measures with clearly defined responsibilities
• Evidence that all interested parties have been consulted
• Proposals for monitoring and review

Grants for School Travel Plans

There are no further government grants for writing a School Travel Plan. 

However, there are still grants available of up to £1000 from Herefordshire Council's Travel Fund for specific projects to promote sustainable travel.

How to write a School Travel Plan

• Form a Travel Plan Committee, consisting of staff, governors, parents and pupils
• Appoint a Travel Plan Co-ordinator
• Do a hands up survey of pupils to find out how they travel to school
• Send a questionnaire to parents to find out how they travel and how they think things could improve
• Hold a meeting for parents / assembly for pupils to publicise the Travel Plan
• Decide on aims and objectives
• Decide how you are going to achieve these
• Formulate an Action Plan
• Set SMART targets
• Put in place a review and monitoring procedure
• Get the plan signed off by the Head and the Chair of Governors
• Send it to Herefordshire Council for approval

Help that is available to you in writing your School Travel Plan

Herefordshire Council has specialist help available.  We have a School Travel Adviser who will come and meet with you and work with your Travel Plan Committee and your pupils to help you develop your Plan.

A set of Guidelines and a Template are available for you to follow.

The School Travel Adviser is responsible for signing off the Plan and checking that all the criteria are met.

Please contact:

School Travel Adviser, Herefordshire Council

01432 260262

sustainabletravel@herefordshire.gov.uk

Reviewing and monitoring School Travel Plans

School Travel Plans must be monitored and reviewed every year.  The Modes of Travel in the January School Census will record how every pupil travels to school and these figures can be compared to any numerical targets in your Travel Plan.  Once these figures are available the School Travel Plan Committee should meet to discuss progress, to see what has been achieved and what has not been achieved, and to update the Action Plan and targets accordingly.

A template for a School Travel Plan Review is available from the School Travel Adviser.  Once complete, the Review should be signed by the Headteacher and Chair of Governors and sent in to the School Travel Adviser.

Progress on School Travel Plans in Herefordshire

Almost every state school, and a number of independent schools, in the county have a Travel Plan in place. This means that over 97% of all Herefordshire schools have signed up to a commitment to try to reduce the number of cars coming to their school.  

Schools with Travel Plans are  encouraged to apply for Achievement Awards if they have achieved their targets and implemented their Action Plans.  So far 39 schools have received First Achievement Awards, 14 schools have received  Second Achievement Awards and three schools,  Whitchurch Primary, Shobdon Primary and The Aconbury Centre in Hereford, have  received their Third School Travel Achievement Awards.  These are our star schools who are making a real difference to school run by decreasing car use and improving safety.