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Primary school pupils and teachers were yesterday awarded prizes for their achievements in shifting school journeys from car to more sustainable forms of transport. The Modeshift STARS National Awards were presented in Portculis House, part of the parliamentary estate, by Transport Minister Lord Ahmed.
Modeshift STARS is the Department for Transport’s national school travel awards scheme and works with schools across England to encourage pupils to walk, scoot, cycle or use public transport to get to school rather than being dropped off by car. Around 2,000 schools are currently involved in the programme, each working toward Bronze, Silver and Gold Modeshift STARS status.
The six schools attending the awards ceremony had already been crowned the Modeshift STARS School of the Region for their areas
- Godmanchester Primary School, Cambridgeshire has seen a 50% increase in cycling to school
- Haydonleigh Primary School, Swindon now sees 25% of pupils cycling or scooting to school
- St Bede Church of England Primary, Hampshire, was the first school to achieve the Gold Modeshift STARS level in Hampshire
- St John’s CE(A) Primary, Stoke-on-Trent, has achieved a 21.3% reduction in car use over the last three years
- The Federation of Abbey Schools, Darlington, has reduced car journeys to school from 35.3% to 13.1%
- Rawdon Littlemoor Primary School, Leeds has achieved a reduction in pupils travelling to school by car from 45.9% to 27.4%.
Lord Ahmed said: “The schools being recognised today have achieved exceptional results in encouraging their pupils to take up healthier and greener travel choices.
“We are committed to Britain becoming a cycling and walking nation and we are providing £50 million for Bikeability training over the next four years so a million pupils can ride their bikes safely.
“There is no better place to instil good transport habits than in schools so the next generation get into healthy routines which improve journeys and quality of life for all.”
Ross Butcher, Chair of Modeshift, said, “The achievements of our STARS Schools of the Region are outstanding and they are really leading the way in demonstrating that it is possible to reverse the trend of increasing car use on the school run. They are just the tip of the iceberg though with almost 2,000 schools now taking part in STARS and committed to increasing levels of walking and cycling amongst young people."
The gold award went to Rawdon Littlemoor Primary School. Here are pupils and a teacher from the school with Stuart Andrew MP, chair of Modeshift Ross Butcher and vice-chair, Sarah Grattage.
