During this academic year we would like to raise the profile of sustainable ways to travel to and from school. We recognise that many of you already walk to school and last year we encouraged more children to walk or scoot to school.
Research has proved that the children who are active first thing in the morning are more likely to succeed at school. The positive endorphins we receive from exercise help to create a positive outlook and an eagerness to get involved at school. Therefore we are trying to encourage an active way to get to school.
We have installed cycle racks and scooter pods to encourage children to scoot or cycle to school but this must be done in a thoughtful manner. Please do not cycle or scoot in the school grounds and dismount bikes and scooters before crossing the road, with or without the lollipop lady.
As our school increases in size it seems we are getting more and more cars trying to access the school grounds. Please consider parking a little further away; St. Michael’s Community Centre is an ideal location, and walk from there. This does increase the number of people trying to access the school gate and the grass verges by the gate are used by parents as somewhere to wait. We are working with the local council to try to get some of the grass verges covered so they don’t become a mud bath.
We have a number of initiatives in school to teach your children about road safety. The Road Safety team at HCC visit the reception children every year to look at basic road safety. Year 5 undertake bikeability training and Year 6 do distractions training about using mobile phones whilst walking across a zebra crossing. There are regular assemblies about road safety and we undertake regular surveys to monitor the ways children travel to school.
Our challenge this year is to try to increase the number of children who Park and Stride or who walk all the way. I realise this is a big challenge as our percentages of walking children are high anyway, however, we would love you to consider a more sustainable and environmentally friendly means to travel to school.
Our School Council will be monitoring the traffic coming along Stuart Drive, through the school grounds and out through Holdbrook. Please stop and think. Is that part of your journey really necessary? Could you stop in Halsey Drive instead?
Encouraging children in a healthy lifestyle and keeping children safe on the roads is important to us. Please help us, where possible, by encouraging your children to walk to school and by supporting all our work on road safety.
