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Pupils at St Martin's School were at the heart of a new initiative to increase active travel.
Parents can now pick up children from any of the nine active travel hubs which are located close to the Primary School. It avoids traffic being concentrated in one spot, while also integrating active travel into children's daily routine.
Since the changes were implemented, many parents of St Martins’ pupils have been using the travel hubs in the area and walking the short journey to or from the school gates. The hubs were identified in the local area and include Raymond Falla House, Grande Rue car park, Les Douvres Hotel and St Martin’s Football Club.
Children have also been encouraged to travel actively wherever possible, with pupils from the school's UNICEF Rights Respecting Group at the forefront of those plans.
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“I am incredibly proud of our ‘Rights Squad’ and their campaign to promote children’s rights to be active and to a safe and clean environment," said Headteacher Cate Mason.
"The children are passionate about doing their bit to reduce carbon emissions and climate change. The project was a wonderful demonstration of the power of pupil voice and how the school is so well supported by parents, carers and the local community.”
The Health Improvement Commission has created a video to showcase how effective the school’s park and stride scheme has been.
Pictured: Pupils can walk, cycle or scoot to the convenient travel hubs, while a number of students already make their way to school on foot.
"Each school has different challenges, but the aim is to get more children travelling to school actively, more of the time – even if it is for part of the journey using a hub similar to those at St Martin’s," said Alex Costen, Active Travel Officer at the Health Improvement Commission.
"A generation ago, 70% of the UK population walked to school, now it’s less than half. The aim is to reverse this decline and to enable and energise children to make walking to school a viable option and their natural choice."
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