There is only limited capacity on the island's buses as social distancing measures are still in force, and fearing more parents would instead drive their children to school, head teachers put out a plea for those who could to walk or cycle instead.

Now, the Committee for Education Sport and Culture said that has proved a success, as families threw themselves into active travel measures.

Wow! Just calculated that 44% of my school used muscle power to travel to school yesterday rather than cars. That's double the normal amount. Well done to everyone @HautesCapelles

— HTCoughlin (@HT_Coughlin) June 9, 2020

Temporary speed limits, drop off and pick up zones and extra traffic wardens are just some of the steps taken to try and make it safer for students to walk and cycle, but each school has implemented its own set of measures, based on its own location and size.

The head of Hautes Capelles said the school had seen a large increase in the number walking or cycling to lessons, while a temporary 15mph speed limit has been installed outside the school and an extra member of staff from Traffic & Highway Services has been on site to help at drop off and pick up times. 

Wow! We had to extend the bike shed @lahouguette By my rough calculations 52% of our pupils walked, cycled or caught the bus. This greatly reduced the traffic around school today. Thank you for your amazing efforts. #BeProudOfWhoWeAre #WestIsBest #ActiveTravel #guernseytogether pic.twitter.com/fYTUaXBNfq

— La Houguette Primary (@la_houguette) June 9, 2020

Claire Judd, Headteacher at La Houguette, said the post lockdown return to lessons has given the school the perfect opportunity to embrace active travel and she is really pleased so many families have got on board.

“We are very keen to encourage Active Travel at La Houguette and saw this as a perfect opportunity to encourage our children and parents to cycle and walk to school. The community has risen admirably to this and worked hard to adjust their routines to make it happen. We are very grateful to businesses for their understanding that some parents or carers may have to adjust their working hours. We made the decision to allow those who walk and cycle to finish school at the earlier staggered finish time primarily for safety reasons. However, it has worked as a bit of an incentive and it was an absolute delight to see so many leaving school today on their bikes or on foot, the roads were noticeably quieter and our families were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery out West!”

Laurie Baker, Senior Education Advisor to the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, said:

“It was really encouraging to hear of so many students travelling to school in an active way yesterday and today. Of course, there are always going to be a few challenges for us all to manage as we implement a whole range of measures to keep everyone safe, but the efforts of islanders and our schools helped to keep traffic down and ensured that everything ran as smoothly as possible. We are pleased to say that even the reduced seating capacity on school buses didn’t cause any insurmountable problems, and this was thanks to the hard work of school staff and the fantastic engagement we have had from students, parents and the rest of the community. Hopefully, now that so many people have tried active travel options out of necessity, they will continue to choose walking or cycling to schools over driving in the longer term.”

Transport & Highway Services said it will continue looking at additional measures that can be taken to improve road safety and parents and carers are asked to continue to support their children and schools by walking or cycling unless it is absolutely necessary for them to catch the bus or be dropped off by car.