STP Initiatives - Parents

A School Travel Plan is a document which sets out a number of practical ways to reduce the number of car trips made to a school, to encourage more walking and cycling and to improve safety on the school journey.

Walking

If you live close enough, encourage your children to walk to school. It will help them keep fit, be alert and become more street-wise:

Provide bright and reflective clothing, supportive shoes and a back pack.
For younger children, either walk with your children (it's a good opportunity to have a chat), or get together with other parents and take it in turns to accompany other children (a "walking bus")

Walking Bus

A Walking Bus is an initiative to encourage more children, accompanied by adults, to walk to school and by doing so reduce traffic and congestion outside schools.

Walking as a group and using an agreed route the children are under the supervision of at least 2 responsible adults - a 'driver' and 'conductor' - who are known to the school. Any volunteers involved with a Walking Bus have to complete a police criminal background check.

Some walking buses operate every school day while others operate one or two days a week - this depends on the number of adult volunteers involved.

Cycling

Encourage your children to cycle:

Provide bright and reflective clothing, supportive shoes and a back pack.
Buying a bike: It's better to buy the right size rather than get one which is too big that the child can "grow into". An oversized bike could be dangerous and is likely to put your child off cycling. It's advisable to choose a bike without a crossbar so that the child can fall through the bike and not off it.
Provide bright, fluorescent and reflective clothing
Buy a well fitting cycle helmet.
Consider enrolling them on a Cycle Training course to develop their cycling skills and help them to become more confident.

Your Car

If you have to drive:

Park well away from school entrances and yellow zig zags;
Find a location some distance from the school so that you can "park and stride". This will help your children to experience some of the benefits of walking to school and reduce school gate congestion.
Talk to other parents about sharing lifts to reduce congestion and pollution.
Make sure that you child gets out on the pavement side when you are dropping them off.
Don't leave your engine running when waiting to collect children - and idling engine produces 80% more pollution than when a vehicle is in motion. 1 in 7 children have asthma. Medical evidence suggests that this is related to traffic fumes.

Contact Details

If you want more information on School Travel Plan initiatives, contact:

Martin Wilkinson and Sally Dewes
School Travel Plan Co-ordinator
Policy and Sustainable Transport Team
Floor 6, Civic Centre 4
Much Park Street
Coventry
CV1 2PY
Tel: (024) 7683 1184 (& 1372)
Fax: (024) 7683 2656
e-mail: martin.wilkinson@coventry.gov.uk and sally.dewes@coventry.gov.uk

Coventry City Council

STP Initiative - Parents