There has been a dramatic take-up in the development of School Travel Plans (STPs) in Islington - more evidence of the council's commitment to a greener and safer borough.<br><br>In October 2004 there were no schools in the STP process, whereas currently the STP Team is working with 26 Islington schools who are at varying stages of developing a STP, including two who successfully completed their plans in March 2005.<br><br>The STP team has also developed two unique STP toolkits - one for primary and one for secondary schools - to assist schools with the STP process and to ensure that it is linked with the National Curriculum.<br><br>The toolkits are split into different sections designed for teachers, travel plan committee members and head teachers. Sections include background information, descriptions of possible initiatives, guidelines to the content of a travel plan, a travel plan pro-forma, teaching resources, questionnaires and references to extra reading material.<br><br>A CD-ROM is provided with the toolkits and contains the surveys, teaching resources, questionnaires and the travel plan pro-forma. Each school can then tailor the surveys and plan to their needs. <br><br>In the primary toolkit the teaching resources are linked to either the KS1 or KS2 National Curriculum and for the Secondary toolkit the KS3 or KS4 National Curriculum. In both cases they mainly relate to PSHE and Citizenship.<br><br>The lessons include topics ranging from Road Safety Awareness to Healthy Living with homework designed to educate guardians about road safety and sustainable travel.<br><br>Councillor Bridget Fox, Executive member for sustainability, said: “Islington Council and the community are working well together to tackle environmental issues, as the surge in developing School Travel Plans shows.<br><br>These Plans offer a fun, sociable and healthy way for kids to become involved in being safer on the road and more aware of environmental issues.”<br><br>In May of this year, the Road Safety Unit also held a STP conference for the next 20 target schools. A variety of people attended from deputy head teachers to parent helpers, with everyone taking part in different workshops. They heard from schools who have formed their own STP, had a chance to ask questions to a councillor, a Transport for London (TfL) representative, members of the STP and road safety teams and discuss these in detail with staff from other schools. The conference was positively received and is to be an annual event.<br><br>Islington Council was awarded the highly prestigious Sustainable Borough of the Year award by TfL, with the development of STPs considerably contributing to the achievement of this award. The STP Team has also been awarded an internal Special Commendation for Outstanding Achievement/ Innovation for their hard work on school travel planning during 2005.<br><br>Some of the initiatives that have been implemented at Islington schools as a result of their STP include:<br><br>· large participation in the Walk to School Week events<br>· 'Walk to School Week' competitions held each term<br>· 'Pupil Parking Ticket' project<br>· before and after school cycle skills sessions<br>· bike stunt performances<br>· school cycle awareness assemblies<br><br>For further information on Islington’s STP Programme or to obtain a copy of the STP Toolkit, please contact:<br><br>Robert O'Connor<br>Senior School Travel Plan Officer<br>Road Safety Unit<br>Street Management<br>Room 330, 222 Upper Street<br>London N1 1YA<br>E Robert.Oconnor@Islington.gov.uk<br>T 020 7527 2513<br>F 020 7527 2145 <br><br>Emma Jones<br>Senior School Travel Plan Officer<br>Road Safety Unit<br>Street Management<br>Room 330, 222 Upper Street<br>London N1 1YA<br>Emma.Jones@Islington.gov.uk <br>T 020 7527 3903<br>F 020 7527 2145 <br><br>Further information is also available on our website:<br>www.islington.gov.uk
Page Last Updated: 17 December 2009