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Breath Of Fresh Air For Local Primary School!
May 2008
Barnsley’s Hill Primary School has been congratulated by South Yorkshire’s air quality awareness campaign, Care4Air, after managing to save over 600 car journeys usually made to and from the school, with an innovative travel reward scheme.
Since January, the school has been involved in the travel scheme, which has been set up by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC). School Travel Plan Advisor, Suzy Smith, initiated the scheme after applying for funding from the Department of Transport to promote sustainable travel, such as walking or using the bus, to primary schools in the county.
The scheme is up and running in primary schools across the borough where travel cards are being distributed and the young person gets a sticker every time they walk, cycle, catch a bus to school or get their parents to car share. Once all 45 stickers have been collected the young person can use the card to gain a free entry to a number of leisure facilities where they can swim, ice-skate, get free football training sessions and entrances to the RSPB nature reserve.
Suzy Smith, School Travel Plan Advisor at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, said: “I wanted to apply for the funding to create a three year scheme that would encourage schools to get young people to use more sustainable methods of transport when travelling to and from school. So far the scheme has been a resounding success and The Hill Primary School are a fantastic example of this success.”
Sue Miller from The Hill Primary School wanted to get involved with the scheme after the school successfully received School Travel Plan status last year. Commenting on the success of the reward scheme, she said: “Because our school is situated in the middle of an estate and lots of children already walk to school we thought the scheme would be an excellent opportunity to build on this progress and get more young people to think about different ways to travel to school.
“Some parents live too far away from school to walk and the bus routes aren’t suitable for their journeys, but this didn’t stop their children from wanting to get involved! So, I contacted a local Private Members Club, which is still quite a walk from the school, and they agreed to let parents park in their car park and walk their children up to school. This way the children could get their stickers and traffic congestion is eased around the school gates. Some parents who live nearer have been discussing setting up a walking bus and we will provide fluorescent jackets so the children can be walked to school safely.
“We have around 420 children involved with the scheme and they have been so excited about getting involved - I can’t believe how popular it has been!”
Mark Daly, spokesperson for Care4Air, said: “Firstly congratulations to The Hill Primary School for their efforts, their hard work has really paid off. It is a fantastic result to have saved so many car journeys! By starting to make young people aware of the need to improve air quality, we will hopefully be leading towards a future where everyone is fully clued up and doing their bit to improve the air we breathe. I’m sure the young people are already spreading their knowledge by informing their parents what they’ve learnt about improving air quality, which is great too!”