Stop, Look, Listen – Think!

Helen Burge, deputy chief operations officer at The Priory Learning Trust, explains how you need to adopt the mindset of the Green Cross Code man in order to develop an effective travel plan for your school

I’m currently on the train to London for a conference with a colleague; she’s significantly younger than me, so doesn’t know about the Green Cross Code Man with his code – Stop, Look, Listen, Think! It amazes me she even knows how to safely cross the road! When I was in primary school my older brother and I were selected to stand up at the front of the assembly and help the Green Cross Code Man ‘cross the road’. Little did we know that at the time we were with David Prowse – aka Darth Vader. Our tiny little minds would have exploded if we knew we were standing next to, spoiler alert, Luke’s Dad.  

Schools these days, as well as encouraging positive behaviour messages about walking, scooting or cycling to school safely for pupils, are also encouraging parents to not have their car idling near a school, or to park further away and walk the last bit (Park and Stride). 

A 2018 Transport for London survey found that around 25% of rush hour traffic in London was created by parents dropping children off at school; some primary schools also encourage walking buses.This all helps to reduce the number of cars near school entrances and also encourages children to be active.  

Schools participating in the ‘Walk to Schools’ week (https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/ 16-20 May 2022) encouraged pupils to participate with stickers, activities, assemblies and pupil rewards. Some local authorities create competitions between schools; I know one of my previous schools won a scooter storage unit as a result of the increase in walking to school compared to other local schools and the same school has had real success with the ModeShift STARS awards (https://www.modeshiftstars.org/education/). Most recently, they were awarded the highest accolade of the Platinum award. 

School travel plans

This scheme, created by the Department of Transport in 2008, looks to encourage schools to create, develop and implement their travel plans. It also recognises, and rewards, excellence in the promotion of sustainable and active travel. Travel plans should be dynamic documents – not created just to tick a box and then move on to the next task. At new parents evening you could reference your travel plan and set out the clear, safe, options for accessing your school actively. You could also work with those relevant to your school’s context for additional support – for example, Network Rail.

Of course, it’s not just students and their parents coming to school, it’s also staff. My trust operates a salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme; staff purchasing a new bike and accessories (including cycle helmet), up to the value of £2,000, can have the deductions made from their gross pay. There are also similar schemes for salary sacrifice EV cars, which might mean you want to install EV charging points in your school grounds. 

As an EV car owner, I love this idea; however, I would encourage you to research how and when you can charge staff and visitors for the electricity, especially with the current costs of energy. We are in discussions with some of our contractors – compliance, grounds, etc – who have indicated that they are looking to change their fleet of vans to EV in the future. We’re looking at how we might, together, benefit from EV charging point installations which they can then access. 

EV mini bus?

I’ve not yet found an EV school minibus but I’m sure, given time, these will come to the market, especially if enough of us ask for them! I know this will add a new aspect of anxiety to trip organisation – range anxiety; the driver’s fear that a vehicle has insufficient energy storage to cover the road distance needed to reach its intended destination. Review how you use your minibus; how many trips are well within range?

We signpost staff to our local authority’s car sharing scheme – does your local authority do something similar? They might also offer support to complete the ModeShift STARs awards. We also have electric bikes for staff to borrow and many staff try before they buy their own. It’s also important to provide good quality bike sheds, so staff and students can have a dry bike at the end of the day; we found that there are grants available to match fund, or completely fund, bike racks and scooter parks, and also found our PTAs were supportive of funding their installation.  

So, channel your inner Green Cross Code man – Stop and Listen, have a Look at your options and Think about how your school can improve its travel plan to be more sustainable as well as providing safe options for travel to and from school.