School travel plans

A school travel plan (STP) sets out a number of practical ways to reduce the number of car trips made to a school, encourage walking and cycling and to improve safety on the school journey.

 

The aims of the STP programme

Implementing a STP could bring many health, social and environmental benefits, including:

  • reducing the number of car journeys and congestion at the school gates
  • reducing air pollution and improving the health and fitness levels of pupils, staff and families
  • encouraging more walking and cycling, use of public transport and improve safety on the school journey
  • increasing understanding among whole school communities of the sustainable travel options that are available to them

Find out about

Developing a STP

By developing a STP and keeping this ‘active’ by completing annual reviews your school can help make a positive change to the journey to and from school.

Reviews

A review is a document which follows the original STP and must be submitted every 12 months. The review monitors the progress and includes mode of travel surveys, an evaluation of the previous action plan and the setting of new targets to work on over the coming year.

Full reviews

A full review is required after 3 years to ensure all the details within the plan are up to date and that further consultation is carried out with the whole school community.

Active STPs

For your STP to be ‘active’ you must complete and submit review or full review every 12 months.

The benefits include:

  • the opportunity to apply for a small grant (up to £2k)
  • WoW resources
  • walk to School Week/Month resources
  • free Theatre in Education performances at your school

Postcode plots

We can produce a postcode plot for your school to show where pupils and staff are travelling from and also their mode of travel to school.

Postcode plots can be helpful for:

  • checking the catchment area of the school and the potential for cycling and walking
  • finding out if pupils living close to the school are still being driven to school
  • seeing if pupils live in clusters or along corridors and could possibly travel together (organic walking buses)
  • identifying if pupils live near bus routes
  • establishing possible car sharing matches for staff and to establish the potential for promoting walking or cycling to staff

Walking zone maps

We can also produce walking zone maps with show key walking distances and times from the school. Contact sta@hackney.gov.uk to request one.

Parent leaflets

We can create a bespoke parent leaflet for your school and this could include your walking zone map and/or postcode plot. Contact sta@hackney.gov.uk to request one.

How to request a postcode plot

  • for LEA schools Hackney Learning Trust has provided us with the data required so all you need to do is email us at sta@hackney.gov.uk with your request
  • independent schools should email sta@hackney.gov.uk attaching an Excel spreadsheet with a list of pupil postcodes (one per cell) in one column with a corresponding list of pupils’ modes of travel in a second column
  • for staff please email the data in an Excel spreadsheet to sta@hackney.gov.uk with one column for postcodes (one per cell) and another corresponding column for modes of travel, from your staff survey

Sustainable modes of travel strategy

The strategy’s aim is to help make walking, cycling and public transport a realistic and attractive option for journeys to and from schools and colleges in the borough.

The strategy outlines the borough’s existing sustainable school travel options and sets out how those options are going to be developed in the future to assist parents/carers when choosing schools they would like their child(ren) to attend.

Page updated on: 23 May 2022