A School travel plan (STP) shows a commitment to sustainable and active travel and helps to increase the safety of the school community. Our School travel plan template helps schools document travel behaviours and patterns so that concerns and goals can be highlighted.
It is important to address climate and health concerns in our community, many short journeys to school are made by car which could be made more sustainably. The Department for Education (DfE) have have asked schools to encourage and impact the way that pupils travel to school which can provide both health and educational benefits to children.
Having a STP helps schools by creating accountability to your goals and provide you with a focus for achieving the and prioritises your school when seeking additional support and funding.
How to complete a School travel plan
There are 8 steps that you will need to follow to complete your travel plan. A template to support you can be downloaded.
Nominate a lead person or group
Choose a person or a group from your school community to lead the development of the school travel plan. This could be:
- Head teacher
- a staff member
- a governor
Complete a site survey
We have an online survey that can support you to look everything related to travel and transport. Such as:
- your active travel provisions
- parking
- school training opportunities
- the surrounding environment
- infrastructure
Contact activetravel@bcpcouncil.gov.uk to discuss your requirements.
School travel surveys for staff, parents and pupils
We can provide you with links for these travel surveys. Please contact activetravel@bcpcouncil.gov.uk to discuss your requirements
These surveys are important as they will give you an overall feel of travel patterns and what the school community think about their journeys.
Key school issues
Discuss and finalise what the main issues and concerns are and what the solutions to these could be.
Set your objectives and targets
Make sure these cover both staff and pupils, for example you may wish to improve the safety of routes to school.
Create an action plan
Your action plan could include improving air quality in the area around your school or increasing the number of staff and pupils who have attended cycle training.
Sign off
Ask key stakeholders to sign off your plan and agree to the steps that are required to move forward.
Monitor and review your plan
Once you have completed your plan we suggest that you review and update the plan annually where required.