Thinking about the human impact on climate change, children at Woolenwick Infant and Nursery School wanted to drive change and influence others to reduce pollution. They had already held peaceful protests on the playground, but wanted their message to reach decision makers beyond their school.

The Eco-Ambassadors led the discussions to plan ‘bling up’ parades in the local underpass during walk to school week; the purpose was to raise awareness of safer routes to school and of sustainable travel options. Luckily, Stevenage, where they live is the first new town in the UK, was built with an integral cycleway, now 48km in total. The children wanted others to change their travel choices and cycle, scoot, or walk more.

Ahead of the event, parent/child workshops were held to create items to decorate bikes, scooters and shoes. Children also made signs, flags, and banners. Finally, a safety film was shown to inform families where on a bike, scooter, or shoes it is safe to add accessories.

On the day, each year group from Nursery to Year 2, paraded to the underpass, riding their ‘blinged up’ bikes and scooters and wearing their ‘blinged up’ shoes, waving their flags, holding their banners and singing their ‘Save the Earth’ song. Children were joined by parents, carers, passers-by, and invited members of the community, including the Councillor with the portfolio for Sustainability, the Stevenage Regeneration team and the Mayor of Stevenage. The event was also supported by passing motorists, who beeped their horns in support.

Guardian Angels have been working with the charity Living Streets since 2021 to promote active and sustainable travel, during this period they have increased active travel to school by 15% through a variety of initiatives.

First, the school worked with their local council and Living Streets to become the first School Street in their local authority, this means the road outside school is blocked off to motorised traffic during drop off times. Next, they completed an audit of their local area highlighting areas of concern and again working with their local authority to address these, one example is refreshing local road markings! Living Streets provided a map for families, which documented areas they could park and stride to school, so even pupils who lived far away could still actively travel to school. All their efforts are kept high-profile through termly walk/cycle/scoot to school weeks and recently a grant has also been secured to create a safe and secure place to store bikes and scooters.

Their efforts have featured in the Manchester Evening News, as well as on BBC online, recently they have also received an award from Modeshift Stars. Understandably, staff and pupils at Guardian Angels are incredibly proud of all their achievements!

At Hurst Park, they record journeys to school every day.  At the end of each month, pupils who have walked, cycled, scooted or skated to school for over 80% of their journeys receive a badge.  The class with the highest amount of active travel each month also receives a trophy.

Every half term, there is a car-free day, where the school drop-off zone and staff car park are closed to vehicles and the empty car parks are re-purposed for cycling, scooting and skating circuits in which every class participates.

Bikeability training has moved into Y4 and Y5; therefore, pupils can cycle to school on their own (with a parent’s consent) in Y5 and Y6, once they have completed the training and they also have pool bikes so that all pupils can participate, even if they do not have their own.

Air quality has been measured around the school and shared this with their community, to try and deter them from driving to school.  Hurst Park also run regular anti-idling campaigns in the local streets.  All new parents receive a ‘park and stride map’, which shows the streets in the local area that are safe to park and include a 5-minute walk to school so that pupils may record an active journey to school.

As a result, active travel has risen from 50% to, on average, 80% of pupils making active journeys to school.  This increases to approximately 98% on car-free days.

Hessle Penshurst Primary School became one of the first primary schools in the country to be awarded the highest Modeshift Stars Platinum accreditation, which recognises excellence in promoting safe and sustainable travel. Since 2016, the school has reduced car drop-offs by an impressive 15% through encouraging sustainable travel and making it easier and safer for pupils to walk, cycle or scoot to school.

Now Penshurst are delighted to have been chosen to be part of the School Streets initiative which restricts traffic outside the school during the start and end of the school day. This will encourage families to park well away from the school, or ditch the car entirely – meaning less congestion, pollution and a better school environment.

Fantastic Eco-Coordinator Iris said, ‘We are proud to be among the first schools to receive the Modeshift Stars platinum award and were delighted when this was celebrated in the local news!’

Pupil Voice is very important at Gorse Hall and pupils wanted to shout out about a silent predator that’s difficult to smell and see, but has a devastating impact on humans, animals and natural habitats – air pollution!

The Eco-Committee decided to plan a Clean Air Day to raise awareness and tackle the issue. During the day, Air Pollution Marshalls distributed leaflets explaining how walking, cycling or scooting to school can reduce emissions. Idling engines were also targeted, with pupils designing posters to remind parents and local residents to ‘Switch off when you stop!’ with one parent commenting “Ignorance isn’t bliss if it’s affecting our children’s health and future.”

Click here to watch a video you created by the Eco-Committee about their Clean Air Day… and the Eco-Committee are also delighted to report that the results of their school’s local ‘Lichen Hunt’ indicate a reduction in air pollution around Gorse Hall!

The Eco-Committee at Catherine Junior school decided that they were going to make Clean Air Day 2019 extra special by working with (the fantastic) Leicester City Council to close the road outside their school for the day in an action that combined Curriculum Links and Informing and Involving perfectly! The Committee worked tirelessly with their Eco-Coordinator and Leicester City Council to organise closing the road for the day and their Clean Air Day was a fantastic success.

Staff members and children either cycled or ‘parked ‘n’ strided’ to school and throughout the day lessons were held on the street, races were run and games were played. Every child was beaming and the school’s neighbours even opened their doors to join in the activities. This has helped the school to build on their relationships with the local community. The day was so spectacular it even featured on regional television, radio and in local newspapers!

James Brindley Academy Parkway is a central Birmingham SEMH KS4 school. Transport was chosen as one of their Eco-Schools themes because car pollution is a real problem and affects all students and staff every day they go to school.

Most Pupils use Taxis to come to school and they recognized that this is not eco-friendly; they also know private transport is very expensive. However, their anxiety combined with social phobias meant that they had not yet transitioned to independent travel, and this was also restricting their social lives!

So as part of their Eco-Schools work, Seventeen pupils enrolled in a transport training programme during the past year, which aimed to increase their confidence using buses and trains.

One pupil commented that ‘I enjoyed the experience and was really proud of myself for overcoming my initial fears. I proved to myself and others that with support I can overcome perceived and actual barriers to education whilst contributing to a healthy environment.’