Gold Star to Alleyn’s for Reducing Car Travel

On the back of a successful Sustainability Week, we are delighted to announce the results of our most recent travel survey. We are continuing to see an overall shift towards more sustainable forms of transport. Just 8% of Senior School pupils come to School by car, down from 13% three years ago.

Cycling, walking or scooting are how most Junior School pupils get to school, with 64% of them using one of these forms of active travel, up from 44% three years ago. Car travel for the Junior School has more than halved in the same time frame, with 20% now coming by car, the lowest ever.

About once a year, we survey the School community on how they get to School. This helps us see how our efforts to increase active travel and reduce driving overall are progressing. We are also Gold accredited in TfL’s STARS (Sustainable Travel: Active, Responsible, Safe) scheme, which means that we have completed the survey and have continued to achieve a good modal shift away from the car, while also undertaking initiatives to promote sustainable travel. Some of these can be permanent changes, such as the creation of more bike parking facilities, and some can be events such as Walk to School Week.

Our survey on how the community travels to School measures the success of these initiatives in an overall sense, but it’s also noticeable when looking around the School. Our bike racks are usually almost full, with a wide variety of interesting bikes. It is also great to see parents and children making use of the Hillsboro Road School Street at drop off and pick up times.

Additionally, around a third of Senior School pupils come to school using the Foundation Schools coach service, while walking is the second most common way (23%). 6% of senior school pupils cycle, up from 4% three years ago. That’s approximately 20 more bikes. We are seeing a small increase in the use of bus and rail also, across Junior, Senior and staff communities.

For staff, cycling is now one of the most popular ways of getting to work with 23% cycling now, up from 17% three years ago. Last year, 20 members of staff bought a bike through the Alleyn’s Cycle to Work scheme, the largest number by far since the scheme began, with a further 18 buying one this year so far. Driving/motorcycling is decreasing in popularity, from 43% three years ago to 29% now.

These are very encouraging figures and as a community, we believe that year-on-year, they will only improve. Well done to all those who have made these changes which collectively make a huge impact on our goal for a sustainable school. Gold stars go to one and all!

STARS is Tfl's accreditation scheme for London schools and nurseries which aims to inspire young Londoners to travel to school sustainably, actively, responsibly and safely by championing walking, scooting and cycling. 
 
The Gold Award is given to 10% of London schools setting high standards to inspire others to transform travel habits, fully engage the wider community to promote best practices, and see a measurable reduction in the number of journeys made by car every day.

Find out more about STARS here.