Harrogate Borough Council

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The Road Safety Unit provides many services and resources for schools.

 

We offer on road cycle training to all Year 6 students in the Harrogate and Knaresborough agency area. The training usually takes place over the summer term and is delivered by a team of professional, active cyclists.

Group of 4 to 6 children practice their cycling skills in the playground, before continuing onto quiet local roads  to practise manoeuvres.

 

 

Several classroom based teaching resources including videos, are available for loan. All primary and high schools in Harrogate and Knaresborough have received a resource pack provided free of charge. This pack includes many classroom activity ideas for all key stages. We also keep copies of the DTR resources such as the Activity books 1 and 2.

 

 

When available, road safety staff can provide teacher training sessions and meet with parent and governors to discuss  local safety issues and concerns. These discussions are often a focal point for developing a safer routes to school scheme. The department has a small annual budget available to implement engineering improvements which encourage more children to walk to school. This would normally happen in conjunction with the development of a Travel Plan.

Every day during school term, thousands of pupils and their parents travel to and from school. Many pupils live close enough to walk, while others living further away travel mainly by bus or car. These school journeys affect public transport patterns, cause local congestion around schools and contribute to the sharp traffic peak between 8.30 and 9.00 am each day.

 

Over the last 20 years the proportion of children travelling to school by car has doubled, yet many live close enough to walk. Other pupils would like to travel by bus but there may not be a service at the right time, or it may be expensive or children feel intimidated by anti social behaviour.

 

We would like to see a change in the home to school travel patterns to cut congestion and pollution and allow more pupils to take regular exercise.

This may involve some engineering changes to make footpaths and cycleways safer. It will also involve changes within the school such as parent shelters, cycle lockers and cloakroom facilities. Perhaps the biggest change to be made is for parent to give their children the independence to walk or cycle without adult supervision.

 

We recognise that for some children, the journey to school must always be taken by car. However there are still ways to reduce congestion and pollution and increase walking. Park and Stride projects use a local car park such as a church or pub car park. Parents park up and walk the remainder of the journey to school. Walking buses are also a good way of providing exercise and social interaction for both parents and children.

 

 

A Travel Plan is a  useful way of focusing on travel issues and  developing a healthy school ethos. A travel plan is essentially an action plan which sets out what the School, the Council, the Parents and the Pupils will do to support the home to school journeys.

 

The Road Safety Team can give advice and assistance to  your school in developing your travel plan.

 

At a national level, the government are keen to see all schools develop travel to school action plans. In January 2004, The DfT and the DES announced a funding programme of capital grants for schools that develop an Approved Travel Plan. The grant is worth £2750 per Primary School, plus £5 per pupil and £5000 plus £5 per pupils for High Schools.

The grant funding will be available until June 2008. Schools have three years within which to spend the grant. The funds can be used for items such as cycle parking, parent shelters, on site safety measures and equipment such as tumble driers and helmet lockers.