Schools recognised for demonstrating active travel ‘excellence’

Four educational establishments from across England have had their efforts to promote sustainable travel recognised at the 2019 National STARS Schools of the Year Awards.

Organised by Modeshift, STARS is a national scheme which rewards schools that have demonstrated excellence in supporting cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable travel.

The annual Modeshift STARS National Awards ceremony took place on 5 March, with regional STARS winners in contention for the four national awards.

The 2019 winners are:

• Mandeville Primary School, Hertfordshire – STARS Primary School of the Year
• Tweedmouth Community Middle School, Northumberland – STARS Secondary School of the Year
• Forest Park School, Hampshire – STARS SEND (special educational needs and disability) School of the Year
• Footsteps Day Nursery, Brighton & Hove – STARS Early Years Establishment of the Year

The schools received their awards from Jesse Norman, road safety minister, who said he was ‘delighted’ to meet pupils and students who have made a dedicated effort to improve air quality by walking and cycling to school.

Mr Norman went on to announce the DfT’s continued support for the scheme, with a further three-year funding commitment.

Mr Norman said: “We want to make walking and cycling the natural choice for journeys, which is why we’ve committed funding for a further three years to ensure the good work can continue.”

Modeshift says the funding will allow it to continue to develop the scheme for schools across England and coordinate regional and national awards events up to 2022.

Ross Butcher, chair of Modeshift, said: “We are hugely grateful to the DfT for their continued support of Modeshift STARS.

“Since they first began supporting the STARS scheme in 2014, the number of local authorities participating has grown from 22 to 69, whilst the number of registered schools has grown from 200 to over 3,500.

“Modeshift STARS is now making a significant difference to how children and young people are travelling to school with our latest figures for STARS accredited schools showing an increase in walking of 11.6% and an increase in cycling of 59% for those schools over the last three-years.”

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