Case Studies
We asked some of our schools what they think about being part of the STAR Accreditation scheme, here’s what they said.
Tawid school for Boys, Hackney – Osman Mapara, Outstanding Level
Over the last six years we have been involved with the School Travel Plan programme. In 2010, we gained the Outstanding level of Accreditation and were one of four schools nominated for the Platinum award in our region.
Our whole school community has greatly benefited from the whole scheme. Right from the outset we had no pupils cycling to school. As a result of our STP we received funding for our cycle storage and a ‘meet and greet’ shelter. Our pupils began to cycle and this led to us achieving the first award at Sustainable level. The following year we continued to make inroads into reducing car usage and achieved the Higher Standards level of Accreditation. We sustained the higher award for two years and then excelled towards the Outstanding level.
As a school we have been able to offer our pupils a range of activities such as a cycling champion’s residential, bike maintenance programme, road safety programmes, breakfast events, on -road cycle training and delivering biking sessions during PE as well as all the normal stuff schools do.
None of this would have been possible without the support of the STAR Accreditation initiative. Being a small community school, we have gained borough and London wide recognition for the excellent work we do. This also sparked off our Healthy Schools initiative and the London Schools Environment Award. The Accreditation Scheme has been a catalyst for many of our projects and we are proud of our achievements. Long live the scheme.
St Christopher’s, Bromley – Alix Purton, Higher Standards Level
As a small Independent School, we often found that we were left out of initiatives that were being run by the Local Authority. The STP has enabled us to become involved in borough initiatives such as ‘Walking the World’, and ‘Walk on Wednesday’, and we enjoy the opportunity to earn extra miles by walking on school trips where we can.
We have had the opportunity to promote our work, and that of the School Travel Plan by participating at the STAR Accreditation workshops both locally, and in London. Our children enjoy entering and winning competitions, and we feel a bigger part of the local schools forum.
Funding both centrally, and from the small grants offered locally, has also enabled us to purchase items that would otherwise have been unavailable to us without some serious fundraising. In 2009 we achieved the Higher standards level for our travel plan and in 2011 we plan to go for Outstanding. Thank you Travel Plan!
St Mary’s CE, Richmond – Lucy MacArthur, School of the Region Platinum Level
The STAR Accreditation scheme has made us really focus on our achievements and take further action to reduce car use on the school journey. Winning the Platinum trophy was such an amazing moment, and its legacy lives on because we take so much pride in our success and have gained opportunities for the children as a direct result. For example we have just received a further £2000 in funding to run our bike club again after Easter and we are looking forward to receiving our Generation Green rewards in February.
We have had opportunities to pilot new schemes such as scooter training, and we were invited to take part in the Big wow event which was an uplifting and fantastic experience for the children. This has all been made possible by the STAR accreditation scheme. Our school is a safer environment and our children are more aware of active travel and healthy lifestyles. Thank you TFL!
Mill Hill School, Barnet – Nick Gregory, Higher Standards Level
As a school, we face a particular set of challenges because of how we are set up – we are an independent Foundation of three different schools covering the whole age range (3-18), with a wide catchment area (lots of pupils come from up to ten miles away) and are, as the name suggests, located on the top of a steep hill on a busy road.
Getting lots of our pupils cycling to school is therefore not likely ever to be possible and only relatively small percentages are in a position to walk. What we have been able to focus upon, however, have been the opportunities presented by this set of circumstances: e.g., encouraging families with similar daily journeys to ‘car-share’, expanding and developing our range of School Bus services travelling in and out to our schools each day from a number of locations, making what changes we can locally to make existing systems work better: e.g., improving lighting on a private road that we own near our schools to encourage walking; involving pupils in enforcing parking guidelines at our 7-13 school).
There are also benefits to be gained from a co-ordinate approach such as having our own Walk To School Week in May across the Foundation, encouraging siblings to walk together even though they may attend different schools, and involving our older pupils in delivering lessons to our very youngest pupils. We are also careful to ensure that Green Travel fits in as an important and integrated part of our overall set of Eco initiatives rather than just being something ‘standalone’.
Wandle Valley SEN, Sutton – Douglas Bone, Outstanding Level
Wandle Valley School has been involved with the STAR Accreditation programme since 2007 and have benefited greatly from being involved.
Our travel plan focuses mainly on cycling and working with the bikes. The reason for this is that it keeps the pupils highly motivated, enables them to build up skills while encouraging them to become fit and healthy. In fact they have so much fun with the bikes they don’t even notice they are improving their fitness.
The achievement of accreditation levels has helped us to keep the school focused on improving the travel plan. It also enables us to share best practice and build links with other schools.
Since becoming part of the STAR Accreditation scheme the staff and pupils have learned new skills together such as bike maintenance and this has helped to build and strengthen relationships with pupils.
A good example of this is one of our pupils Oden who has taken responsibility for teaching some of the younger boys to repair punctures; he also assists with the maintenance of the school bikes. Since undertaking this role, Oden’s attendance has greatly improved, this approach has also helped other pupils improve.
