School Travel Plan
East
Brent Church of England First School
Church
Road, East Brent, Nr Highbridge,
Somerset TA9 4HZ
The pupils, parents and
staff at this school are committed to promoting travel to and from school by
safe and sustainable means. We are
working hard both to promote the health and social benefits this brings and to
work with outside agencies to achieve the targets we have set. Our school travel plan is a living document
that we will review through curriculum work on a yearly basis. Adoption of a school travel plan by our
school will demonstrate:-
- Recognition of the need to reduce car traffic
generated by the school.
- Commitment to the local community to improve
the local environment.
- Encouragement of walking and cycling. Where car travel is necessary,
encouragement of car-sharing to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels,
save energy and minimise air pollution.
- A commitment to healthy lifestyles across the
school.
Success of the plan
will be assessed in terms of:-
- Reduced motor traffic congestion outside the
school entrance.
- Greater awareness of transport issues and the
impact of motor traffic on the environment on the part of pupils, staff,
parents and the local community.
- Greater participation in transport-related
projects within the school curriculum.
Contents
4. Targets, Actions and Responsibilities
7. East Brent C of E First School Action Plan
1. School profile
East Brent Church of
England First School (DfES Reference Number 933/3232) is a first school with a
population of 83 children aged from reception to 9 years.
Situated within the
village of East Brent, the school attracts pupils from the neighbouring
villages of Brent Knoll (1-2 km) and Rooksbridge (2-3 km); and from further
away including Burnham-on-Sea (about 7 km), Mark (about 7 km), West Huntspill
(about 8 km) and Weston-Super-Mare (about 10 km).
The school is staffed by
a Head Teacher, three full-time teachers, a school secretary/finance officer,
five learning and support assistants and two lunchtime supervisors. The lunchtime supervisors cycle to work; all
other members of staff drive to the school in their own cars. There are no official parking spaces but
room is available for 6-8 cars. It is
difficult for visitors to park once the school day has started as access to the
parking area is through the playground.
Normal school hours are
8.50 am to 3.15 pm. After-school clubs
are held on Monday to Thursday of each week and finish at 4.15 pm. As indicated in the Parents’ Travel Survey
(Section 3), all parents bring their children to school between 8.40 and
9.00am. The parents remain responsible
for their children until 8.50 am.
The parents collect their children from the playground either at
3.15 pm or at 4.15 pm.
Only 36% of the pupils
live within the village of East Brent and can walk or cycle to school. All other pupils live too far away to walk
or cycle and must travel to school by motorised transport. Walking and cycling conditions are poor
because of
·
few pavements
·
no cycle lanes
·
heavy traffic in Church Road at school drop-off
and pick-up times
·
long distances to East Brent from other villages
on country roads
·
no facilities for storing bicycles, helmets, wet
clothes etc.
At the entrance to
Church Road, there is a 90°
bend in the road, which forces the traffic to slow down, and there is good
visibility in both directions. There is
pavement on Brent Road in the direction of the A370 but the pavement is not
continuous. Pedestrians have to cross
the road before the traffic lights but traffic can be fast along this stretch
and there is a shallow but blind bend.
In the direction of Brent Knoll, there is only a short stretch of
pavement and there is no pavement where there is also a shallow but blind bend
in the road.
A370
Brent Knoll Entrance to
Church Road
There are no hazard
signs on Brent Road to advise drivers unfamiliar with the area that there is a
school in the locality. There is no
pedestrian crossing on Brent Road, although there are pedestrian lights on the
A370 for people walking or cycling from one side of the village to the
other. The speed limit on the A370 is
40 mph and there are no signs to warn drivers that children use the crossing.
There is no effective
public transport even if the children were old enough to travel on their
own. There are no crossing patrols,
parent’s shelters, storage space or cycle storage. There is a school bus (a minibus) that is operated on behalf of
the county that takes a maximum of 6 children between Rooksbridge and the
school (3 are entitled to free transport and 3 pay). The company used by the County Council’s Integrated Passenger
Transport Unit (IPTU) uses a 10 seater mini bus to transport these 6
children. The school would like to see
the spare capacity of 4 seats also made available for transporting fee paying
children. The school will contact the
IPTU about this – see action in Section 4.
Children who do use the minibus are picked up and dropped off from the
school gate and a member of staff meets them in the morning and ensures that
they board the bus at the end of the school day.
Once a week during the
Autumn term, the children walk to the end of Church Road to catch the coach for
swimming lessons.
Environmental issues
covering how children travel to school and modes of transport in general are
covered in the PSHE curriculum.
Serious Incident:
A serious incident
occurred on 29th March, a parent reversing in Church Road hit a
parent walking her daughter home from school, had the person hit been a child
then it would have caused serious injuries.
This has strengthened our resolve to get parents to park in the cemetery
car park or Red House Road and to make Church Road free of parked cars
belonging to parents delivering or collecting from school. A representative from Health and Safety from
the County Council and local parish councillors and parents are to carry out a
site meeting in early May during an end of school time session to assess the
situation and to advise ways in which Church Road could be made safer.
Towards Brent
Knoll
East Brent C
of E First School Path between
cemetery car park and school entrance
2. Transport problems
The school is situated
towards the top of a no-through road of residential properties. Usually, the road is quiet and there are few
cars parked in the road. There is no
pavement. There is a white line painted
along one side of the road that is intended to be a car-free zone but there are
no signs to inform people of this.
At school start and
finish times, the traffic in Church Road is a hazard to pedestrians and
cyclists. The road is wide enough for
two cars to pass each other only where there are no cars parked. Therefore, cars that are parked block the
road for further traffic travelling in the same direction. At the same time, cars must turn around
before they can travel back down the road.
The most common turning place is in front of the Church gate, which is
also the pedestrian entrance to the school.
Events at the Church
create a similar problem, although people are not trying to arrive and leave at
the same time. However, Church events
normally occur outside of school hours.
In their analysis of the
pupils travel survey, Year 3 and 4 pupils highlighted the following issues:
·
If the roads were a lot safer, they would have the
chance to come by bike.
·
More bicycles signs and traffic lights are needed.
·
A Zebra crossing and some yellow lines would be
good.
·
More pavements are needed.
·
10 mph speed limit would be good (in Church Road).
·
There are no bicycle stands or places to store
helmets.
·
Cyclists could find safer but longer routes
through the village, which involves cycling across a field.
In essence, the school traffic in Church Road is the
greatest hazard for the children.
The school is built
on Church of England property and shares the pedestrian entrance with St Mary’s
Church. Vehicular access is through
neighbouring property that does not belong to the Church but is required to
permit access to the school.
Vehicular
entrance to school via driveway of neighbouring property Pedestrian
entrance to East Brent C of E First School (same gate as entrance to
Church)
The vehicular entrance opens
directly onto the school playground.
Staff parking is between the two school teaching buildings and cars that
park on school property must pass through the playground to reach the parking
area. The school playground is used as
a car park for the church on Sunday mornings.
The neighbouring property was an independent girls
school, and they used Church Road as access to their school as part of a one
way system coming up Church Road and leaving their site via a back
entrance. The independent school is now
a kindergarten so the traffic is less but still a factor in the mornings
(8.15-9.15) as staff and parents use the access from Church Road. It would be possible to discuss the Travel
Plan with our neighbouring school, however they have already stated that they
would not allow our parents to use their drive as a one way system. It would
help if they allowed just the minibus to use their drive as a one way system to
help alleviate traffic on Church Road.
(see Action Plan)
Cemetery Car
Park:
The
school is able to use the Cemetery car park (which is owned by the Parish
Council) and there is a tarmac path leading from the car park down through the
church yard to the school entrance.
This is the safest option for children arriving by car. It could also leave Church Road free from
school traffic. The cemetery car park
is large enough to hold 30 cars and there is clear visibility leading to and
from the car park. It would be possible
to instigate a walking bus from the car park leaving some parents free to leave
the car park quickly (ie those who have to get to work) and to make more space
for parents arriving. It might be
possible to pay a member of school staff to man a walking bus from the car
park.
All
the residents of Church Road have adequate off road parking during the working
day and so restricted parking ie no parking in Church Road between 8.30-9.15 am
and 2.30-4.30 during school days.
3. Travel
survey results
The pupils individually completed a travel
survey in school. A full report of the pupils’ travel survey is provided
in Appendix 1. As part of a class
exercise on data handling, Year 3 and 4 pupils identified the actions
highlighted in Section 2. Some copies
are attached.
The conclusions of the pupils’ travel survey
are as follows:
·
Most pupils (65-70%) travel to and from school
by car because they live outside the village of East Brent.
·
However, 28-34% of children who live in East
Brent travel to or from school by car, though not on every journey.
·
The survey was completed well by the children
and there were few unlikely responses.
However, the responses to question 9 (about the number of adults and
number of children travelling at one time) indicate that this question was
worded poorly. The findings will be
disregarded in this survey and the question reworded in future.
The parents were invited to complete a travel
survey. A full report of the parents’
travel survey is provided in Appendix 2.
The conclusions of the parents’ travel survey are as follows:
·
Of the parents who completed the survey, 23
(58%) live outside the village of East Brent.
More than this, 65% of journeys to school and 68% of journeys from
school, are by car.
·
Overall, 35% of parents who live in East Brent
travel to or from school by car, though not on every journey.
·
Most parents (68%) park in Church Road at
least some of the time even though 88% of parents know where the cemetery car
park is.
·
Less traffic, slower traffic and wider
pavements would encourage some parents to walk their children to school but
most (72%) live too far away for walking to school.
·
Less traffic, slower traffic and cycle lanes
would encourage about 1/3 of parents to allow their children to cycle to school
but just over half (55%) live too far away for cycling to school.
The conclusions of both surveys were expanded and used to identify the
actions (Section 4).
4. Targets, Actions and Responsibilities
As a result of the initial meeting with parents, school council and
governors, the questions for the travel surveys were developed, carried out and
analysed, and the following targets and actions were identified. More information is provided in the Action
Plan (Section 7).
- We will
encourage and assist pupils to walk and cycle wherever possible.
- We will
actively encourage car sharing.
- We will create
a healthy, safe and happy school environment with improved lifestyles and
air quality.
Targets
- We will
reduce the proportion of cars that park in Church Road from 68% to 10% by
September 2007.
- We will
encourage all children who live in East Brent to walk to cycle to school
unless there is a good reason why they can’t (e.g. too far away, parents
drop-off and collect on their way to and from work and would be late if
they walked, child unable to walk a short distance).
- We aim to
get approximately half of the parents who bring their children to school
by car to car-share so that by 2010, 30% of pupils will travel by
car-share and 43% by individual car.
- We aim to
increase children’s confidence in walking and cycling.
Actions
Action 1
We will prepare a summary of the School Travel Plan for parents and will
include it with the school Prospectus.
Community Governor, Wendy Kingdom, to do this by September 2006.
Action 2
The school currently has a serious problem with parents delivering and
collecting children in Church Road. The
cemetery car park offers a very good and much safer alternative to parking in
Church Road. The school will do its
utmost to encourage parents to use the cemetery car park so removing congestion
in Church Road. We have already started
using the school newsletter to ask parents who drive to use the cemetery or Red
House Road car parks (Appendix 3). We
will continue to do this at least once per term. We will also use parent groups eg PTA/Governors to support and
encourage their peers. We will use the newsletter to invite individual parents
who park in Church Road to find out what, if anything, will encourage them to
park elsewhere. Mrs Hector to talk to
parents.
Action 3
We will contact the Highways Department at Somerset County Council to
discuss measures to prevent parents from parking in Church Road eg to install
time restricted parking (ie no parking in Church Road during school drop off
and pick up times)
Action 4
We will use the newsletter and any appropriate school activities to
generate a culture of parents offering to take each other’s children to school
from the car parks. The pupils will
take an active role in this action.
Action 5
We will use the newsletter to invite individual parents who live in East
Brent who make one or more daily journeys to the school by car to find out
what, if anything, will encourage them to allow their children to walk or cycle
to school. Mrs Hector to talk to
parents. We believe that a walking bus
would not be appropriate but a pedestrian equivalent of car-sharing i.e. a share walking rota might be workable. The walking rota register will be in place
by April 2006 and Mrs Currie will be responsible for ensuring the register is
publicised and established.
Action 6
We will set up and publicise a car share register for parents who live
too far away from school to walk or cycle.
The car share register will be in place by April 2006 and Mrs Currie
will be responsible for ensuring the register is publicised and
established. The effectiveness of the
register will be reviewed annually.
Action 7
We will lobby the local council to: -
·
have school children warning signs on Brent Road,
·
have the white line in Church Road repainted
·
to discuss the possibility of increasing the extent of pavements,
·
for a 20 mph speed limit in Church Road,
·
for a 30 mph speed limit on the A370 through the village
·
for a Zebra crossing by the East Brent Health Centre,
·
for a speed-activated warning sign to be placed on Brent Road by the
blind bend near Red House Road.
Wendy Kingdom to start negotiations with the council by May 2006. The effectiveness of negotiating with the council will be reviewed annually.
Action 8
We will contact the IPTU to find out more about the school minibus that
collects children from Rooksbridge to determine whether the number of children
allowed on the bus can be increased, or the number of seats on the minibus can
be increased for fee paying children, this will reduce at least 2 cars from
coming into East Brent. Parent
Governor, Ian Evans, to do this by September 2006.
Action 9
We will investigate the cost and feasibility of operating a school
minibus for children who live in Burnham-on-Sea. Ian Evans to do this by September 2006.
Action 10
As part of health week in October, we will ask Dan Coast of British
Cycling to run an outside school activity during the summer term, to improve
children’s cycling skills.
Action 11
We will ask the police to provide road safety training for the children
in May 2006 and then annually. Mrs
Hector to arrange.
Action 12
The children will write to the Dog Warden about keeping the public
footpath from the cemetery car park to the school, clean. Mrs Hector to organise.
Action 13
Improving the local environment is a geographical topic for the Summer Term for Years