Southfield Primary Gets 'Gold Standard' For School Travel Plan

The school is in the top ten per cent of London Schools in TfL's STARs programme

Southfield Primary School is in the top 10% of London schools who achieved Gold in their School Travel Plan. Transport for London's (TfL) STARS programme was launched in 2007 to encourage children, parents and teachers to adopt more sustainable and safe ways of travelling to school.

Schools are judged on the number of initiatives delivered and their success in changing travel behaviour with Bronze, Silver and Gold accreditation levels.

Students pictured during a School Assembly on safe travel

Southfield has been progressing steadily over the past 6 years achieving first, bronze, and then in 2013 and 2015 the silver accreditation. Gold accreditation is the culmination of the hard work put in by pupils, staff and the school community.

The School Business Manager, Sheila McCabe was able to identify how this was achieved. She said “we built on our successes each year. We persevered (which is one of our school values) until we achieved excellence. I am particularly pleased with the feedback from Transport for London who said that our application was very good and that they were impressed by the stories written. Other specific feedback we received was that we had great modal shift from last year!”

The Headteacher, Mr Prebble, expressed the feelings of the school community in his reaction to the news and said that “We are really delighted to have been awarded Gold for our School Travel Plan. This recognises our continuing strong commitment to making sure travelling to and from our school is safe and sustainable.”

The School’s Cycle Champion was also overjoyed with the progress the school made. Sara Nelder, who has been the Cycle Champion for a year, said, “I was so impressed with the willingness to participate this year. It was amazing the way the whole school community, parents, Southfield pupils, siblings and staff all got involved as well as my amazing Bike it Crew. I am hoping to carry this success on for many years to come!”

The school is also very grateful to its tireless Southfield Primary Staff Association (SPSA) for its funding of a cycle champion.

October 11, 2017