Active travel to school
A School Travel Plan (STP) is a document, put together by a school community, which sets out an plan of action to reduce car use, manage traffic-related issues, and encourage a mix of walking, cycling and bus journeys to school, as appropriate for that individual school. Almost every School in Oxfordshire has one, but they need regular updating and implementing if they are to be effective.
Oxfordshire has two part-time School Travel Advisers available to work with Oxfordshire schools to help them successfully change school travel patterns. They both have wide-ranging practical experience of working with schools on travel to school related issues. They can be contacted by emailing travelchoices@oxfordshire.gov.uk.
Updating your school travel plan
Although there are many different reasons why schools might want to update their school travel plans, the most common reasons are listed below.
- The school is planning a move or has been told to move from single form entry with one class per year group to 1.5 or 2 form entry with 1.5 classes or 2 classes per year group. This usually comes about because the number of pupils who need places at a school is rising and the school needs to expand to meet demand.
- If your school is expanding in this way we ask you to update the travel plan to try to minimise the effect that this increased demand for travel to and from school will have both on the school and the local community. What practical actions can the school take to encourage walking, cycling and bus use?
In response to a particular issue which has been identified by someone within the school or the local community. - This could be parking issues around the school site causing localised congestion or a sudden rise in the number of children travelling to and from school by car.
- The school has been asked to update their travel plan because of a planning application which will involve changes to the school or the school site.
In the past we had asked for the whole school travel plan to be updated every two years. We now ask that you concentrate on including information on anything that has changed or will be changed. So in the case of a school that is expanding to 1.5 or 2 form entry we would expect you to include information on what the changes are and when they will happen.
SIMS pupil travel information
It is important to keep the schools SIMS travel information up to date as this will provide the most accurate picture of how pupils are travelling to and from school, and then can be used to form the survey information section of the school's travel plan.
Having up-to-date survey information is important because it helps the school to monitor how pupils are travelling to and from school and to spot any trends such as car use rising. The school will need to include actions in their travel plan that helps address this situation.
Other school travel services
School bus provision
Oxfordshire’s schools transport is run by private operators on the County Council’s behalf but coordinated by the Integrated Transport Unit (ITU). They are the contact regarding any problems connected with school buses such as entitlement, unreliable services, etc.
General highway maintenance issues
Issues such as potholes or overgrown vegetation can be reported to Oxfordshire Highways at highwayenquiries@oxfordshire.gov.uk.