Ten schools first in Shropshire to apply for Modeshift STARS accreditation!

Ten Shropshire primary schools have become the first in the county to apply for Modeshift STARS accreditation!

This will be a first for Shropshire schools aiming for a safer and healthier environment for children to get to and from school.

Once the travel plans are in place, the Modeshift STARS system will work with the schools to help them monitor and evaluate them. Shropshire Council’s sustainable travel team will work with the schools to help develop and implement the travel plans further, to enable them to aim for a outstanding level travel plan in the years to come.

The ten schools include all five in the Severn Bridges Academy Trust – marked with a * below.

The ten schools are:

• Clee Hill Community Academy
• Greenfields Primary School*
• Burford C of E Primary School
• Mount Pleasant Primary School*
• Harlescott Junior School*
• Sundorne Infant School*
• Market Drayton Junior School
• Radbrook Primary School*
• Greenacres Primary School
• Oxon CofE Primary School

Shropshire Council’s Road Safety Education: A New Approach

Shropshire Council previously outsourced its Road Safety Education programme but felt this approach no longer met their needs. To regain control and improve the programme, they brought it in-house and established a Sustainable Travel Team dedicated to working with schools.

Hearing about Modeshift, the team recognised its potential to support Shropshire schools. By using STARS, schools could develop effective travel plans, promoting safer, more sustainable travel for students and staff alike. This proactive step ensures a more tailored and impactful approach to road safety and sustainable travel in the region.

Rhiannon Letman Wade School Travel Plan Co-ordinator at Shropshire Council tells us more:

‘In around February this year (2024) we established our new team, and they were trained by Modeshift in how to use STARS Education.  The team now provide guidance and support to a growing number of schools to develop travel plans.

We’ve recently submitted 10 schools for Modeshift STARS accreditation, aiming for statuses ranging from Good to Excellent in the next round. The enthusiasm and buy-in from schools have been fantastic, with growing interest in creating safer, more sustainable travel plans.

Next steps for the Council

Sustainable travel is a priority for Shropshire Council, especially with the rise of remote work. To address employee needs and explore cost-saving opportunities, we reviewed our workspace requirements. This led to relocating from the outskirts of Shrewsbury to the town-centre Guild Hall, a better fit for our needs.

Using Modeshift STARS, we developed a travel plan to understand how staff commute and identified ways to promote sustainable travel. As some employees transition to other council buildings, we’re creating travel plans for each site to ensure easy access to sustainable transport options.

We’re committed to making these changes as smooth as possible by improving infrastructure and providing practical solutions. While we face challenges as a rural area, we remain focused on enabling active and sustainable travel for our staff wherever possible.

Building in travel sustainability

To create a consistent and effective approach to sustainable travel, we have created strategies and policies that have been adopted by the Council including the Shrewsbury Movement Strategy which looks at how we embed active and sustainable travel in everything we do. The whole ethos of our travel plan is based around the Shrewsbury Movement Strategy and the Councils Corporate Strategy to help improve the health of the wider community.

The next steps for Travel Planning

Currently we are looking to recruit for a Residential Travel Planner, and we want to use Modeshift STARS to develop residential travel plans, working with developers to ensure that active travel is at the heart of all residential developments.  We are also planning on working with more schools, especially any new school builds, and promoting sustainable transport for employment opportunities. We have ambitious plans to tie this all together, but we are confident that by developing effective travel plans through Modeshift STARS we can influence peoples travel choices to be more sustainable, active and enjoyable.’

Read more on the news story here!