Modeshift Primary School of the Year – Bishop Wood Primary School, Tring

A presentation took place in celebration of Bishop Wood Primary School in Tring winning the prestigious Modeshift STARS ‘Primary School of the Year’ award for an excellent school travel plan.

Since 2015, Janet Reeve, teacher and School Travel Plan Champion, has been leading the school community into achieving a huge reduction in car use on journeys to and from school. All this hard work has resulted in 95% of pupils choosing to walk, cycle or scoot, keeping themselves healthy and assisting in reducing congestion and pollution from vehicles.

During a sunny afternoon in September, Ross Butcher, National Chair of Modeshift presented Janet Reeve with Bishop Wood’s well-deserved award. 

Along with an excited audience of staff and pupils to celebrate the occasion, representatives from Hertfordshire County Council also attended the event, held in the beautiful school grounds.

The school have consistently held a Gold Accreditation since 2015 and in addition, in 2021 they were awarded a Platinum Accreditation through the Modeshift STARS scheme:  https://modeshiftstars.org/education/. This is a fantastic achievement as they are one of just eight schools in the country to receive this award.

Bishop Wood School have maintained an excellent working relationship with Hertfordshire County Council, who have continuously supported them with their travel plan. Each year the school has delivered Pedestrian Skills Training and they run a well-established Junior Travel Ambassador Scheme. This scheme supports pupils to develop their own targeted campaigns, designed to change the behaviours of their peers and parents/carers by encouraging healthy lifestyles. This includes promoting active travel.

There are currently 90 accredited schools in Hertfordshire, two of which are in Tring.

Janet Reeve said:

‘Bishop Wood School were delighted and proud to win the Modeshift Primary  School of the Year award. As a school, we are passionate about sustainable travel, and having promoted it for so many years, it has become part of our culture. With Modeshift’s support, we will continue to strive to keep our green travel % as high as possible’.

Ross Butcher, from Modeshift said:

‘I cannot express enough how impressed I am with Bishop Wood Church of England Junior School, the best school out of 20 thousand.

Their on-going dedication and action to sustainable travel is an inspiration to schools across Hertfordshire and the rest of the country. The parents/carers, staff, governors and pupils should be very proud of their achievement and, more importantly, for creating a healthier, happier, greener and safer community.’  

County Councillor Sally Symington said:

“ I am proud and delighted that Bishops Wood Church of England Junior School is one of just eight schools in the country to have achieved the Platinum accreditation for their school travel plan. It fully reflects the values espoused in our communities in and around Tring and sets an excellent example for us all in working to tackle the climate emergency. The staff, parents/ carers and children have all worked so hard and deserve huge credit for this inspirational achievement.”