Support your school’s travel plan and make a new year school travel resolution for 2020

We would like to welcome all of our STARS Schools and local authorities into 2020. Everyday day we see more and more coverage in the media about the affect of climate change. The truth of the matter is we all have our own part to play. That’s why for 2020 we are encouraging schools to set a school wide new year resolution to increase sustainable and active travel.

By setting a school wide resolution you are supporting the promotion of sustainable and active travel. By encouraging your school community to do their bit. Now, we realise that in order for this need to work, resolutions need to be realistic and achievable. Above all, resolutions need to be flexible for all to adapt into their weekly. Further more we are not saying that all travel needs to be sustainable or active as part of the resolution. As much as we like this idea, we realise this is not aways realistic with the busy lives people lead today. In fact what we are trying to encourage is a journey swap. If as a collective we can encourage one journey swap a week, we will see impact in our local communities in and around our schools.

Set SMART Targets

In truth it is about having realistic targets to support adoption. Everyone has heard of the SMART Target principles. Whilst well documented with a number of interpretations there are some simple principles that will help you set a resolution. So, make it Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed.

Why not involve your pupils? For instance you could invite them them to set some resolutions with their parents and carers. This would help make the resolution specific to each of your pupils and help identify areas in their routine for sustainable and active travel. Encourage your pupils to specify the regularity such as once a week. In other words their resolution is now measurable. To achieve the full SMART target, encourage the resolution to be achievable, realistic and timed. For instance “I will cycle to school once a week instead of going in the car” this carries all of the SMART Principles and is simple to follow.

Gain Modeshift STARS Accreditation

Did you know that by doing the above can get you on the path to STARS Accreditation? Once you have delivered you back to school resolution and monitored the results, you can record this in the STARS system to record your initiative.

We have a broad range of initiatives that can be found in the STARS System. Once logged into the STARS site click on the guidance tab and you will be able to find more resources there.

If you would like more information visit our homepage www.modeshiftstars.org