Playing our cards right with Living Streets Scotland
Seeing a street design project in action in Kirkintilloch
Beancross Primary pupils presenting on their I Bike experience
We recently hosted our annual School Active Travel Seminars, bringing together School Travel Professionals from local authorities throughout Scotland.
These events are an opportunity to network, share ideas, and hear national updates on encouraging walking, cycling and scootering to school. This year’s seminars were held in Falkirk and East Dunbartonshire, focussing on the themes of behaviour change and sustainability. We heard about a variety of exciting initiatives that have been taking place and the impact these are having on both schools and their wider communities.
We heard from officers in local authorities where an initiative aimed at making streets more welcoming for pedestrians and cyclists has been introduced – School Streets. By restricting vehicle access to the streets directly outside schools at the start and end of the school day, the area is safer and promotes active travel to and from school. Discussion groups explored the challenges and benefits of implementing School Streets, and heard how initial resistance has been overcome.
There were also updates from partner organisations we are working with to transform the school run. Cycling Scotland presented an overview of their Cycle Friendly Schools Award, along with key updates on the Bikeability Scotland training they offer in schools. Living Streets Scotland shared highlights from their recent Walk to School Scotland evaluation report, delivered in the style of Play Your Cards Right!
There were updates on another active travel initiative, Beat the Street, which has been running in Dumfries & Galloway. We heard how this challenge has been getting the community moving to earn points (and prizes!) by tapping their Beat the Street cards against sensors throughout the town. The initiative is a fun way to engage the community with walking and cycling on Dumfries’ active travel network.
We also heard that active travel doesn’t have to be limited to journeys to and from school, but can be integrated into the Curriculum for Excellence. Graham Boyd, Heritage Education Development Officer at East Ayrshire Council, told us how the Kilmarnock Town Trail is being used to teach pupils about local history on guided walks – better than sitting in a classroom all day!
We took part in some outdoor learning ourselves with a field trip to see a local street design project in action. The Cowgate in Kirkintilloch has recently been redesigned to regenerate the town centre and give greater priority to people on foot and bikes. The project aimed to reduce the dominance of traffic, creating a space which encourages active travel and is more pleasant to spend time in.
We heard from teachers and pupils from Beancross Primary School, who told us about their experience of taking part in our I Bike programme. The pupils told us about their favourite parts – cycling to The Helix and having ‘bike breakfasts’ – but also about the positive changes they have seen to their school run, with more children now coming into school on their bikes and scooters.
We shared some of our own recent developments, such as our new Supporting Safer and Active Travel in Scottish Primary Schools leaflet which makes it easy to navigate the variety of initiatives available for schools. We also presented on the findings and recommendations of the Tackling the School Run report conducted by Systra in partnership with Wellside Research and Sustrans.
This year’s seminars were attended by local authority representatives from all across Scotland - from Dumfries & Galloway to Shetland! If you’d like to join the conversation contact schools-scotland@sustrans.org.uk. Active travel isn’t just a transport issue - we’d love to hear from people working in education and health & wellbeing.
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