Travel to and from school every day throws up a variety of challenges whether people arrive by car, bus, bike or on foot. A new student group has set to work aiming to find ways to ease these issues and make everyone’s journeys smoother and safer.
The Active Travel Ambassadors Programme brings together schools across Greater Manchester, together with travel body Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). Twelve students from KS3 have volunteered and will begin by collating travel data for all students and staff. They will find out how people get to school, and where they are travelling from.
The next step will see the students, together with Kelly Leat from TfGM identify issues and choose one they can make a difference to. They will come up with a campaign to influence behaviour, focusing on active travel (any form of transport that involves you moving) and overcoming barriers that people face. The students will pitch their ideas to a judges panel, ‘Dragons’ Den’-style in central Manchester, hoping to win a share of funds to run their campaign.
At a later stage the students and a staff working goup, will be working with Modeshift Stars, a ‘Centre for Excellence’ in creating school travel plans. The plan will be aimed at reducing travel issues around school. Heavy congestion along Hunt Lane at the beginning and end of the school day raises issues of pedestrian and passenger safety, pollution and inconvenience for our neighbours along the road.
It’s not all hard work for the students. At the end of the school year in July, an event is planned in Manchester when our students will come together with young people from nine other schools in Greater Manchester to celebrate and share what they have achieved.
