wiltshire school travel plan

Connecting Wiltshire - Travel made simple

Information for schools

School travel plans are developed by schools to encourage children to walk, cycle, scoot, use public transport or car share rather than travel to school by car. There is particular emphasis on active travel modes like walking and cycling to encourage children to adopt healthy lifestyles.

Wiltshire Council has a School Travel Plan Advisor to support schools in this process.  There is also a Sustrans Bike It Plus officer working with a number of schools in the Chippenham and Trowbridge areas to encourage cycling, walking and scooting to school.

In addition, Connecting Wiltshire and Sustrans are working with a number of schools and colleges across the county to provide a Personalised Travel Planning (PTP) service to both students and parents. PTP is a technique used to deliver information and motivation to help people consider their travel habits and choices.

Further information on School Travel Plans is available on the Wiltshire Council website.

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The School Run

Deciding on how to make the journey to school depends on many different factors for both parents and pupils and taking the car is often seen as the ‘easiest’ option. However, we are all familiar with problems associated with the ‘school run’ such as traffic congestion, air pollution and parking issues around schools.

Connecting Wiltshire is actively promoting ways to encourage people to travel to school by sustainable modes of transport such as walking, cycling or public transport. Many people do not realise that the average journey to primary school is only 1.5 miles, a distance that could easily be walked or made by bike.

There are a number of reasons why schools may want to consider how their students, staff, parents/guardians and visitors travel to and from their establishments. These might include:

• Problems with parking (either on or off-site)
• Problems with school gate congestion
• Concerns about safety of students
• Concerns about the health of students
• Lack of awareness about the benefits of using a range of different travel options
• Lack of facilities to encourage the use of all modes of transport
• Opportunities to link travel to school with carbon emissions and global warming within the curriculum

Find out about free transport entitlements for under 16 year olds, and subsidised travel for 16-19 year olds at the  Wiltshire Council website .

Download the  Highway Code for young road users , containing helpful tips about walking, cycling, riding in cars, using the bus, horse-riding and walking with dogs.

The Connecting Wiltshire journey planner and the walk ,  cycle ,  rail and drive  pages contain information which can help you plan the school journey by sustainable modes of transport.

Further information for schools and parents

Information for parents, information for schools, related switch your travel pages, travel to work, compare transport, help your friends travel simpler.

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Plan your journey

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Road Safety Education

Wiltshire Council offers the following road safety education services to local schools:

Walk Safe, Wiltshire's own child pedestrian training scheme aims to meet the needs of school children living and travelling to school in Wiltshire.

As part of the Council's sustainable travel agenda, the emphasis is upon encouraging children to walk, scoot or cycle to school rather than use the car. 'Walk Safe' supports schools in their involvement with the Wiltshire Healthy Schools Programme making sure children receive sound pedestrian training and are able to experience traffic and roads in a controlled environment; helping them to become safe independent road users.

Walk Safe training targets Year 1, 3 and 6 pupils with a combination of classroom and practical activities. For Year 3 pupils, this will include practice on real roads near the school. Year 6 sessions focus on transition to secondary schools, including route planning.

Walk Safe training is currently provided free of charge.       

For more information about the Walk Safe scheme  download this flyer .

For more information please contact [email protected]

Bikeability - Cycle Training 

Since 2007, the national Bikeability scheme has given thousands of children the chance to learn to ride a bike and develop the skills needed to ride safely.

It also introduces young people to cycling as an everyday activity - an alternative mode of transport, an enjoyable pastime and a sport which brings a healthier lifestyle and lots of fun. Bikeability provides children and young people with a life skill they will never forget. 

What can Bikeability do for your primary school? (poster) 

What can Bikeability do for your primary school? (leaflet) 

For more information about the Bikeability syllabus  download this flyer . 

Scootability

Scootability is delivered by a qualified Road Safety Officer from Wiltshire Council's Road Safety Team. Scootability is a 1 hour fun filled practical session for Primary pupils in Years 1-6, focusing on balance, control and responsible use of a scooter. This training is targeted to those pupils who may be travelling independently to/from school and taking more risks in and around traffic.

For more information about the Scootability training   download this flyer .

School Travel Plans

A school travel plan is a package of measures aimed at reducing car journeys to and from the school site, by encouraging children, parents and staff to walk, scoot or cycle to school, or alternatively to use the bus or to car share. The plan should include a range of measures from promotion and education, to campaigns and infrastructure measures. Travel plans aim to tackle traffic congestion, reduce environmental impacts and promote physical activity and independence.

Wiltshire Council has joined the National School Travel awards scheme 'Modeshift STARS Education' and all Wiltshire education establishments can now sign up to the scheme for free. Visit www.modeshiftstars.org  for more information and to register your school.   

Your registration request will come to the Road Safety Team for approval. As soon as we have accepted your registration, you will receive an automated email confirming that you have access to the system, then you are ready to begin your Modeshift STARS Education journey. You will find a range of resources on the STARS site to help you

What is STARS? leaflet

The Wiltshire Council "Taking Action on School Journeys Challenge" provides funding for on-site measures such as secure cycle storage and segregated pedestrian access, and for investigations into appropriate measures on the public highway.     

For advice and information, please contact our School Travel Plan Advisor, Ruth Durrant   [email protected]

Useful links

Participants Hub is a webpage offers advice and information as well as discount offers aimed at supporting families to continue cycling together. 

Other related pages on this site

Homerun - an app for parents to car share and see how people are travelling to school

Air Quality - with no idling toolkits for schools 

© 2024 Wiltshire Healthy Schools , all rights reserved.

Email: info@wiltshirehealthyschools.org

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Creating An Effective Active Travel Action Plan: A guide for secondary schools

‘Creating an effective Active Travel Action Plan: A guide for secondary schools’ is a toolkit for secondary schools to inspire and support their students to promote walking and cycling for the school journey.

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Information for electors voting in the General Election 2024.

A UK parliamentary election has been called for 4 July 2024. Deadlines for registering to vote, and applying for a postal vote, have now passed. To apply to vote by proxy, you have until 5pm on 26 June 2024:  GOV.UK: Apply to vote by proxy (opens new window) . 

Overseas electors may consider applying to vote by proxy. For more information see the  General Election 2024  page.

Wiltshire Council celebrates Better Transport Week 2024

Wiltshire Council is celebrating all things sustainable transport for this year's Better Transport Week.

Wiltshire Council is celebrating all things sustainable transport for this year's Better Transport Week.

Better Transport Week 2024 takes place from 17 to 23 June and is an annual celebration of the transport that makes our lives better.

When people choose to leave their car at home and instead take the bus, train, walk or cycle, it helps to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality, while also reducing carbon emissions - plus it can help people to save money and improve their health.

The council has a number of sustainable transport options on offer to help residents choose sustainable transport, including new bus services, on demand buses, journey planners, road safety education, and cycling and walking schemes.

Cllr Tamara Reay, Cabinet Member for Transport and Assets, said: This annual celebration is a great way to recognise the benefits that sustainable transport has to offer.

When people choose to take the bus, train, walk or cycle instead of using their car, they are not only helping the environment because sustainable transport can also help to save money and improve people's physical and mental wellbeing. I would encourage residents to take advantage of these travel options to explore our beautiful county.

A key priority in our Business Plan is to have well-connected, vibrant communities and that's why we're celebrating Better Transport Week.

We are investing in new bus services, including the hugely successful Wiltshire Connect on-demand service in the Pewsey Vale and new Sunday services in Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge. We're also committed to more cycling and walking opportunities through our Local Cycling and Walking Plans (LCWIPs).

We're proud of what we've already accomplished on our journey to make the council carbon neutral by 2030, and sustainable transport is a part of this.

In partnership with local bus operators, Wiltshire Council has recently introduced two new bus services, the x34 service between Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge, which now operates on a Sunday; and the D1x, which is a new, more direct service to Bath. The time that concessionary bus passes can be used has also been brought forward to 9am.

In the east of the county, the Wiltshire Connect bookable bus service, operating in the Pewsey Vale and Marlborough areas, is offering fares for just £1 for all rides booked on Saturday until the end of June 2024. From 17 to 22 June, residents will also have the opportunity to claim one free ride to celebrate Better Transport Week; to take advantage of the offer, simply add the promo code BetterT24 into the Wiltshire Connect booking app.

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Southwest flight drops to about 500 feet over Oklahoma suburb, triggers alert: 'You good?'

Federal aviation officials are investigating after a Southwest flight flew so low over Oklahoma early Wednesday it triggered an altitude warning from air traffic control.

After an automated warning sounded, an air traffic controller alerted the pilots on Flight 4069 the jet had descended to a low altitude nine miles away from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, The Federal Aviation Administration told USA TODAY.

The automated system is the Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW), per the FAA's website, which alerts controllers if an aircraft gets too low.

"Southwest 4069, low altitude alert. You good out there?" the air traffic controller asked just after midnight Wednesday, according to an  audio archive of transmissions provided by LiveATC.net .

Hawaii FAA investigation: Federal officials are investigating after Southwest plane plunged within 400 feet of ocean

Flight apparently dropped to about 500 feet over high school

The flight from Las Vegas, a Boeing 737-800, had been cleared to land on a visual approach from the northwest, The Oklahoman , part of the USA TODAY Network reported.

Transponder data shows the plane appeared to descend to about 500 feet as it passed over a high school in Yukon, a city in Canadian County about 18 miles northwest of downtown Oklahoma City.

Second Southwest flight under recent investigation by FAA

The incident is the second altitude-related incident at Southwest in just over two months being investigated by FAA.

Southwest Flight 2786 flight plunged to 400 feet above the Pacific Ocean near a Hawaiian island on April 11, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Monday.

The plane briefly dropped at "an abnormally high rate of more than 4,000 feet per minute" before pilots pulled up to avoid crashing into the water, according to a memo Southwest distributed to pilots obtained by  Bloomberg,  who first reported the news last week.

The flight crew performed a "roller coaster maneuver" the outlet reported, to avoid slamming into the ocean.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.