Three schools in the Ross-on-Wye region are to receive a cash boost after introducing new school travel plans to reduce traffic congestion.
Brampton Abbotts C E Primary, Ewyas Harold Primary and John Kyrle High School are among 10 schools in the county that will receive grant awards from the department for children, schools and families.
The cash injection will be in the region of £4-5,000 for primary schools and £9-10,000 for secondary schools.
Pupils and teachers from the schools will be presented with certificates to mark the successful completion of their travel plans at an award ceremony at the Town Hall in Hereford on Wednesday, July 2.
As part of its plan, Brampton Abbotts Primary is investigating a walking bus initiative, where groups of children walk to school together under the supervision of an adult.
They are also looking at the merits of getting a lollipop person to satisfy parental concern over the crossing of a busy road to access the school.
School governor Margaret Bickerton said: “The main thing is the setting of clear objectives and targets and making sure we set dates to achieve them by.
“We are looking to increase the number of children walking to school, improve safety for pedestrians, raise travel awareness and road safety education and improve on-site safety facilities.
“We have surveyed all the parents and the children and have drawn up the action plan from these findings.”
Also in the region, Llangrove CE Primary is one of 17 schools in the county who already have travel plans in place and who will be presented with school travel achievement awards for their efforts in cutting car use, dealing with traffic congestion and meeting their travel plan targets.
Llangrove will receive a certificate and a cheque for £500 from Herefordshire Council to help with future projects to improve the journey to school.
Whitchurch CE Primary is named as one of the county’s star schools which will receive a second achievement award for keeping travel issues at the top of their agenda, making a huge difference to the traffic situation around the school.
Pupils from some of the schools will give presentations on their travel plans at the awards ceremony alongside guest speaker Ray Hughes, the government adviser on the Travelling to School Initiative.
Ewyas Harold Primary School’s choir will also sing their Walk to School song.
School travel plans are prepared by schools to solve travel and transport problems and to encourage safe and sustainable travel to school and reduce congestion caused by the daily school run.
The government target is for all schools to have travel plans by 2010 and so far 86 per cent of Herefordshire’s schools have complied.
Councillor Jenny Hyde said: “This ceremony is a celebration of our schools’ achievements.
“The county’s children are very passionate about protecting their environment and have campaigned hard to reduce traffic congestion and encourage more children to walk to school.
“Of course some parents need to drive their children to school and schools have been incredibly creative by setting up walking buses and drop off points encouraging children to walk at least part way to school and relieving some of the traffic congestion around the school gate.”
l Journal Says – P4