Modeshift STARS Initiatives
Below is a list of potential initiatives that can count towards your Modeshift STARS travel plan accreditation.
Below is a list of potential initiatives that can count towards your Modeshift STARS travel plan accreditation.
| Code | Initiative | Example | Evidence |
| W1 | Living Streets WOW Campaign |
Primary school takes part in WoW with Living Streets, http://livingstreets.org.uk/wow |
Screenshot of tracker |
| W2 | Living Streets WOW Campaign |
Secondary School takes part in WoW with Living Streets, https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/walk-to-school/secondary-schools |
Photos of the campaign, data evidence |
| W6 | Walk to School Week |
Walk to school week is held in May every year. See https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/walk-to-school for ideas for activities |
Photos / letters, newsletters, website links where you have promoted this |
| W7 | Walk to School Month |
Every October is International Walk to School month.
See |
Photos / letters, newsletters, website links where you have promoted this |
| W8 | 5 / 10 Minute walking zone in place |
A walking zone is in place; walk zone maps have been produced; walk zone markers/stickers in placeDownload our toolkit |
Map; photo of markers/stickers in-situ; copy of publicity material |
| W9 | Educational / Curriculum Walks |
Taking children out into the local environment for a walk eg: nature walk, or to explore their neighbourhood.
Must incorporate elements of Road Safety or sustainability : this could be crossing the road, pavement etiquette. |
Photos, risk assessments, lesson plans |
| W10 | Walking bus in place | The school has one or more Walking Buses. This action is not intended for one-off events | Photos, Risk Assessment, Copy of the register |
| W11 | Walking trips | Participate in walking trips as part of their curriculum, e.g. walking to local shops, swimming pool, local Church etc | A lesson plan, risk assessment or photos of the children walking |
| W12 | Scooter storage installed | Do you have scooter storage at the school? | Photo of the storage |
| W13 | Scooter club | Several providers will sell the school a package including scooters, safety equipment and lesson plans. Some providers will come to the school to teach.
You can use your School Sports Premium to fund any Scooting service. Further details at: Scoot Fit |
Photos of the children scooting or risk assessment, lesson plan, timetable |
| W14 | Active Travel Breakfast | School holds a breakfast for children who walk, scoot or cycle to school, this could be a specific event or the school could give free breakfast to children who cycle as part of their breakfast club. | Photos, register, publicity material |
| W19 | Parent shelter installed | Shelter installed for parents waiting to collect their children | Photos; copy of invoice/order |
| W25 | Secure buggy storage installed | Secure storage installed for parents to leave buggies while visiting school/early years setting |
Photos; copy of invoice/order |
| W16 – 18 | Other walking or scooting initiative | A walking or scooting action not covered by any of the other initiatives. Use the Action Title to name the initiative |
| Code | Initiative | Example | Evidence |
| C1 | Dr Bike/cycle maintenance sessions |
Qualified or experienced bike mechanic visits school to perform safety checks/minor repairs to pupil, staff or parents’ bikes. |
Photos; publicity material |
| C2 | Cycle parking installed | Cyclepods, Minipods, Sheffield stands or bike shelters installed.
See our list of suppliers |
Photos of the cycle parking |
| C3 | Bikers Breakfast | School holds a breakfast for children who cycle to school, this could be a specific event or the school could give free breakfast to children who cycle as part of their breakfast club. | Photos, register, publicity material |
| C4 | Opportunity to practice cycling skills at break time | Part of playground/field is set aside at break times for cycling practice | Photos; risk assessments |
| C5 | School takes part in Sustrans Big Walk & Wheel |
Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is open to all primary and secondary schools in the UK, including SEN/ASN/ALN schools. It is free to take part
See https://bigwalkandwheel.org.uk/
|
Photos; screen shots of results from big pedal website |
| C6 | Cycle competitions/ schools cycle challenge |
Inter school cycling events | Photos; publicity material; consent forms; risk assessment |
| C7 | Cycle reward scheme | Golden padlock; CoW (cycle once weekly); Bikeability Challenge – a 4 week challenge for pupils completing Level 2 Bikeability; or other initiative set up by the school or local authority | Publicity material; photos |
| C8 | Bike week | School participates in National Bike Week in June (https://www.cyclinguk.org/bikeweek) or Cycle to School Week in October (https://www.bikeability.org.uk/cycletoschoolweek/) | Photos, Lesson Plans |
| C9 | Cycle club in place | British Cycling Go Ride; After school cycling club; lunchtime cycling club | Photos, register, risk assessment, lesson plan, timetable |
| C10 | Pool bike system in place | School loans out or hires bikes to families to use for the journey to and from school.
OR staff have access to borrow bikes for work or personal journeys (See our guidance) |
Loan agreement, photos |
| C11 | Cycle purchase scheme for staff |
School takes part in Cycle to work scheme to enable staff to buy bikes tax-free through salary sacrifice. | Confirmation documents / emails from the scheme provider |
| C12 | Bicycle Security Marking | Police bike marking scheme. Datatags, ImmobiTags or similar electronic tagging scheme. Also use for scooter security marking. See https://www.bikeregister.com/ | Consent forms; publicity material; photos of event |
| C13 | Cycle rides/excursions | Using cycling as a form of transport to get you from A to B, for example, a visit to the museum, library etc. | Photos, risk assessments, consent forms |
| C14 | Cycle Train / Bike Bus in place |
Organised groups of pupils cycle to and from school together. See guidance from Sustrans: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/campaigns/fridedays-bike-bus/ | Consent forms; register; risk assessment; photos; route maps |
| C15 | Bling Your Bike Day | Fancy dress event for bikes. It may be a ride, event or competition | Photos |
| C20 | National Cycle Challenge | Get the school involved in a national challenge, such as Love to Ride. | Screenshot from Lovetoride booking site. Photos. |
| C21 – 23 | Bikeability Levels 1 – 3 | See https://www.bikeability.org.uk/
This is Government funded via your local authority. |
Booking confirmation, photos, post- session reports |
| C16 – 18 | Other cycling initiative | Use the Action Title to name the initiative | Photos; letters; newsletters; websites; risk assessments; publicity material as appropriate for the initiative |
| Code | Initiative | Example | Evidence |
| R1 | Cycle training for pupils (other than Bikeability) |
Cycle training for pupils such other than that conducted under the Bikeability scheme | Copy of the consent form/parent letter. Copy of booking confirmation. Photos of the pupils undertaking the training |
| R2 | Learn to Ride | Off road learn to ride training for pupils other than Bikeability level 1, e.g., ditch the stabilisers and other local schemes (https://centralswindonnorth-pc.gov.uk/moredon-sporting-hub/cycling/) |
Copy of the consent form/parent letter. Copy of booking confirmation. Photos of the pupils undertaking the training |
| R3 | Balance Bike Training | Pre-school/reception year training using balance bikes. Scheme names include Balanceability, PrePedal, Balance Buddies and other local names |
Copy of the consent form/parent letter. Copy of booking confirmation. Photos of the pupils undertaking the training |
| R4 | Scooter training | You can use your School Sports Premium to fund any Scooting service.
Further details at: Scoot Fit |
Copy of the consent form/parent letter. Copy of booking confirmation. Photos of the pupils undertaking the training |
| R5 | Pedestrian skills training | Child pedestrian skills training. Lesson plans available from: http://think.direct.gov.uk/resource-centre/ |
Copy of the consent form/parent letter. Copy of booking confirmation. Photos of the pupils undertaking the training |
| R6 | Independent travel training | Travel training by nature is upskilling people with disabilities and difficulties to manage their own personal safety and learn how to travel from point A to point B, independently, confidently and competently, using sustainable transport on public transport or as a pedestrian.See SBC website for details. |
Lesson plans, consent form, risk assessment, evidence of route planning, photos. |
| R7 | Young Driver Training | School promotes young driver training for under 17s. There are commercial and local authority schemes, including Young Driver; Get In Gear – student driver training.
Swindon Borough Council has free magazines to give out to young drivers – email us for copies. |
Consent forms, publicity material, risk assessments, photos of event |
| R8 | Cycle training for staff and / or parents | Staff or parents have qualifications to take children on rides or teach bike maintenance. Bikeability (or similar) training to encourage confidence in parents to cycle the school run.See https://centralswindonnorth-pc.gov.uk/moredon-sporting-hub/cycling/ for more details |
Certificates, photos of events. |
| R9 | Road Safety assembly/ presentation | Assemblies or presentations about road safety. Examples include: school crossing patrol assembly; what to wear in winter; Road Safety presentations (pedestrian safety, cycling safety, passenger safety, mini motos etc) |
Photos of assembly; copies of presentations. |
| R10 | Be Bright Be Seen Activities |
Teaching children why it is important that other road users can see them. Modeshift partner BrightKidz has a number of resources and products available from www.brightkidz.co.ukLesson plans are available from: https://www.think.gov.uk/education-resources/Contact Swindon Travel Choices for free reflective goodies. |
Examples of pupils’ work; completed lesson plans |
| R11 | School invites experts / organisations to talk about personal safety | External experts visit school to talk about personal safety and road safety subjects. Examples include Police/PCSO; Fire Service; Local Authority Officers; independent experts |
Photos of event, copies of presentations, booking confirmation, examples of pupils’ work following the event. |
| R12 | Safety around large vehicles training | Teaching pupils about the dangers of being around large vehicles such as lorries and buses, in particular visibility issues. Examples include |
Photos, booking forms, examples of pupils’ work following the event. |
| R13 | Use of transition resources | School does journey planning with new families and promotes active travel, promotes transition walks/rides between primary and secondary; encourages independent journey planning for transition and spends time practising the journey to secondary school.Swindon Travel Choices has free copies of the Move on Up magazine – contact us for copies. |
Information in prospectus for new parents on active travel, photos of children on transition rides, lesson plans for journey planning.
Photo of children with magazines |
| R14 | Pupils monitoring traffic | Pupils carry out survey to count the vehicles that pass the school as part of an on-going campaign. They may use the result as part of a numeracy lesson, for example |
Survey results, photos |
| R15 | School has lobbied for installation of traffic calming outside of school |
The school community has been involved in lobbying for the installation of traffic calming measures, e.g. humps, chicanes or narrowings, outside the school. This initiative is only valid if the school has actively lobbied |
Petitions; press articles; letters/emails to councillors/MPs. Evidence of the issue. |
| R16 | School has lobbied for installation of safer crossings on the route to school |
The school community has been involved in lobbying for the installation of additional road crossings, e.g. School crossing patrollers; dropped kerbs; zebra crossing; light controlled crossings. This initiative is only valid if the school has actively lobbied |
Petitions; press articles; letters/emails to councillors/MPs. Evidence of the issue. |
| R17 | School has lobbied for installation of 20mph zone outside of school |
The school community has been involved in lobbying for the installation a 20mph zone outside the school, this may be an advisory ‘20 is plenty’ or official ‘20mph zone’ This initiative is only valid if the school has actively lobbied |
Petitions; press articles; letters/emails to councillors/MPs. Evidence of the issue. |
| R18 | Road Safety Day/Week | School holds a day/week of road safety themed activities. See Road Safety Week website for national event held in November | Lesson plans; examples of pupils’ work; photos |
| R23 | In car safety for young adults |
‘Safe Drive Stay Alive’, or similar, programme run with emergency services for Y11 up |
Lesson plans; photos; copies of booking forms |
| R24 | Nursery Teaches Road Safety & Active Travel Messages |
For example using the Children’s Traffic Club Nursery Leader’s Guide. Contact us if you would like to borrow our resources | Lesson plans; photos |
| R19 – R21 | Other road safety & training initiative | Any road safety or training action not covered elsewhere. Use the Action Title to name the initiative |
Lesson plans; photos; letters; newsletters; websites; risk assessments; publicity material as appropriate for the initiative |
| Code | Initiative | Example | Evidence |
| AQ1 | School promotes car sharing |
Promotion of car sharing to staff and parents. This can be informal and arranged between staff and parents themselves or through signing up to a formal car share scheme such as carshareswindon.com |
Car share information such as the list of people car sharing or letters/emails promoting it. |
| AQ2 | Car free days | School takes part in a national Car Free Day, or a local one organised by themselves or in partnership with the Local Authority, Living Streets or Sustrans. Also known as Park Away Day |
Photos, letters to parents |
| AQ3 | Car free zone in place | A zone around the school where parents are requested not to park has been identified, mapped and publicised. | Photos, letters to parents, copy of map |
| AQ4 | Park and walk/stride scheme |
Park and stride sites have been identified, agreed and promoted to parents. ‘Park & Stride from a friend’s house’ scheme | Letters to parents, photos, agreement from site owners, maps |
| AQ5 | Removal of car parking spaces |
Car parking spaces removed from school site to encourage greater use of sustainable travel modes. Car parking space has been converted to cycle parking spaces. | Photos |
| AQ6 | Highway code is promoted to students, staff and parents |
Tales of the Road (Junior highway code) is available from your local council – email us to request copies.
Online resources available from https://www.think.gov.uk/education-resources/ |
Project work, lesson plans and hand-outs. |
| AQ7 | Parent parking campaign | School runs a campaign to encourage better/safer parking by parents, may include school fence banners or a zig-zag campaign. |
Photos of banners, publicity material, letters to parents |
| AQ8 | Parking Pledge Scheme | Parking Pledge is something that all parents must sign up to at the start of the school year to tell them what is expected of them – might include details of where to park/drop, following a one-way system |
Copy of the pledge |
| AQ9 | Eco Driver Training | School offers Eco Driver training to staff or older students | Course details; booking forms |
| AQ13 | Anti Idling Initiative | Campaign to prevent people leaving engines running outside school. | Photos; letters; newsletters; websites; risk assessments; publicity material as appropriate for the initiative |
| AQ14 | Air pollution promotion | Practical air pollution monitoring; air quality monitoring vehicle; pollution data collection; clean air superheroes. Lessons about air quality/pollution and its effects.Download our free toolkit |
Copy of data; examples of pupils’ work; lesson plans |
| AQ15 | National Clean Air Day | School participates in National Clean Air Day. Free resources are available from https://www.cleanairday.org.uk/ |
Photos; letters; newsletters; websites; risk assessments; publicity material as appropriate for the initiative |
| AQ10 – 12 | Other Air Quality initiative | Any Air Quality action not covered elsewhere. Use the Action Title to name the initiative | Lesson plans; photos; letters; newsletters; websites; risk assessments; publicity material as appropriate for the initiative |
| Code | Initiative | Example | Evidence |
| PT1 | Public transport used for school trips | School uses public transport (not private coaches) for school trips, to get to swimming lessons, etc. | Lesson plan, risk assessment, photos of children using the transport |
| PT2 | School promotes public transport | Details of bus timetables and links to journey planning websites can be found on the school website, copies of bus timetables are available in school. School participates in Platform. | Screen shots of the school website, photos |
| PT3 | School promotes responsible behaviour on public transport / has bus behaviour policy | The school has a behaviour policy/agreement for pupils who travel on public transport. Promotion activities may include assemblies, class projects or within the transition to secondary school work. |
Lesson plan, project work, public transport policy/agreement. |
| PT4 | Private coaches for school trips pick up and set down in safe / accessible places. | Private coaches do not pick up and drop off on school keep clear markings | Written agreement between school and coach company, photo of coach in sensible parking place |
| PT5 | School promotes young person’s travel card scheme | Where a scheme exists, the school promotes concessionary travel schemes, e.g. Citizen Card – young person’s concessionary travel scheme; YoZone Card | Promotion material |
| PT9 | Catch the bus week / month | School takes part in / promotes Catch the Bus Week / month. | Photos; newsletters; websites; publicity material |
| PT10 | School has anti-bullying policy for school transport/public buses | The school has, and enforces, an anti-bullying policy for the journey to school | Copy of policy |
| PT11 | Hop Off – get off two stops early | The school actively encourages pupils and staff who travel by bus to walk for part of their journey | Copy of communication; publicity material; extract from school travel policy |
| PT6 – 8 | Other public transportation initiative 1 / 2/3 | Any public transport action not covered elsewhere. Use the Action Title to name the initiative | Lesson plans; photos; letters; newsletters; websites; risk assessments; publicity material as appropriate for the initiative |
| Code | Initiative | Example | Evidence |
| PR1 | Newsletter | Promote any of your schools sustainable travel or road safety activities through your newsletter. If you have a competition planned, ask the YTAs/JRSOs to design an advertisement or news article to go in the letter | Copy of the newsletter |
| PR2 | School communicates with residents | School may send out leaflets or letters to residents explaining what they are doing to encourage more parents to travel actively and reduce the number of cars using the roads around the school. The letter may explain that you are telling parents to respect local residents and not block driveways etc. | Copy of letter to residents; copy of any responses |
| PR3 | Local media / School gets local media attention | Articles in local press/radio/television highlighting school’s promotion of sustainable & active travel | Copy of article or link to website |
| PR4 | Presenting to/ sharing ideas with other schools | Sharing your school’s sustainable travel best practice with other schools. This may be through local cluster meetings; assemblies/presentations to feeder schools or wider at regional or national events. | Copy of presentations; photos of the event. |
| PR5 | Distributing cycling and public transport maps | The school has copies of local transport information and cycling maps available to parents in the school reception. Information is distributed at new parent meeting or parent evenings.
Contact Swindon Travel Choices to get a stock of free maps. |
Photo of maps in school reception |
| PR6 | School has an active travel policy | School has published a policy actively encouraging safe and sustainable travel. School has created / published a cycling policy. Cycling permit scheme. Scooting policy. | Copy of policy(ies); screenshot of website where they are published. |
| PR7 | Travel information on notice board | Bike It notice board; sustainable travel notice board; travel info on Eco-Schools noticeboard; classroom/hall displays | Picture of the noticeboard or display |
| PR8 | Competitions run & promoted within school | Competitions run by & promoted within the school by either staff or pupils. These may be organised linked to national events or be purely local to the school | Pictures of competition promotion; copies of entries; pictures of prize giving |
| PR9 | Assembly | Staff and pupils can run their own assemblies with sustainable travel or road safety themes, or you could invite an expert in to do an assembly for Be Bright Be Seen or something else! | Photos of the assembly, PowerPoint presentation slides, lesson plan for the assembly |
| PR10 | Social Media Campaign | School uses social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to promote safe and sustainable travel. | Copies of tweets; screenshots |
| PR11 | Sponsored events | School takes part in a national campaign to raise money for charity or you could hold your own sponsored car free day or cycle ride/scoot to raise money for the school. National examples include Living Streets’ Happy Shoesday. | Photos, letters to parents, posters |
| PR12 | Parents’ evenings/ Induction evenings | School promotes active travel at parents evening and induction evenings to highlight the facilities available at school and encourage parents to explore the options available for the journey to and from school | Photos, printed information |
| PR13 | Information on website | Advertise any of your school travel activities on the school website. Put a summary of your Modeshift STARS travel plan on your site. | A screenshot of the relevant information on the school website |
| PR14 | Councillor/ MP/ Mayor invited to an event | Local councillors/Mayor/MPs have been invited to attend an event at the school related to sustainable travel. This could be a prize giving; opening new cycle parking, etc. | Copy of the letter sent, photos from an event |
| PR15 | Within the Prospectus | Summary of travel plan; statements on school’s policy regarding travel and expectations on parents/students are included in the school’s prospectus | Copy of relevant parts of prospectus |
| PR16 | Letter from Head Teacher to Parents | Head teachers may write to parents about active travel or inconsiderate parking to try and encourage parents to change habits and try a new way of travelling to school. Messages may include Park & Stride, avoiding School Keep Clear markings, respect for local residents, road safety, health and exercise, etc. | Copy of letter to parents |
| PR17 | New parent pack | Travel to school information is distributed to new and prospective parents | Copy of pack |
| PR18 | Transition activities | Route planning activities; practice walks/bike rides/bus trips for pupils transitioning to secondary school. Local initiatives include Going INTO Year 7; SmartRoute year 6/7 transition projectContact Swindon Travel Choices to get a stock of “Move on Up” magazine. |
Lesson plans; risk assessments; photos of activities; examples of work |
| PR19 | School Railing Banners | Banners are placed on school perimeter promoting walking, scooting or cycling to school; advertising park & stride sites, etc. Banners could be professionally produced (see examples) or designed by pupils. | Photos of the banners. Examples of pupils’ work designing the banners. |
| PR20 | JTA/YTA/JRSO’s in place | The school has active Junior Travel Ambassadors (JTA); Youth Travel Ambassadors (YTA); Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSO) ; Sustainable travel ambassadors; Bike Buddies or similar | Examples of work the group has carried out; letters to parents; photos. |
| PR21 | Travel to school information maps created | School has created travel to school maps showing the best walking and cycling routes; bus stops; park and stride sites. Swindon Travel Choices can help with this – see example below. | Copy of map. |
| PR27 | Active travel shop / enterprise | Reflector shop; School sells locks, lights, etc. JTA/YTA/JRSO enterprise to raise funds & promote safe and active travel | Photos; publicity materials |
| PR22 – PR24 | Other promotion method | Any sustainable travel promotion method not covered elsewhere. Use the Action Title to name the initiative. | Lesson plans; photos; letters; newsletters; websites; risk assessments; publicity material as appropriate for the initiative |
