http://www.earlsoham.suffolk.sch.uk/documents/School_travel_plan_july_2008

School Travel Plan

Earl Soham Community Primary School

935 2072 11/07/2008

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School Travel Plan Template 1. Introduction Earl Soham Community Primary School is a mixed non-denominational school for children of 4 – 11 years old. It is situated in the small, rural, Suffolk village of Earl Soham on the A1120. Its facilities include three classrooms, an ICT suite, hall and kitchen, playground with netball courts, playing field with football pitch, office, staff room, library and Head teacher‟s room.

School lunches are cooked on the premises.

There are 77 pupils on roll, (25 of whom are SEN), divided into three classrooms; all teach more than one year group. There are 3 teachers, including 1 non-teaching head teacher and 7 teaching assistants. The majority of the children are of White British heritage with a small number from other backgrounds. Many of the pupils who attend are from outside the catchment area. Reception and Year 1 have the largest classroom, Red Class, and their own Foundation Playground; Years 2, 3 and half of Year 4 are in Yellow class; and finally the other half of Year 4 is together with Years 5 & 6 in Blue Class. Yellow class proves to be the most difficult to plan lessons for as it includes both KS1 and KS2 pupils.

There are various after school clubs: Tuesday – Netball, Football & Art, Wednesday – Gym Club, Thursday – Gym Club.

Pupils get to and from school in a variety of ways; school transport, taxi, car, walk, bike.

School Address and Postcode: Earl Soham Community Primary The Street Earl Soham Woodbridge IP13 7SA Telephone Number: 01728 685359 Email Address: ad.earlsoham.p@talk21.com School day starts at 8.50am and finishes at 3.15pm Earl Soham is a thriving village approximately 3 miles from the town of Framlingham on the A1120. There are many village clubs and organisations to suit residents of all ages. The catchment area for our school includes the villages of Earl Soham, Crettingham, Monewden and Ashfield. We have use of a car park behind the school and there is a turning point for the school bus. We have Yellow Zig Zag lines outside the school gate and are frequently reminding parents and visitors not to stop on these, even just to drop off. We have our Healthy Schools Bronze Award and are working towards obtaining our silver. We also have eco-schools bronze award and are currently working towards Sustainable Schools.

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EARL SOHAM COMMUNITY PRIMARY

Yellow Zig Zag Lines

Main School gate

The Link below takes you to AA Map Finder for a more detailed look at our location. http://www.theaa.com/maps/map_results.jsp

Š Crown Copyright. All rights reserved.

Suffolk County Council License No. 1000023395 2008

The map above shows where the school is in relation to the rest of the village.

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© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved.

Suffolk County Council License No. 1000023395 2008

School car park, loaned by local business.

Particular area of concern.

Main school gate for all parents & pupils.

029P 029P Earl Earl Soham Soham CP CP

© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved.

Suffolk County Council License No. 1000023395 2008

This map shows where our pupils come from & the school catchment area.

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2. Consultation / Partnership process We sent home a school travel survey to parents and pupils in December 2007 to gain their views on the current travel situation at our school.

The parents and pupils raised the following issues regarding safety travelling to & from school.  School very close to busy road (A1120)  No footpath outside school entrance, pupils „spill out‟ onto road  No awareness of school – No „20‟s Plenty‟ Sign  People parking dangerously around school, on yellow zig-zags & opposite school entrance & in bus turning point  Not enough car parking spaces  Lack of patience from parents around school entrance & car park General Comments made by Parents regarding safety around school: Dangerous because: Not enough parking spaces Lack of patience – people rushing in & out of car park Very busy People parking dangerously, on yellow zig zags & around school entrance, reduces visibility Driving too fast in car park Parking in bus point (in the morning & afternoon) adds to danger, cars reversing when children are walking to & from school Suggestions made by parents to improve safety: Barrier in front of school gate so children do not spill out onto road Yellow lines opposite school entrance as well Remove residential wheelie bins from path in front of school Create entrance from car park to the rear of school (playing field) Staggered start & finish times Traffic light crossing at Village hall – could then walk from village hall 20‟s plenty sign Path from end of footpath to school Cycling proficiency courses so older children could cycle No parking allowed in Bus turning point at any time Extend the bus route to include Framlingham, Saxtead & Bedfield Encourage car sharing Encourage staff to use different mode of transport Grass area on car park to become tarmac to increase spaces Improve footpath from car park to school, overgrown & not level.

Move fido bin from footpath – remove temptation of children touching it

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During the Governors meeting on 13th November 2007 this was discussed in Any other business – Quote: “KW expressed concerns with regard to parking outside the school. Governors agreed to delegate this concern to the Health and Safety Committee and ask them to investigate possible solutions to the problem.”

This is why we used the travel plan to address this.

3. Travel and Transport Problems Being a rural primary school our problems are very similar to all such schools. In particular these are the issues raised by our parents in their replies to our surveys and through general staff discussions.         

Parents use of the car park is at times bordering on ‘dangerous’ – see comments in section 2.

Parking & dropping off children at inappropriate places – such as on the zig zags or too close to the junction.

The high volume of traffic on the A1120.

Drivers not obeying the 30mph speed limit.

Local residents leaving wheelie bins out obstructs the pavements.

There is no cyclist training course.

Children are unaware of the potential road safety issues when out & about.

Many of our families are out of catchment & so rely on using their cars to get to/from school.

There appears to be no safe way to cross the main road at busy times.

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4. Travel Survey Results During December 2007 the school conducted the School Travel Plan Survey.

We had 26 separate responses, which related to 44 individual pupils attending school.

The results were as follows – Travelling to School

Walk – 15% Car – 78% Car share – 7%

Travelling from school

Walk – 14% Car – 71% School Bus – 4% Taxi – 4% Car share – 7%

How they would like to Travel

Walk –18% Bicycle - 21% Car – 36% School Bus – 14% Car share – 11%

The above results also tally with the travel surveys from the past few years.

WALK 2004 8 11.6% 2005 8 12.9% 2007 8 11.80%

BUS 10 6 1

CYCLE 14.5% 1 9.7% 2 1.50% 0

CAR 1.4% 50 72.5% 3.2% 46 74.2% 0 53 77.90%

Earl Soham Travel Surveys

Number of pupils

60 50 Walk

40

Bus

30

Cycle

20

Car

10 0 2004

2005

2007

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5. Objectives and Targets We want to have a school where it safe for the children to arrive and to leave, taking into consideration our position and the increased volume of traffic that is now travelling down the A1120. In the short term we want to be able to provide a barrier between the school gate and the road as at present there is nothing to stop the children running straight out. At lunch times and playtimes we are able to padlock this gate but at the start and end of the day this is impossibility.

We want to raise the profile of safety throughout the school and combine this with global awareness of how to preserve the planet eg: lowering carbon emissions will mean less cars arriving at school and also fit in to the bigger picture. We want to give parents the opportunity to discuss their concerns, but also have the chance to have something to do about them.

Specific: Make the school entrance much safer.

Measurable: Initial Parents questionnaire reflects need for change. This can be measured through future questionnaires.

Achievable: Many of the parents and staff are willing to be involved to help promote the safety of the children. We do not want this to be a project that is undertaken after an accident has occurred.

We have identified the need and believe that with funding and a strong commitment it is easily achievable.

Realistic: School surveys undertaken on traffic have shown the children the increased volume that travels outside their school. Their findings reflect the picture that more heavy goods vehicles are travelling along the A1120 as a short cut between the A12 and the A14. This is a real picture that needs to be addressed now.

Timing: It is essential that we raise awareness NOW for short-term gains but also to look at the picture for the long term as the school is increasing in size and the distance travelled by pupils is also on the increase. We aim to achieve our targets by July 2009.

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6. Action plan Detail the measures that will be taken to achieve the targets set and to help realise your objectives – complete for each objective set.

OBJECTIVE:

To make the area outside the entrance to the school safer and to raise parents & pupils awareness & knowledge of road safety.

Target(s)

Actions to achieve your targets

Install safety barrier

Consult with relevant agencies as to whether this is achievable, if not what else can be done?

Car Park Safety

Named Persons Responsible for this task Head Teacher, parents group

Implementation Date

Cost & Source of £’s

Other people or groups involved

Start consultation April 2008

TBA

SCC Highways – Mark Youngman Parish Council Local Police Officer

Improve the facilities and educate the parents of the appropriate behaviour at these difficult points in the day. To be achieved in various ways.

To prepare students who will be travelling to High School by bicycle and due to circumstances will have had no training at this school.

Head Teacher, parents group,

April 2008

Approx. £400

Y6 Teacher

Summer 2008

Road safety awareness and education

To educate children practically on the dangers of crossing roads and traffic, as living in a rural area many are unaware of this.

Head teacher, class teachers

Ongoing

Installation of 20‟s Plenty signage

School to consult with Parish and County Council – discuss concerns over awareness.

Head teacher, parents group, governors

Summer 2008

Transport to another rural primary school to share cycling proficiency Will combine trips to Framlingham College to allow children to have access to roads in a town TBA

Cycling Proficiency

Bedfield Primary School Janette Bloodworth – Cyclist Training Officer Ann Battershill – Road Safety Officer

Terry Dodman – Road Safety Engineer

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7. Monitoring and Review Parents group will carry out the next travel survey in September 2008. (Dawn Robertson, Anita Beamish, Karl Pearce).

Annual review will be in April 2009 – undertaken by the Headteacher, Parents Group and School Travel Plan Adviser.

The interim review – to be carried out in September 2008, is vital as the catchment of the school changes and the increase in traffic will only continue.

Head teacher is taking the school travel plan as it exists now to the next governing body meeting.

This completed School Travel Plan is now ready to be implemented as a working document at the school.

The school will undertake to monitor progress of the plan as stated and will actively work to encourage more members of the school community to travel to school by sustainable means.

Headteacher

Karl Pearce

Chair of Governors

Alison Garrett

Working Group

Area Director for CYP

Dawn Robertson, Anita Beamish, Karl Pearce Sally Simpkin

Assistant Director for E & T

Mike Manning

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