St Mary's C of E Primary School: School Streets Case Study
Background
In February 2020, St Mary’s C of E Primary School became the second school in Southampton to close the road outside its gates to vehicles at drop off and pick up times. The school has been supported by Southampton City Council, Balfour Beatty Living Places and Sustrans to implement the scheme on Golden Grove. The aim of the initiative is to help pupils get to school safely; reduce air pollution and congestion; and make the environment outside school more enjoyable for walking, cycling and scooting.
How does it work?
Retractable bollards have been installed on a section of Golden Grove that is directly outside the school. These are in place for a period of 45 minutes in the morning and afternoon every weekday during term time only to prevent motor vehicles from passing or idling outside the school during drop offs and pick ups.
Why St Mary’s C of E Primary School?
The school has been actively engaged in several sustainable travel initiatives for a long time. They have been part of Sustrans’ Bike It project since January 2017, encouraging pupils, staff and parents to cycle, scoot or walk to school whilst leaving the car at home. Pupils have taken part in scooter and cycling skills, a five minute walking zone and a bike club. This ongoing commitment to active travel has resulted in the school achieving their Modeshift STARS Bronze Award for Sustainable Travel and they will shortly attain their Silver Award.
Back in March 2019, St Mary’s took part in Sustrans’ nationwide School Streets initiative to provide a safer environment for the school community by applying temporary road closures outside schools. They were one of six School Streets road closures in Southampton and one of 39 schools across the UK who took part. You can find out more about the School Streets event at the school by watching our below video.
Following its success, the school closed the road again, once in July 2019 and again in November 2019. With support from the school staff and parents, the vehicle-free space was used to run activities for the pupils, from scooter skills to skipping and ball games. The road closure has since been implemented on a trial basis using an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order and is in place at drop off and pick up times every weekday during term time only.
What the school say
School Travel Champion, Donna Berry, says:
“We are absolutely thrilled to have the road closure outside of St Mary’s to ensure our pupils and their families have a safer journey to school. Our parents have been really supportive of the long term closure and have already noticed how much calmer the children are when they arrive at school. We hope this will encourage more families to walk, scoot or cycle to school.”