Oldfield Park Infants’ School
|
Oldfield Park Infants’ School |
|
|
Oldfield
Park Infants’ School
Dorset Close
Bath
BA2 3RF
Telephone 01225 422903
e-mail : oldfieldpark-inf@bathnes.gov.uk
School Dfes number : 8002150
‘Safer
Routes to School’ Working Group
Jo Claridge
~ Headteacher
Sarah Wall ~ Chair of Governors
Dick Daniel ~ Parent Governor
Lucy McDonald ~ Parent
Governor
Simon Kale
~ Parent
Marjorie Gibbon ~ Parent
Adrian Davis ~ Travel Plan Advisor
Signed
: Sarah Wall Chair of Governors
Jo Claridge Headteacher
What is a School
Travel Plan ?
“A
Travel Plan is a document put together by a school or group of schools which
sets out a package of short, medium and long term measures to encourage more
children, young people and staff to choose alternatives to the car when making
the journey to school.”
It
signifies an all round commitment to develop safer routes to school.
Why
we need a school travel plan ?
Like
many schools, Oldfield Park Infants’ School has a pattern of school travel
which impacts on the safety and health of our children, the environment and the
relationships with neighbours. Over the past few years we have begun to address
some of these problems but now feel that we need a more extensive and
co-ordinated approach to school travel.
Our
motivation for developing this school travel plan is therefore to identify
longer term and sustainable solutions to our travel problems.
By
consulting widely and recruiting a strong working group made up of parents,
staff and governors, we have looked at many factors affecting the current
school travel situation. We are assessing these in order to identify a range of
solutions to meet the concerns and needs of our own school community.
It
is also important to us that our solutions are co-ordinated with those
proposed
by our partner Junior School which is also developing its own School Travel
Plan. The junior school is located about half a mile from the infants’ school.
We
have therefore developed a school travel plan that identifies actions, which
children, their carers, staff, local neighbours and the local authority can
take on. By investing time early on in finding out what people think we believe
that all the solutions proposed in this plan are achievable and appropriate.
The
Working Group will continue to meet to encourage and monitor progress. Progress
will also be monitored by governors through the School Development Plan.
Introducing Our
School. : Oldfield Park Infants’ School
Type of School : Community
Age Range of Pupils :
4 to
7 years
Number of Pupils : 158
Number of staff : 32
Facilities :
Inside Outside
6 classrooms Hard play areas
Hall Small area of grass
I.C.T. suite Wildlife Area
Library Organic Garden
Canteen Outdoor Classroom
Staff room YR outdoor play areas
Offices
Location
Oldfield
Park Infants’ School is at the edge of the largely residential areas of
Oldfield Park and East Twerton.
The
school is situated in a small cul de sac off the main A36, Lower Bristol Road.
The
cul de sac (no through route) is also used by the Bath Press to access to one
of their main yards for articulated heavy goods vehicles.
The
road is narrow and at the end closest to school there is an area of parking.
This is one of the closest areas of unrestricted parking to the city centre and
is usually full long before school starts. People who park here leave their
cars until early evening.
History
The
school has occupied this site since 1873 with various alterations throughout
its history, the most recent being the addition of an extension in 2002.
School Times
am The doors open at
8.50am. School commences at 9am.
pm School finishes at
3.05pm
School
times are carefully organised to allow parents with children in both the infant
and junior schools time to walk between the two sites.
The school also has a breakfast club and after school
club.
Breakfast
Club is attended by up to 16 children daily from both the infant school and the
junior school which is on a separate site about half a mile away. Arrival is
staggered according to individual need. Junior aged children walk to school
with two escorts.
After
School Club is attended by up to 24 children , again from both schools. Junior
aged children walk to the club with two escorts. Children leave the club at
different times according to parents’ working patterns.
Catchment area
As
a community school the majority of pupils come from Oldfield Park and East
Twerton. However a significant number of children come from the neighbouring
areas of Twerton and Southdown. Due to the school’s location several parents
who work in the centre of Bath opt to send their children here. (see map
Appendix 1)
School travel facilities
There
are two small areas of parking for staff cars. There is no off street parking
for parents.
Scooters
and bicycles are accommodated at the back of the school and the rule of ‘no
scooting’ within school grounds is well observed.
Entrances to the school
There
are 2 pedestrian entrances to the school via the playground. The playground
itself borders a footpath which links the end of the cul de sac , Dorset Close
with Dorset Street. A park and small area of open space separate these two streets.
There
is no roadway within the school grounds.
Travel
within the School Day
The school endeavours to make as much use as
possible of educational resources within the local community and actively
promotes visits to venues within walking distance such as the local shops,
church and organic garden. Where trips further away are made coach travel is organised
using the least possible number of vehicles.
The
aims of this Travel Plan are :
b
To increase travel awareness amongst pupils, staff
and parents in relation to the environment, safety, health and social
consequences of their travel choices.
b
To encourage sustainable travel and widen choices
for young people and make it possible to walk, cycle or scoot to school safely.
b
To improve the health and fitness of the school
community
b
To improve safety on the journey to school and
promote the social and health benefits of walking to school.
b
To improve the local environment reducing
congestion, pollution and traffic danger outside the school by reducing car use.
History
of school travel work
An
interest in developing a School Travel Plan arose out of the work of the
governors’ People and Environment Sub Committee. We have a core group of staff,
parents and governors who are very interested in the environmental impact of
car use in terms of pollution, safety of pedestrians and the effects of a decrease in physical activity among young
people and adults.
As
a group we feel that a school travel plan could successfully begin to address
many of these issues and raise awareness within the local community.
The
school holds Healthy Schools Status and the Children’s Rights Charter.
The
school travel plan will support ongoing work in each of these areas.
Working Together to
Identify out School Travel Issues
Consultation Process
We
have spent time talking to people within the school community and observing the
main travel issues for our school. We have also gathered information about
travel trends and ideas that appeal to parents via questionnaires.
Ongoing Liaison with local businesses re
safety at beginning and end of school day.
May 2004 All children received pedestrian
training.
March 2005 Parental School Travel Questionnaire
May 2005 All new children in YR received
pedestrian training
June 2005 First meeting with B&NES School
Travel Plan Consultant
June 2005 Children’s School Travel
Questionnaire
July
2005 on Developing the Travel Plan.
October
2005 Second
meeting with B&NES School Travel Plan Consultant
October
2005 Participation in International
Walk to School Week
Nov.
2005 Initiation of ‘Walk on
Wednesdays’ scheme (see appendix 2)
February 2006 Issued draft School Travel Plan for consultation
– to local residents, parents and businesses.
Travelling to Our
School : Identifying Key Transport Problems and Issues.
Access Points
The
school grounds are accessed by two pedestrian gates which are unlocked at the
beginning and end of the school day to allow access to the entrances to drop
children off and pick them up. Access is available from 7.30am each morning and
from 2.45pm in the afternoons. Neither gate opens directly onto the road.
Children
enter school through two entrances at the side of the new extension and by the
canteen. These entrances are closed at 9.00am and the gate which opens directly
onto the playground is locked.
Visitors
are asked to use the main entrance at the front of the school.
Parents
are encouraged to wait on the playground at the end of the school day although
some choose to wait on the footpath outside.
Arrival
Each
child has a personal peg upon which to keep outdoor clothing although space is
limited due to the nature of the school building.
Car Parking
There
are approximately 12 car parking spaces in total on the site.
There
is no provision or space for parents to park on site and no room on the school
site to improve car parking facilities.
Staff
and visitors often have to park across other cars on site or outside the site
due to lack of space on site. This is
complicated by the school being in a cul de sac. Adjacent streets are narrow
and houses do not have garages. Therefore on street parking is common and
spaces hard to find.
There
is some unrestricted public parking at the school end of the cul de sac.
As
this is one of the closest streets to the centre of town with unrestricted
parking the cul de sac attracts workers to leave their cars all day. Several
local businesses do not have parking facilities and use the cul de sac.
The
pattern of parking provision appears to be historic rather than meeting current
needs of the community.
There
is currently a change of use taking place at the church at the junction of
Dorset Close and the Lower Bristol Road to create several key worker flats.
There is also a proposal to change the use of the building adjacent to the
school to residential.
There
is therefore a need for the pattern of parking provision in the cul de sac to
be reviewed by Bath and North East Somerset Council, which will form part of
our travel plan.
We
would also like to identify a site from which parents can ‘park and stride’
although this is complicated by the local one way system and the problems of
turning right onto the main A36 Lower Bristol Road.
Access by Foot
There
are two pedestrian only entrances as described above. There are no shared
entrances with motor vehicles.
The
school has initiated a ‘Walk on Wednesday’ (WOW) scheme to begin to raise
awareness of the range of benefits of walking.
The
main walk follows one popular local route with parents and children joining at
different points.
Children
receive a sticker either en route or at the school gates. Class totals are
recorded and monthly certificates awarded to the class with the highest
percentage of ‘walkers’ and the most improved class month on month.
We wish
to continue to explore the wide range of benefits of walking to school and
different ways to encourage regular participation in walking to school. beyond
one day per week.
Safety on Frequently
Used Routes to School
The
majority of children who walk to school make journeys which converge at the
railway bridge on Brook Road. They then follow the footpath by the railway to
reach Dorset Street.
A
significant number walk from the junior school and its vicinity or join
Moorland Road at one of its many junctions and then approach the bridge.
As
the majority of houses in the local area do not have garages or provision for
off street parking there are many parked cars along the streets. This can make
crossing the road safely an issue.
Visibility
for drivers approaching the Brook Road bridge is poor and the bridge itself has
a ‘humped’ back. The approach is one way only from Brook Road. The speed at
which cars travel is also a concern despite the poor visibility and narrowness
of the bridge.
This
is a busy pedestrian crossing point in the period before school starts and
after school ends
There
is therefore a need to explore ways that the school can work in partnership
with Bath and North East Somerset to improve safety at key points on the route
to school such as warning signs, speed limits etc.
Cycling / Scooting
Access
Children
are allowed to scoot or cycle to school.
Bikes
and scooters can be stored safely behind the canteen out of sight from the road
and footpath.
Children
are requested not to scoot on the playground.
There
have been complaints from parents about the behaviour of children scooting to
school and their lack of awareness /consideration for others.
There
is a need to continue to educate children and parents about scooting safely and
responsibly to school along the pavements and footpaths.
Road Safety Education
Road
safety is taught as part of the school’s P.S.H.E. schemes of work.
The
school takes part in Pedestrian Training annually involving all Reception Class
children during the summer term.
There
is a need to continue to develop schemes of work and integrate these with the
School Travel Plan. as part of a process to ensure that school travel issues
are embedded within work which engages with the pupils.
Oldfield
Park Infants’ School - Current travel patterns.
Our surveys - Pupil Survey
June 2005
This
paper questionnaire survey was completed by small groups working with an adult
in each class.
140
children were surveyed and responded. (i.e. all those in school on survey day).
We
are aware of some anomalies in the data due to the way that young children
interpreted the questions,
How
we come to school % (actual numbers)
Walk
42% (59)
Cycle 6% (8)
Scooter
2% (3)(actual higher)
Car
to school gate 43% (60)
Car
– park – walk 6% (8)
Public
transport 3% (4)
How
we go home from school (%)
Walk 37% (52)
Cycle 6% (8)
Scooter
4% (6)
Car
to school gate 44% (61)
Car
– park – walk 7% (10)
Public
transport 2% (3)
How many pupils
travel in your car ?
One
51% (71)
Two
33% (46)
Three
8% (11)
More
than three 8% (11)
Distance from home (%)
Less
than ½ mile
½
mile – 1 mile see map (Appendix 1)
1
mile – 2 miles
How would you prefer
to travel to school ?
Walk
25% (35)
Cycle
26% (36)
Scooter
9% (13)
Car
to school gate 19% (27)
Car
– park – walk 2% (3)
Public
transport 20% (28)
Do you own a bicycle?
Yes
83% (116)
No
17% (34)
Do your parents/
carers own a car ?
Yes
1 car 64% (90)
Yes
2 or more cars 29% (41)
No
car 7% (9)
What would encourage
you to walk to school ?
Wider
pavements 29% (41)
Pedestrian
Safety Training 28% (39)
When
I’m older 39% (55)
Reduced
motor traffic speed 29% (41)
Walking
Bus 29% (41)
Safer
crossing places 25% (35)
Parents/carers
interest in walking 28% (39)
Other
: Getting Fit
What would encourage
you to cycle to school ?
Cycle
paths on the way 46% (64)
Cycle
training 26% (36)
When
I’m older 39% (55)
Lockers
for bags and clothes 29% (41)
Reduced
motor traffic speed 25% (35)
Safe
place to lock bike 39% (55)
Safer
crossing places 28% (39)
How often do you play
sports or exercise outside of school hours ?
Most
days 31% (43)
Once
or twice per week 36% (50)
Three
or four times per week 8% (11)
Les
than once per week 23% (32)
Are you happy with
the way you feel at the moment ?
I
would like to do more exercise 70% (98)
I
think I do enough exercise 30% (42)