How do‘safe active travel routes to school’ help your school be awarded Physical Activity?

Identifying and promoting safe active travel routes for your school helps your school to meet some of the Physical Activity Benchmarks of the Healthy Together Achievement Program. Here is how!

Feel free to copy and paste any relevant information from this table into your Achievement Program Physical Activity action plan.

Plan of Action - Physical activity / Active Travel
Physical Activity benchmarks addressed / Actions/Strategies
(What actions can be undertaken to achieve the physical activity benchmarks?) / How
(What is required to achieve the actions/strategies i.e. budget, equipment, space, tools) / Who
(Who are the Person/s responsible for progressing the actions/strategies?) / When
(When will the actions/strategies be completed by? Date, week, month or term) / Monitoring Actions
(Have the actions/strategies been met? What has been done so far?)
Benchmark 1 / Example:
Work inclusively with students, staff and families to include active travel in the physical activity policy and promote to whole-of-school community. / Example:
Ensure active travel is included in the school physical activity policy.
i.e. “Active travel to and from school is encouraged and promoted to all members of the school community. The school will provide facilities for the safe and secure storage of equipment that encourages active travel, such as bikes and helmets”
i.e. “Staff and families recognise they are role models and are encouraged to actively engage in physical activity and active travel” / Example:
Health and wellbeing Team
Staff
Principal
Junior School Council
School Council / Example:
By the end of Term 4 2015
Review in 2 years / Example:
We have included active travel into the physical activity policy and will review in 2 years
Benchmark 2 / Example:
Work inclusively with staff to include active travel in the staff health and wellbeing policy. / Example:
Ensure active travel is included in the staff health and wellbeing policy:
i.e. “Active travel to and from school is encouraged and promoted to all school staff. The school will provide facilities for the safe and secure storage of equipment that encourages active travel, such as bikes and helmets” / Example:
Health and wellbeing Team
Staff
Principal
School Council / Example:
By the end of Term 4 2015
Review in 2 years / Example:
We have included active travel into the physical activity policy and will review in 2 years
Benchmarks
3, 4 & 6
You have also possibly achieved:
Benchmark 8
(If you have engaged students in the development and promotion of the active travel routes to school as part of the school curriculum)
Benchmark 9
(If you have involved students, families and staff in the development and promotion of safe active travel routes to school)
Benchmark 10
(If staff have been supported to access resources and tools to support them in promoting and supporting active travel )
Benchmark 11
(If your school has worked with other services and organisations to identify and promote school active travel routes to school) / Example:
Identify a number of active travel routes with designated ‘pick up/drop off points’ students, staff and families can use to walk/ride/scoot/skate to/from school. / Example:
  1. Active travel working group has been formed
  2. Identify where families are travelling to the school from
  3. Identify potential active travel routes to school
  4. Assess whether the active travel routes are safe, accessible and enjoyable to walk and ride
  5. Work with Council to improve or remove any hazards
  6. Promote and encourage the whole-of-school community to actively travel to school along the safe active travel routes
/ Examples:
Health and wellbeing Team
Students
Staff
Principal
Junior School Council
Parents
Healthy Together Geelong
Council
Bicycle Network / Example:
By the end of Term 4 2015 / Example:
We have identified a number of safe active travel routes to school and are encouraging the whole-of-school to walk and ride to school
Example:
Continue to promote and encourage active travel to/from school. / Examples:
  1. Encourage parents to meet along the active travel routes to school so they can share the responsibility of walking/riding with students to school
  2. Encourage children who need to catch the bus to school to walk/ride from home to the bus stop
  3. Regular ‘active travel to school’ days (i.e. (wheeling Wednesday)
  4. Placing regular active travel articles in the school newsletter
  5. Active travel posters on display around the school
  6. Continuing to promote and encourage active travel through the school curriculum (i.e. Bike and Road Safety Education)
  7. Promoting and encouraging participation in active travel events (i.e. VicHealth Walk to School Month, Ride 2 School Day, National Walk Safely to School Day)
/ Examples:
Health and wellbeing Team
Students
Staff
Principal
Junior School Council
Parents
Healthy Together Geelong
Council
RACV – Street Scene
Bike Education specialist teacher
PE teacher
Bicycle Network / Examples:
By the end of Term 4 2015
Ongoing / Example:
We are continually promoting and encouraging the whole-of-school community to use active travel to get to and from school
Achievement Milestones
(Final outcomes – think about the changes in practice or behaviours that have occurred from baseline)
Examples:
  • Active travel working group has been formed
  • We now have a whole-of-school physical activity policy that supports active travel
  • We now have a staff health and wellbeing policy that supports active travel
  • We now have safe active travel routes with pick up/drop off points
  • We are regularly promoting active travel in our school newsletter
  • We have seen an increase in students and staff using active travel to get to and from school
/ Measures
(Data/information collected to measure changes in practice and behaviours)
Examples:
  • Student Hands Up! surveys
  • Parent active travel surveys
  • # of active travel items in the school newsletter over 12 months
  • # of bikes parked in the bike racks

Signed:

Health and wellbeing team member / Date
Principal / Date
Parent representative / Date
Student representative / Date