June 2017
Dear School Travel Plan Champion
Take part in the STARS Car-free day for a healthier journey to school!
Thank you for for all your fantastic workas part of Transport for London’s (TfL) STARS (Sustainable travel: Active, Responsible, Safe) scheme this year.
The STARS scheme has now been running for 10 years – as part of the celebrations to mark this ocassion, TfL would like to invite you to take part in a brand new activity: STARS Car-free Day on Friday 22 September. On this day we would like as many children, teachers and parents in London to travel to school by foot, bike or scooter.
You can use the day to get early engagement from pupils and parents, launch other activities (such as Park and Stride), and set the tone for the rest of the year focusing on active, safe, responsible and sustainable travel for the school community. Taking part is easy;
1)Sign up by adding your story online using the STARS Car-free day activity cardby 30 June. You will need to upload the sign-in sheet as evidence; further materials helping you to take part will be sent to you after you sign-up
2)As the day is close to the start of the new academic year, use the rest of this term to plan, set targets for participation, and advertise the day to pupils and parents. If parents are unsure of their journey, help them with planning new routes or encourage them to use tools such as TfL’s journey planner at tfl.gov.uk/journey planner
3)Participate on the day on 22 September: run an assembly, complete a hands-up survey titled ‘STARS Car-free day’, and tell your story online using the activity card
Taking part will also counttowards your school’s STARS accreditation twice: once for signing up this academic year, and once for running the activity in September!
There will be aphoto competition for everyone to share pictures from their healthy routes to school, with a prize for the winning classes.
To gain the maximum impact, the day is taking place on 22 September to coincide with World Car-free day, an international initiative to encourage people to get out of their cars. If you can’t take part on the day, you can pick any day during the week of 16-22 September during European Mobility week. See more information.
Thank you again for your continued support and for making a difference to the health of young Londoners. We look forward to seeing your pictures from the STARS Car-free day!
Kind regards,
Transport for London STARS Team