By Press Release
Active travel has left pupils and staff at one Island primary school seeing STARS.
Wootton Primary School has been commended for its commitment to promoting alternative modes of transport — winning it a Modeshift STARS Green Award.
It is the first school on the Island to receive the national accolade in recognition of its excellence in supporting cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable and active travel.
Working with the local community, the school has developed a school travel plan which aims to encourage more families to ditch the car for the daily school run.
Encouraging more schools to get involved, Ross Edmunds, active travel officer at the Isle of Wight Council, said: “It is brilliant to see the first Island school achieving their Modeshift STARS accreditation and hope many others will get involved in this great initiative to look at travel choices, which cuts down on CO2 emissions, as well as often saving you time and money.
“It’s great to see children encouraged to strive towards a world in which communities are free to make healthy and sustainable travel choices and where active travel is seen as the norm.”
Head teacher, Jane Wilford, said: “We all have a massive opportunity to make a difference when it comes to achieving ambitious targets to lower emissions, even if it seems small collectively it’s big.
“We are proud to be the first school on the Island to obtain our green star award and a big well done to all the children, their parents and staff for their passion and enthusiasm which have helped to make it happen.”
The council is committed to providing guidance to help all schools become more sustainable and everyone has a part to play.
Councillor Jonathon Bacon, Cabinet member for climate change and the environment, added: “Our schools are creating the next generation of innovative, inspirational environmentalists.
“Well done to Wootton primary school for their forward-thinking and actively engaging the local community in protecting our planet.”
The Modeshift accreditation scheme has four levels of achievement, from ‘green’ to ‘platinum’.
To find out how to get involved, schools can email Ross at: ross.edmunds@iow.gov.uk
More information is also available on the Modeshift STARS website: https://modeshiftstars.org/education/
Isle of Wight Observer