Mode of travel data to support local transport and health policies.
Mode of travel data is still necessary to plan, implement, support and provide evidence of the effectiveness of transport and health policies in schools; we would like to continue to collect it locally using Modeshift Sustainable Travel Accreditation and Recognition for Schools (STARS). You can submit your data at any time during the school year or during Travel Smart week when wall charts are provided for this purpose.
Travel Smart Tales – Engaging pupils through stories, wellbeing and active travel
Travel Smart Week (18–22 May 2026) invites schools to inspire pupils to explore active and sustainable travel through the magic of storytelling. Using the SMILERS ways to wellbeing, each day connects a different “way to wellbeing” with books, creativity and real‑world travel behaviours that support healthier, happier school communities.
Across the week, pupils are encouraged to:
- Stay Connected by sharing stories about friendship as they walk, wheel or ride to school.
- Move More by creating “Poetry in Motion,” celebrating active travel through acrostic poems.
- Be Curious on “Wonder Wednesday,” discovering fascinating facts about transport and the benefits of travelling smart.
- Look and Listen with Tales of the Road, building awareness of safe, sensible travel choices.
- Eat Well on Fruit-fuelled Friday, linking nutritious choices with energy for the journey.
The campaign blends literacy, wellbeing and sustainable travel to help children discover that getting to school can be active, imaginative and good for the planet, with opportunities to share pupil work, reflect on travel habits and celebrate Travel Smart Week via the Travel Smart Facebook page.
A PowerPoint to support the week is also available to download.
Schools who took part in the October 2025 campaign will be sent leaflets and wallcharts in readiness for the week. If your school hasn't previously taken part in Travel Smart please email sustainable.travel@derbyshire.gov.uk with your number on roll and the number of classes in school.
Celebrate World Book Day and the National Year of Reading with Active Travel!
This year, why not combine the joy of reading with the benefits of active travel on Thursday 5 March for World Book Day? With 2026 also being the National Year of Reading, it’s the perfect opportunity to inspire pupils to explore books while promoting healthy, sustainable journeys.
We’ve pulled together an Active Travel Booklist packed with exciting titles for all age groups from EYFS to KS3 and beyond. These books feature themes of cycling, walking, and adventure, making them ideal for classroom projects, reading corners, themed assemblies or other activities such as:
- Reading challenges - encourage pupils to read a book from the list and share their favourite journey or character.
- Creative writing - ask pupils to write their own active travel adventure inspired by the stories.
- Practical Links - combine reading with a walk, cycle, scoot to school day, or ask children to look at car-free ways to travel to their local library, bookshop or other places. Get creative and ‘bling’ your bike or scoot in the style of a favourite book character, for example Mrs Armitage or Mrs Gulch on her cycle, walk the yellow brick road or whizz along on a broomstick.
All these activities can be recorded as initiatives towards your school travel plan. Please get in touch if you need any help with that.
School streets
Following Councillor Dale’s invitation to schools to pilot road closures, a number of schools have been involved in voluntary and temporary one off one-day closures as part of ongoing work to tackle parking outside of schools. This has led to a proposal for a temporary 18-month School Street trial at William Gilbert Endowed (CofE) Primary School, which started on 21 April 2025.
The timeline of actions and activities involved in getting to this point are highlighted in a case study.
The outcome of this trial will inform the future of school streets in Derbyshire.
Please contact rob.bounds@derbyshire.gov.uk to find out more about engaging in the Modeshift STARS process, and the possibility of trialling other options to help tackle school gate parking.
Mode of travel survey
The wall chart supplied during Travel Smart week, for each class to record their usual and preferred modes of travel as well as the modes used during the campaign week, can be used to provide your mode of travel data. You only need to submit the usual and preferred modes of travel which can be collected during Travel Smart week or at any other time of the year with as a hands up survey on the Modeshift STARS page.
Data is required annually for at least 80% of pupils and 50% full time staff at school. You only need to supply it once during an academic year.
To submit your data, if your school has not already done so, please register and then log on to the Modeshift STARS website.
Go to the cog button and select ‘add new survey’ to enter the preferred and actual modes of travel. For ease and a single entry you could tally up the figures for the entire school and add them all in one go. In this instance type in “whole school” where it asks for the class name.
Alternatively on your Modeshift STARS school site home page you will also find a unique survey link that can be emailed to each class teacher so they can complete the survey in the classroom if you have the facility for this.
Your data submission is also an important element to contribute to your school travel plan.
Modeshift STARS school travel plans
With high profile stories concerning climate change, air pollution as well as mental and physical wellbeing in the forefront of many people’s minds, one way to bring about a positive change is to think about how we travel.
According to the Bikeability Trust, if just one parent and child chose not to drive to school all year round, this could save almost half a tonne of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. Imagine the impact that could be achieved if every child in your school who is currently driven made an active journey for all or just part of the way!
Fewer car journeys would also contribute to reducing the nitrogen oxides and air pollution particulates associated with traffic as well as alleviating the congestion and aggravation caused by cars parking outside the school gate. Furthermore, encouraging walking, cycling or scooting also provides the opportunity for increased physical activity and improved mental health.
Section 508A of the Education Act places a general duty on local authorities to promote the use of sustainable travel and transport, with further details given in the Department for Education home to school travel and transport guidance.
The authority’s Sustainable Modes of Travel Strategy utilises Modeshift STARS as a means of promoting sustainable travel to school through the development of a travel plan which recognises and rewards schools who have shown excellence in supporting cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable and active travel.
Modeshift STARS is a free online tool that any school can adopt. As a starting point it asks you to conduct a simple survey to ascertain the actual and preferred modes of travel to school from which you can develop an action plan of activities and initiatives to reduce the negative impact car travel has.
Some of these initiatives you may already have in place, such as bikeability training, Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel, national clean air day and taking part in Travel Smart week.
Modeshift STARS aims to bring all these things together to form a coherent travel plan that demonstrates schools commitment and achievements towards the journey to net zero, reducing air pollution, reducing congestion at the school gate and helping to provide opportunities for increased physical activity.
Travel plans are also often required for planning consent for new school buildings, and the mode of travel data you supply also helps to support wider local transport and health policies.
If you need any help with your Travel Plan please do not hesitate to contact the Sustainable Travel team:
Email: sustainable.travel@derbyshire.gov.uk