At its most basic level, Active Travel is the promotion of walking, cycling or wheeling as a means of boosting fitness and reducing the number of journeys by car. This, in turn, helps to promote a shift towards healthier and more environmentally friendly travel.

In an event organised by the school’s Travel Ambassadors, a group of students whose responsibility it is to promote Active Travel to their peers and the wider school community, staff and students were encouraged to walk, cycle, scoot, skate or car share to help reduce the number of vehicles on the school run.

Also championed was the concept of ‘park and stride’, an initiative which encourages those travelling from further afield to drive part way before parking up and walking the rest of the journey. It is a scheme that is gaining traction nationally which not only provides benefits to health and well-being, but also reduces congestion around the school gates.

To help encourage participation in last Friday’s event, all those who made a concerted effort to travel more sustainably for the day were given a raffle ticket for automatic entry into a prize draw. A wide range of prizes, from skateboards to scooters, and footballs to swim vouchers, were awarded to over 200 participants in recognition of their efforts.

The prizes were funded by the Travel Ambassadors who, in March this year, impressed a panel of judges during a Dragon’s Den-style pitch to industry experts at County Hall, Beverley, to secure £470 towards their campaign to encourage sustainable travel

Overseeing the work of the ambassadors is Nick Richmond, ​​Teacher of PE and leader of the school’s recently formed student-led Board for Change, who said: “Under the banner of our Board for Change, our Active Travel Ambassadors are now part of a bigger student-led campaign to bring meaningful change to their school. 

“Thanks to their Active Travel Day and incentives scheme, we saw a huge increase in active travel last Friday – with over sixty staff and one hundred and fifty students taking part. The number of students cycling or scooting to school more than doubled, with many staff also opting to car share, walk, or park and stride to work.

“I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to our ambassadors, and to everyone who took part in the Active Travel Day, for helping us to continue towards our aim of making a healthier, happier and more active Withernsea.”

Also supporting the day’s activities were representatives from the East Riding Road Safety Team and champions of sustainable travel, Modeshift, who were on-hand to offer bike repairs and cycle safety checks as part of their on-going support of the school’s young cyclists.  

Meanwhile, students who were timetabled to have PE lessons on the day were given the option of cycling as an activity thanks to the provision of twenty-five mountain bikes which, since Easter, have enabled cycling to be added to the school’s PE curriculum.

The purchase of the bikes, and associated secure storage facilities, was match-funded by Sport England and the East Riding Road Safety Team to enable Withernsea High School to become one of the first schools in the country to offer cycling as part of their standard PE lessons.

The bikes are also accessible to members of the school’s cycling club – a weekly after school opportunity for young people to extend their cycling knowledge, improve their racing skills and do basic stunt work using ramps and other obstacles.

The wider Active Travel Ambassador (ATA) project is being coordinated by East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s sustainable transport team who, over the past two years, have been working closely with the high school to engage with staff and students through a variety of initiatives including the launch of a bike library, which sees refurbished cycles loaned out for free to students. In addition, there have also been free cycle helmet amnesties, swapping old for new, and handouts of free cycle lights and locks to promote safety, security and visibility.

Opportunities to attend cycle build and maintenance courses, where students can learn basic repairs and how to build a bike, have also been offered throughout the year. More recently, ‘scooter pods’ have been installed within the school’s bike sheds to securely store scooters during the school day.

All ATA Ambassadors have also completed their Bikeability Level 3 training – a road safety course for cyclists that explores the handling of busy roads and those with more complicated layouts and junctions. It also teaches participants how to respond confidently when a situation changes, for example if a vehicle pulls out in front of them. 

Reflecting on the wider impact of the project, Nick Richmond, who is also a Children and Young People's Physical Activity Co-ordinator at Active Withernsea, added: “The students have responded really well to our Active Travel programme. Since the launch of our bike library, and thanks to initiatives such as the helmet amnesties and free locks and lights giveaways, we have seen an increase in students cycling to school. Through this continuing work, we aim to encourage and enthuse young people to become more active for a greener environment and the health benefits that increased activity can bring.”

Christian Jordan, Assistant Road Safety Officer from East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: “We are very excited to be working with Withernsea High School, and in close partnership with Modeshift, to deliver the ATA programme. We hope the incredible work carried out so far, and the exciting plans for the future, create a real behavioural change on the home-to-school journey. We are extremely proud to have nine Active Travel Ambassadors in place across East Riding secondary schools in this exciting trial programme designed to empower schools from within.”

Meanwhile, as Active Travel continues to be a nationwide priority for the benefits that it brings in terms of improved public health, better air quality, increased road safety, and reduced carbon emissions, the promotion of Active Travel as a whole will continue into the next academic year and beyond at Withernsea High School as its ATA ambassadors continue to help educate and inspire the school community.

ABOVE: Nick Richmond, Teacher of PE, with some of the school’s Active Travel Ambassadors (left to right) Crystal Hayton, Ava Shaw, Charles Graham and Deborah Watkins. The ambassadors positioned themselves at the end of the school drive to issue raffle tickets to all those who had actively travelled to school on Friday, June 21. 

ABOVE: Withernsea High School has become one of the first schools in the country to include cycling as part of the PE curriculum. During last week’s Active Travel Day, all students with timetabled PE lessons were given the opportunity to cycle. 

ABOVE: Opportunities to attend cycle build and maintenance courses, where students can learn basic repairs and how to build a bike, have also been offered throughout the year. Among those participating was Year 9 student, Harvey Taylor. Harvey is pictured next to Teacher of PE, Nick Richmond, with the pair flanked by Jason and Gareth - representatives from cycle charity, ‘R-evolution’.