School travel planning

A School Travel Plan (STP) sets out how a school intends to increase levels of walking, cycling and use of public transport for the journey to and from school. It is developed through a partnership involving the school, the Council, TfL and the community, and is based on consultation and engagement with teachers, parents and carers, pupils, governors/boards and other local people.

The STP is developed online using TfL's Travel for Life platform. STPs are developed by the school using the TfL platform and information held within can only be shared with the schools’ permission.

Current initiatives
Highway improvements
Grants and awards

Benefits

A STP gives children, parents/guardians and staff alternatives to using the car every day, which in turn means:

Improved safety of pupils due to less traffic
Less congestion around schools
Less pollution around the school and local area
Improved pupil and staff health and wellbeing as a result of active travel such as cycling and walking
Improvements to cycling and walking routes, such as safer places to cross the road
Improved bike storage at schools through local authority grants and government funding
Improved road awareness of pupils
Improved journey reliability
Social responsibility and good neighbourliness

Accreditation

The TfL Travel for Life programme aims to ensure long term commitment to travel planning in schools. The scheme provides incentives and rewards for those who embrace travel planning and demonstrate achievements in their contribution to sustainable travel.

There are 3 levels of accreditation: Bronze, Silver and Gold, which can be achieved by introducing initiatives and reducing single car occupancy travel to school.

We offer several road safety education programmes and this, coupled with the curriculum initiatives most schools already implement, means Bronze is very achievable for our schools.

This year we have increased the number of school’s travel planning with us, but we would love to work with all school in the borough.

Congratulations to the 42 schools and nurseries that submitted for Travel for Life accreditation this year.

Gold

These 33 schools have completed 48 activities over three years, submitted a travel to school survey and achieved a 6% reduction in single occupancy car travel for pupils from their baseline survey:

Barnes Primary School
Broomfield House School
Chase Bridge Primary School
Clarendon School
Collis Primary School
Deer Park School
Hampton Infant School and Nursery
Hampton Junior School
Hampton School
Heathfield Infant School
Heathfield Junior School
Holy Trinity CE Primary School
Kew College Prep School
King’s House School
Meadlands Primary School
Newland House School
Orleans Primary School
St Mary Magdalen’s Catholic Primary School
St Mary’s CE Primary School
St Paul’s School
St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School
St Richard Reynolds Catholic Primary School
St Richard’s CE Primary School
The German School (DSL)
The King’s CE Primary School
The Mall School
The Swedish School
The Vineyard School
Trafalgar Infant School
Trafalgar Junior School
Turing House School
Twickenham Primary School (GEMS)
Unicorn School

Silver

This school has completed 35 activities over two years, submitted a travel to school survey, and achieved a reduction in single occupancy car travel for pupils since their previous survey:

Little People of Hampton Nursery

Bronze

These three schools have completed 16 activities and submitted a travel to school survey:

Kew green Prep School
Thomas’s College
Thomson House School

Engaged level

These five schools have made a start and submitted a travel to school survey and engaged in activities Travel to Life offers:

Capella House School
St John the Baptist CofE Junior School
St Mary’s and St Peter’s CofE Primary School
Strathmore School
The Harrodian School

Initiatives

Our Transport Planning and Safety Education teams work closely to offer schools a variety of schemes, projects and campaigns that help promote and encourage healthy, safe and active travel to school.

All of the activities are designed to help schools achieve their STP targets and contribute to achieving Travel for Life accreditation. There are over 130 activities on the Travel for Life site and free resources for schools to use.

Current initiatives include:

The Travel for Life portal has a range of resources and curriculum activities for schools. Email stp@richmond.gov.uk for further information or log into your Travel for Life account and view the activities by filtering to curriculum

Highway improvements

Where hazards exist on walking and cycling routes to school, discussions between the School Travel Champion, School Travel Advisor and stakeholders will determine whether there is a need for further investigation. Schools are encouraged to detail the concern and outcome of this discussion in their STP. Only schools with valid STPs are considered for such works.

Undertaking the works is always subject to funding and includes stages of planning and consultation. Further investigation can result in one of four outcomes:

Feasibility study required
Works placed on scheme waiting list
Works to be scheduled
Unsuitable for further investigation

In many instances, a successful travel plan will help resolve the issues.

Collis Primary School

Through their STP, Collis Primary School identified safety concerns outside both gates. We consulted on a school street as well as an option for safety improvement measures, and local residents supported the need for change.

As a result, the school's visibility has been enhanced at both entrances with new flashing school signs to alert drivers to the presence of a school. Additional measures include a strip of buff-coloured road surface at Fairfax Road and raised tables at Cromwell Road to encourage drivers to proceed with caution as they approach the school entrances from all directions.

We also introduced 20mph roundels and a buff-coloured surface at the school gates on Fairfax Road to discourage three-point turns and stopping in this area. All school-related lining and restrictions were refreshed as part of the scheme.

This was all made possible because the school diligently travel planned with us using the Travel for Life portal.

Eco-Schools

Eco-Schools is an environmental education programme designed to help all schools in Britain become sustainable. To see how you can get involved visit the Eco-Schools website. Having Eco-Schools status counts towards Travel for Life accreditation.

Healthy Schools

Healthy Schools Richmond is another accreditation programme which helps schools deliver projects that will assist in improving pupil and staff health and wellbeing, promoting a healthy lifestyle and aiming to reduce childhood obesity. This can overlap with the Travel for Life programme where active travel is concerned and counts towards Travel for Life accreditation.

Find out more about the Healthy Schools London programme.

Clean Air Schools Accreditation

The Air Quality team offers a Clean Air Schools Accreditation scheme to all schools in the borough. It is designed to help raise awareness of air pollution among pupils, parents and carers, and the wider community. Accreditation demonstrates a strong commitment to improving air quality both within the school environment and in the surrounding area.

Schools complete air quality and active travel activities throughout the year to achieve Clean Air School Accreditation at bronze, silver or gold level. Activities range from running anti-idling campaigns and promoting walking and cycling, to carrying out air quality monitoring and adding green infrastructure. Schools can work towards these awards at a pace that suits them.

Our Air Quality team is available to support schools in achieving accreditation and can provide:

Free air quality assessments
Air pollution workshops
Idling action events
Activity resource packs

For more information, contact pollution@merton.gov.uk.

Contact

To contact the School Travel Advisor for Richmond, email stp@richmond.gov.uk.

Up to: Transport planning

Updated: 12 August 2026