Call for more London schools to join Travel for Life

As pupils return to school following the Christmas break, Transport for London are calling on schools to sign up to Travel for Life, their accreditation scheme which encourages the next generation of Londoners to travel actively, responsibly and safely.

Travel for Life was launched in late 2023, consolidating five separate initiatives under a single banner. Those being: Road Safety Club, STARS (primary and secondary), Safety & Citizenship, and TravelSmart.

Activities run by the schools within the programme have a focus on reducing congestion, improving road safety or improving health and wellbeing.

The schools are awarded gold, silver or bronze accreditation based on how many travel activities they complete and how successful they have been in reducing car use and increasing sustainable travel.

To achieve Gold, a school must have either reduced car use by 6% or have increased the number of journeys made  using sustainable transport to 90%.

Over the last year there has been a 10% increase in the number of Gold awards being presented (a total of 735), with schools in Bromley, Islington and Havering having the highest proportion of their schools achieving this accreditation.

63% of schools in Bromley have reached Gold status, 49% of those in Islington and 45% of those in Havering.

With 81% of its schools involved in the programme, Waltham Forest has the largest overall number of schools participating.

St Gregory’s Catholic Science College in Brent signed up to TfL Travel for Life in March 2023 and have now achieved Gold accreditation. Under the motto ‘swap the ride for a park for a park and stride,’  the school has been involved in several schemes, such as measuring local air quality, holding assemblies and creating a podcast on active travel.

A teacher from the College, said: ‘As TfL Travel Pioneers, we have not only affected the environmental impact of students in 2024 but we have actually made such a change that other students in future years might use our resources and knowledge to make better travel choices, helping to reduce their carbon footprint.​ We are really proud of what we have achieved, in getting more pupils to ditch the ride for a park and stride and in achieving Gold accreditation​.’

A year 8 pupil, also from St Gregory’s, who took part in air quality monitoring near the school, said: ‘I realised how much harmful polluted air there is that we breathe in, in our daily lives, for example on the roads. This trip made me more aware of environmental issues and inspired me to advocate for cleaner air and take action to protect the environment and the wellbeing and health of humans.’

London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, added: ‘The New Year is the perfect time to introduce children to sustainable travel so I would encourage as many schools as possible to join this fantastic scheme which improves the environment and supports fit and healthy lifestyles. We know that children who are introduced to active travel from a young age are more likely to continue the habit into adulthood – and it would be great to see even more schools involved this year.’