A school in Essex has been judged as the top school in the East of England for active sustainable travel.

Woodville Primary School in South Woodham Ferrers received the platinum accreditation, the highest award available within the scheme, for its travel plan from national organisation Modeshift Stars after working closely with Essex County Council.

On top of achieving the accreditation, Woodville School was named Modeshift Stars' East of England Primary School of the Region 2021/22.

This makes it top for active sustainable travel out of all the schools in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

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Lee Scott, Essex Council cabinet member for highways maintenance and sustainable transport, said: “Achieving Platinum accreditation for a school travel plan is no mean feat and I’m proud to see the young people at Woodville Primary School are leading the way in the fight against climate change, finding ways to stay safe on their journey to school and helping reduce air pollution.”

Woodville Primary School has enacted a range of initiatives during the development of its bespoke travel plan over the past 20 years.

These have led to more pupils travelling sustainably.

Jacqui Phillips, headteacher of Woodville Primary School, said: “Since 2019, many factors have had a negative impact on the emotional health and wellbeing of all school communities.

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“We saw an opportunity through the Modeshift Stars Scheme to improve this situation, for example through the 3PR scheme which encourages children not only to walk to school, but also the chance to share more quality time with other members of their family.

“In April 2021 we launched the Living Streets ‘WOW’ scheme, where all the children log their daily commute to school on a dojo on the Living Streets website.

“All those children who travel sustainably at least 3 times a week receive a WOW badge provided by Living Streets at the end of each month.

“The impact and popularity of this scheme has been fantastic, support from children and their families has made this such a success.”