Meet your Junior Travel Ambassadors

The JTA's meet regularly throughout the school year to organise events such as Road Safety Week and Walk to School weeks. They also run competitions and share information about ways to participate in active travel. We recently recruited our new JTA's. 

If you have any suggestions for how to make active travel even more exciting at Cedars Manor, why not share your ideas with one of our JTA's. 

2021 - 2022 JTA Achievements...

The JTA's have worked on a number of projects this year, Walk to School Week, Road Safety Week, and Understanding Climate Change. These have been exciting projects for the whole school and have supported Cedars Manor School in securing our Gold Accreditation Award for travel. We are a GOLD accredited school for our travel plan. 

Anti-Idling Campaign with Harrow Council

One of the most exciting projects the JTA's have completed this year, was working with Harrow Council to raise awareness of idling in the community. This was one of the school's travel targets.

On Wednesday 2^nd February, the JTA’s took part in an anti-idling workshop. The purpose of the workshop was for children to understand the impact that pollution from idle cars is having on the environment.

The first part of the workshop, children discussed the main causes of pollutions and began to understand why cars idling outside school gates Is so harmful to young people and the community.

In the afternoon, the Junior Travel Ambassador’s met with the idling campaigner to discuss their role in the campaign. Children met with parents and carers outside the school gates at collection time to ensure cars were not left idle. Children engaged with the local community to explain why idling is bad for the environment and the health of children at our school.

Cedars Manor School Walking Zones

Use the schools walking zone map to help you keep active. If you must drive part of the way to school, then why not park a 5 or 10 minute walk away from the school?

The orange circle shows you where a 5 minute walk to school would be. The purple circle shows you a 10 minute walk. 

Why is active travel and sustainable transport important?

A blog by,

Gabriela, Teyana and Miriam (Junior Travel Ambassadors)

Ariana, Nandini and Vihan (Year 5)

What is active travel?

Active travel is making journeys by walking, cycling or scooting. It is ensuring that part of your journey involves physical exercise. Active travel is important because it provides opportunities for people to improve their physical and mental health. Additionally, active travel helps to support the planet, by reducing air pollution and carbon emissions.

What are the benefits of active travel to your health?

Did you know that the school run alone is responsible for generating two million tonnes of CO2 per year in the UK?

Vehicles that are not electric – release pollution and carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas, which is very harmful to young people. This gas can prevent children’s lungs from forming and growing properly.

Furthermore, active travel, can improve your mental health, this can lead to improved attendance and academic success. By choosing to walk, cycle or scoot to school, you are Improving your physical health too, this helps everyone to achieve the recommended minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Active travel also promotes independence and improves your road safety awareness.

What are the benefits of active travel to the environment?

When cars drive to school, the engine burns fuel and produces a waste gas called carbon monoxide which comes out of the car exhaust.  This affects not only our health but the environment too. Global warming is a huge issue and emissions from vehicles are contributing to this. The polar ice caps are melting due to the climate becoming warmer and many animal habitats are being lost.

Active travel can prevent this from happening. It also improves the air quality around our school – what would you rather breathe? Clean fresh air or smoke and harmful gasses?

Travelling actively also reduces congestion on the roads and at the school gates, instead of sitting in traffic, you can walk and observe the beauty of nature all around you. Active travel also reduces noise within the community.

These satellite images show the nitrogen dioxide in May 2019 and May 2020. Due to the pandemic, there were fewer vehicles making journeys in 2020 and there was a significant reduction in the omissions of nitrogen dioxide into the environment. This shows us how important it is to use vehicles less and travel where possible, actively!

Why should I travel actively?

Travelling actively to school helps you get to know your local community, it can develop your friendships and improve road sense.

Why not plan your route to school (with your parents) in advance, finding quieter roads and cycle paths wherever possible. You could use the summer holidays to practise the journey, as the roads should be quieter. You could change the way you travel throughout the week.  Walk or cycle the route to school with your parents on different days. You could even walk, cycle or scoot to school with a friend.

How can Cedars Manor School pupils make positive changes to the way we travel?

By reducing the number of cars on the roads, there are less gasses and emissions being released into the air. You can support us on this mission by converting car journeys to walking, cycling, scooting or even skate-boarding. Together we can improve the air quality around our school for the community.

You can help us by doing the following;

• Walk more
• For a 5-minute journey, walk, cycle or scoot
• Park and stride if a part of car journey is essential
• Consider others, everyone’s health matters – do at least 60 minutes of physical exercise a day
• Car share where possible
• Use public transport

Even the slightest change you make, can protect our planet and improve our health.

So why not join us in becoming more active?

Active Travel at Cedars Manor

In May 2021, the JTA's conducted a pupil voice survey. This was to find out more about the thoughts the school community has regarding active travel. 

The Junior Travel Ambassadors asked the whole school for some help and ideas as to how they could improve the number of children actively walking to school. This was following walk to school week. After collating the data, 275  children walked to school every day or took part in active travel. That is 63% of the school. Whilst this is good, the JTA’s realised that more could be done to encourage more children to walk.

Each class spent time discussing the following question,

'How can we encourage more children to walk / travel actively to school?'

Below are the suggestions from Year 6 - Beech Class...

The JTA meeting

The JTA’s met together to look at all the ideas that the children had suggested.

As a team they have decided that in September 2021 they will introduce the following;

• 1 house point will be awarded for every day the children walk
• Certificate awarded for children who walk every day for a Month
• An extra playtime for those children who walk everyday for a half term
• Run an active travel competition once every term

An assembly will be conducted in September to inform the school community of the new reward system for active travel.