Junior Travel Ambassadors Doing Their Bit To Boost Road Safety

Youngsters across the Isle of Wight are doing their bit to boost road safety within their school communities.

Around 20 primary schools have now signed up to the Junior Travel Ambassador (JTA), the Isle of Wight Council's highly successful road safety scheme launched last year.

JTAs meet regularly to share ideas and opinions about what they think needs to change to improve road safety for their school, as well as lead assemblies, activities and competitions throughout the academic year.

They also look at ways they can promote sustainable modes of travel within their communities.

The council provides participating schools with assembly presentations, lesson plans, guidance, posters and other resources for free — there is no cost to take part!

There are also fun activities to take part in, such as the Brighten Your Bag competition and the Active Travel Challenge which encourages children to try walking, cycling and taking public transport as an alternative to the car. 

Today, the council can reveal the names of the winning pupils and schools who took part in this year's Active Travel Challenge and their prizes.

They were:

• Riley, Dover Park Primary — scooter and accessories;
• Mia, Brading CE Primary, scooter and accessories;
• Brading CE Primary, Scooterpod sponsored by Cyclepods: 
• Freddie, Dover Park Primary, Isle of Wight Steam Railway family ticket, sponsored by Isle of Wight Steam Railway;
• Mason, Brading CE Primary, Pair of bike lights plus bike mini-pump sponsored by Halfords;
• Hazel, Dover Park Primary, pair of bike lights sponsored by Halfords.

Dean Foord, commercial manager at Cyclepods, said: 

“Schools have a central role to play in supporting all children and young people to live healthy active lives.

 “We think the Active Travel Challenge is a fantastic idea. Well done to Brading CE Primary School who are the lucky winners of our Scooterpod, and congratulations to the winners of other prizes.

 “Our Scooterpods encourage children to park their scooters in our innovative design for primary schools.”

Lewis Campbell, the council's road safety officer, added:

"Congratulations to all of the prize winners and thank you to the schools who took part in this years’ Active Travel Challenge.

"The challenge will be back in June 2024 and will be open to schools taking part in the JTA scheme.

"Also, a massive thank you to our sponsors Cyclepods, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and Halfords for supporting the challenge.”

Schools taking part in the JTA scheme and similar initiatives can work towards achieving Modeshift STARS, the national accreditation scheme for school travel plans. Out of the 20 JTA schools, 13 are currently Modeshift STARS accredited.

Interested schools can contact roadsafety@iow.gov.uk to get started on their STARS accreditation journey.