Packaging the Travel Choices : SCHOOLS
Individual Events and Activities
Overview and Objectives
There are many different types of 'one-off' events designed to promote and involve school age children in TravelSmart activities. These may include individual school based projects and excursions or participation in events promoting activities relating to active transport modes organized at local community, state or national levels. The educational consultant is often required to provide innovative incentives for the school and assist with organization. TravelSmart project officers within the council will play an important role in identifying opportunities for schools to become involved in such activities and assisting with the organization required.
Examples include walk and ride to school days. The school may work in with other bike or walking programs such as Bike Ed. Activities and projects may run throughout the weeks leading up to the event and cover topics like safe bike riding, maintenance and purchasing equipment. Other events may offer opportunities for involvement in local community festivals and participation in special projects such as 'Active for Life' and the 'Green Challenge'.
There are also experiential activities that can be organized for schools such as 'Magical Mystery Tours' and Puppet Shows conducted on buses. These offer direct involvement and the use of active transport modes. Children have the opportunity to travel on various modes of transport to and from a special location or event outside of the normal classroom environment. As with other programs there are challenges and opportunities involved in organizing such events.
Key objectives of these events and activities are to:
- Raise awareness of active travel options and provide opportunities for children to gain skills through experience.
- Provide alternative options that can be introduced into existing curriculum requirements.
- Offer innovative options that have potential for TravelSmart concepts to be introduced to children with minimum disruption to set education programs.
The effectiveness of schools organising and participating in events will vary according to the features of each activity. The main challenge is the time and organisation required by teachers.
Inidividual Events and Activities - Program Features
Events are special occasions that involve school participation in the promotion of active transport modes. They may be directly linked to TravelSmart or they could be part of a related program.
Common examples of directly relevant events include:
- Ride to School days
- Walk to School days
- Millennium Kids
- Green Travel Challenge competitions
There are also special school events such as:
and other events which may present opportunities.
Recognizing events where TravelSmart is relevant requires attention to what else is happening in the community and how TravelSmart can be promoted and linked to those other events. Examples can include:
For the TravelSmart Officer this means playing an active role in the promotion of the event.
TravelSmart Curriculum-based programs can also be incorporated into other school activities / excursions. This can be used to
- highlight to the community the type of educational activities children undertake at school.
- Introduce avenues for TravelSmart messages into community.
- Promote local council partnerships with schools to the community.
- Promote 'Active' health promotions at the school.
- develop Win/Win opportunities for all stakeholders involved in the partnership.
Active roles for TravelSmart officers
As a TravelSmart officer you could get involved in:
- Promotion of program and engaging school in the event
- Registering children who have consent
- Organising School Grants for some events based on number of children registered
- Arranging additional promotions - posters, competitions
- Collecting competition entries, judging and awarding prizes
- Liaising with key stakeholders to support the running of the event
Building off other programs
Often events are link to other programs. Ride to School may be the finale of several lead up programs. Bike Ed is often a preliminary program so children are ready to participate in riding their bike to school. This progression is important.
- Parents are more likely to consent to children riding their bike if they know education and maintenance issues have been addressed.
- Children will feel more secure if they have prior knowledge and skill relating to the best routes to take, appropriate road safety sense and a safe bike.
The aim is to have the children and parents experience bike riding as an alternative to riding to school. Ride to School offers this experience. Awareness raising, skill and experience offered by this program combination aim to create an environment for ongoing riding and sustained use of the bike. Walk to school is based on the same principles.
Linking a TravelSmart activity to an external event can be very effective.
A 'Learning Festival' as a regional shopping centre or library could provide the basis for a school excursion. When there, the students could be involved in activities related to a TravelSmart theme. For example, conducting a survey of people attending the festival, perhaps as part of a curriculum activity requiring collection of data on local transport modes. This could involve asking people:
- How they travelled to the festival?
- How far did they come?
- Was this the main purpose of their trip?
- What transport options exist in the local area?
Another option could be working in with health related Programs focussing on physical activity. This can present an ideal opportunity to co-badge an event. This can be beneficial to the school as grants may be available for schools promoting physical activity. Make sure you are aware of funding opportunities to promote to the school.
Magical Mystery Tours
Magical Mystery Tours are special days planned for individual TravelSmart Schools. This program currently runs in Western Australia. It aims to offer school children the experience of using different modes of Transport to travel to and from a secret destination or a special excursion. Organisation includes:
- Liaising with relevant school members. The principal and relevant teachers must be consulted to select a suitable date, journey, end excursion, and information or linking projects.
- TravelSmart Officer and Education Consultant arrange the journey, transport mode choices, and public transport tickets. Depending on the state, the travel modes employed will vary but could include buses, trains, trams and ferries.
- Consent forms are organized with the assistance of the TravelSmart officer.
- Children experience public transport first hand and collect data and complete information sheets that are designed to meet some of the curriculum based content.
- Often the destination incorporates another event or excursion which the school may have planned to visit anyway.
Arranging an activity such as this may involve multiple classes of more than 20 children. This is a major consideration and there is a need to ensure that the logistics can be managed.
Travelling Puppet Shows
Travelling Puppet Shows are another type of special event currently running in Western Australia. Run by the Green House Office, the puppet show involves experiential theatre on an actual bus. Puppets are used to impart key TravelSmart messages to children as they experience bus travel. The shows are geared to specific age groups and aim to promote positive attitudes towards public transport and active travel choices. Organisation is mainly the responsibility of the TravelSmart Officer in conjunction with the Education Consultant/ Coordinator. Similar liaison with the school and, in this case, also the theatre group is required.
Other Events
There is a wide range of other events which may present opportunities to promote the TravelSmart message through schools. Examples include:
- Education Week - Education promotions within communities.
- Jump Rope for Heart - National Heart Foundation Physical Activity Promotion.
Implementation Issues
A variety of implementation issues are of relevance to individual events and activities including:
- Time to organise
- Impact on the school
- Lead time required
- Number of children involved
- Duty of care considerations
- Opportunities
Time to organize
The time to organize events can be a major undertaking for a school and impact on the daily school routine. When suggesting the school becomes involved, it is important to consider the following issues:
- When a whole year level attends an event off-campus, supervision is required for the period of time the children are away from the school. Teachers involved in the event will not be available for other school based duties and other staff may need to take on additional duties to cover their absence.
- Spontaneous involvement is not possible. Consent forms must be sent home and returned and travel must be booked to suit school times.
- Teachers may not have the time to organize multiple travel modes.
Consider the impact on the school
Anticipating the impact on the school will minimize these issues for the teacher and school community. Offering to assist with planning can take the focus away from the logistics and on to the benefits of the event.
Schools run to a very tight schedule. Teachers have multiple roles and extensive planning and reporting requirements. It is essential to find out from the individual school what are the best ways and most suitable times to:
- Make contact regarding information meetings on events.
- Maintain ongoing contact while organizing participation.
- Provide information about the event, its purpose and potential outcomes.
Limitations relating to timing of an event, scheduling and timeframes on the day need to be established early in the process. Taking the time to plan for these needs is important.
Lead Times
Lead time required will depend on the type of event. Schools require plenty of notice so rescheduling of duties and tasks can be organized. How the event relates to other school activities must also be considered. Planning an event that has no relevance to current activities for the year level may not be of value to the school. Ask teachers and/or education consultant/coordinator:
- How much notice do they need to schedule an event into the school curriculum?
- How far ahead do consent forms need to be collated?
- What information will the school and parents require?
- What is the best way / time to liaise with you regarding the setting up and progress of this activity?
- How and where does this event fit into the current school curriculum?
Ensure you can accommodate all the children involved
The number of children involved and the scale of organization can be easily overlooked. From a logistics point of view, you need to think about the feasibility of your suggestions.
Example: TravelSmart Schools is linking into an event relating to environmental awareness organized by the AGO. The event is located in the CBD. You would like to take link this event to using Public Transport. Is this a practical option for this situation?
Challenge: You need to consider the number and size of classes. A Bus or Tram may only be able to take one class. A train would be the only feasible option and this would need to be well out of peak period times.
Think about these logistics issues before suggesting ideas to the school.
Duty of Care
Duty of Care is of primary concern to the school community. It is essential to know what needs to be in place for an event to be deemed suitable. Suggesting Ride/Walk to school programs will be far better received if the right environment exists. Look at what has been run in the school already, for example:
- Has Safe Routes to School been completed?
- Has Bike Ed been running for the key children involved?
Organising children to travel on public transport in large groups will also require special consideration of issues such as:
- Is the level of supervision sufficient to meet regulations?
- Are the travel modes suitable for the age group involved?
This will increase in importance once junior primary start participating in TravelSmart programs. Always check with your Education Consultant/Coordinator before suggesting involvement to the school.
Opportunities
Events are a great opportunity to get in touch with a school. Advising schools of up and coming events relating to travel is a great way to continually build a relationship with key members of the school community. Schools are often too busy to be looking for opportunities to attend events themselves. Contact from a TravelSmart Officer proactively promoting ideas indicates not only enthusiasm in the project but also genuine interest in the school.
Asking yourself, 'How can I add value to the School' is a great starting point and generating ideas for involvement in events is a positive action. It also allows you to follow up on other Curriculum and Walking School Bus Programs. Seek feedback on other programs and generate relationship-building conversations.