Travelling to School
At St Stephen’s we try to encourage children and their parents to walk to school, as the healthiest and most environmentally friendly option. It also helps to reduce the traffic problems that we have around the school, particularly in the morning.
Parents are advised that an unofficial one way system (beginning and end of school day only) going up Richmond Place eases traffic congestion. Cars should approach the school by turning into Richmond Place from the Richmond Road end and then proceed either along Mount Beacon back to Richmond Road or continue along Richmond Place through Springfield Road onto Fairfield.
In the case of snowy weather please do not drive into the roads surrounding the school as they are often impassable, even when the other local roads are navigable. Also of course, once you are in the “one way system” there is no way out that does not involve really tricky narrow and steep roads.
Parking
Parents who drive their children to school are requested not to park their cars in the school car park. It is dangerous for the children and difficult for the staff as we have very limited space.
We would also ask you to park as sensibly as possible in Richmond Place and the surrounding neighbourhood, so as to reduce disturbance to residents. This is especially important before and after school when traffic is at its busiest.
Please do not park on the yellow zig-zag lines, on the green, or in bays marked “disabled”, however tempting this may be.
The Walking Bus
What a great initiative this is! Thanks to the Travel Plan committee, the school’s first Walking Bus was launched in the summer of 2009, and it has proved a great success. It is a free service run by volunteers, who escort registered children to school every morning. It is great to watch the little posse of hi-vis jackets walking up the hill and across the Green every morning. It leaves from Camden Road, at the top of Gay’s Hill, at 8.20am every morning.
The benefits of using the Walking Bus could be:
- Saving parents time and hassle in the morning
- Improved fitness
- Improved concentration in school
- Less congestion in the area around school and therefore better relations with local residents
- Ongoing supervised pedestrian training
- A great way to make new friends, especially when new to the school
The children using it really enjoy having their bus tickets stamped every morning. You do not have to help run the Walking Bus to use it, as long as there are enough volunteers who can walk up at least one or two mornings a week each.
Anyone who would like their child to use this service, or who would should leave their details at the office, marking the letter ‘Walking Bus’. And if you like the idea of a walking bus using another route more local/useful to you the Travel Plan committee are very happy to facilitate it.
Dogs
If you walk your dog to school, please make sure that you tie them up on the green. For obvious reasons, no dogs are allowed on to the school site.
