At its most basic level, Active Travel is the promotion of walking, cycling or wheeling as a means of boosting fitness and reducing the number of journeys by car. This, in turn, helps to promote a shift towards healthier and more environmentally friendly travel.

Last Wednesday, March 13, Withernsea’s ambassadors joined student representatives from twelve other schools at County Hall, Beverley, to share their ideas in front of a panel of experts including Nick Butler, Business Director at sustainable travel champions Modeshift, Benjamin Smith, Director of Development at cycling charity The Bikeability Trust, and Rob Atkin, Project Coordinator at Living Streets – a charity that promotes the benefits of walking. 

Sharing their vision of running an Active Travel day for the benefit of both staff and students in the upcoming summer term, the ambassadors reflected on the success of a similar event, held last year, which saw a successful day of incentive-led activities taking place as a means of inspiring people to get active on their commute to and from school.

From encouraging walking, cycling and scooting, to promoting car sharing and the concept of ‘park and stride’ – driving part way and walking the rest – the students pitched their plan to deliver prizes as a reward for participation in Active Travel. This proved popular last year, boosting engagement and inspiring change amongst the school community.

The money secured from this year’s pitch will go directly towards funding a collection of prizes to reward those who take part in this year’s event. As part of their plan, the ambassadors will issue a raffle ticket to all those who engage in the day’s activities – giving them an opportunity to win prizes ranging from cycling safety equipment, to free chicken nuggets in the school canteen. The prizes have all been chosen based on feedback from a ‘student voice’ activity which aimed to discover the types of incentives that would help students buy into the project.

Overseeing the work of the travel ambassadors at Withernsea High School is Nick Richmond, ​​Teacher of PE and leader of the school’s recently formed student-led Board for Change, who said: “Our ambassadors were excellent representatives of the school. They spoke clearly and concisely, impressing the panel not only with their confident pitch, but with their reflections on their work so far and how this is shaping their future plans.

“In recent weeks, our Active Travel ambassadors have spent a considerable amount of time preparing for this pitch and have been rewarded for their efforts by securing almost £500 towards funding their ambitions to promote sustainable travel in their community. Under the banner of our recently launched Board for Change, our Active Travel Ambassadors are now part of a bigger student-led campaign to bring meaningful change to their school. I am very proud of them all.”