Waterfield Primary
School
Travel Plan
2015
Introduction
1
Path to Gossops Green
Railway footbridge
to Ifield
Fig 1: Waterfield Location
Waterfield Primary School is situated in Bewbush on the south west side of Crawley. It is located on
land that is adjacent to Ifield Mill Pond and backing onto Gossops Green. Ifield and Gossops Green
are both accessible by footpaths near to the school. Bewbush is a built up residential area
comprising a range of housing including flats and houses. It has a regular bus service which is based
around the bus station at Bewbush shops. A Council run adventure playground is located in the same
road as the school and is well attended by pupils of Waterfield and other schools. The school is
situated on a no-though road.
Waterfield currently has 271 pupils ranging in age from 3 to 11 years old. This includes a 52 place
Nursery and now two Reception classes after a short notice summer expansion. This year on year
expansion will continue, growing the school over the next six years to two form entry in all year
groups. The school’s catchment area includes parts of Bewbush and a proposed expansion to include
the new Kilnwood Vale development on the A264 between Crawley and Horsham.
The school welcomes children into the classroom from 8.30am for morning activities and the day
finishes at 3.15pm. The Breakfast Club provided by the school begins at 7.45am and clubs after
school finish at either 4.15pm or 4.30pm.
Travel Plan Working Group
2
Our Travel Plan Group includes:
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Rachel Tantrum – Chair of Governors
Kaye Gilzene - Headteacher
Charmaine Terblanche – Parent Governor
Justin Moss – Deputy Headteacher
Pupils - Representatives of the Eco Team, Bike It and School Council
The working group will meet half termly and share information with parents through the school’s
newsletter and through meetings with parents. The children will be informed of initiatives and ways
forward by the representatives in school from the Eco Team, Bike It Crew and School Council. These
reps will be given assembly time to share. Every Wednesday assemblies are dedicated to nonacademic school initiatives and led by the children.
Current Travel to School Data compared to 2010 data
Walk
Cycle or scoot
Car
Car share
Bus
2010
50%
7%
25%
16%
2%
2014
54%
18%
24%
4%
1%
This data reflects the work that has been done with our Bike It initiative.
60
50
40
2010
30
2014
20
10
0
Walk
Cycle or scoot
Car
Car Share
Bus
Current Travel to School – Survey results
3
1. How far is your journey to school?
Less than 1km
1km-2km
2km-3km
3km-4km
0ver 5km
33
13
3
3
4
58.93%
23.21%
5.36%
5.36%
7.14%
70
60
50
40
Responses
30
Percentage
20
10
0
Less than 1km
1km-2km
2km-3km
3km-4km
over 5km
2. How do you normally travel to school?
Walk
Cycle or scoot
Car
Car share
Bus
45
15
20
3
1
53.57%
17.86%
23.81%
3.57%
1.19%
60
50
40
Response
30
Percentage
20
10
0
Walk
Cycle or scoot
Car
Car share
Bus
3. How do you normally travel home?
4
Walk
Cycle or scoot
Car
Car share
Bus
45
14
24
1
1
52.94%
16.47%
42.86%
1.18%
1.18%
60
50
40
Response
30
Percentage
20
10
0
Walk
Cycle or scoot
Car
Car share
Bus
4. If you do not normally walk to/from school, please indicate your reasons why.
It’s too dangerous
Don’t have enough time
It’s too far
Other
4
7
10
11
12.50%
21.88%
31.25%
34.38%
Other responses
 Weather
 We travel by car, only if I travel to work
 It’s too rainy
 Because we are short of time
 Dependent on needs of child minder
 Too far
 Because we prefer to ride our bikes
5
40
35
30
25
20
Response
15
Percentage
10
5
0
It's too dangerous
Don’t have enough
time
It's too far
Other
5. How safe do you consider the route for walking?
Safe all the way
Unsafe part of the way
Unsafe all of the way
28
25
3
50.00%
44.64%
5.36%
60
50
40
Response
30
Percentage
20
10
0
Safe all the way
Unsafe part of the way
Unsafe all of the way
6. If you do not normally cycle to/from school, please indicate your reasons why.
It’s too dangerous
Don’t have enough time
Don’t like cycling
Children too young
Don’t own bicycle
Don’t want to leave bicycle
at school
Other
3
10
4
13
5
6.67%
22.22%
8.89%
28.89%
11.11%
3
7
6.67%
15.56%
Other responses
6




Not worth it for a 30 second walk
Child prefers to walk as her friends do
Too far
School needs a cover over the bikes, i.e. bike sheds
35
30
25
20
15
Response
10
Percentage
5
0
It's too
Don’t have Don’t like Children too Don’t own Don’t want
dangerous enough time cycling
young
bicycle
to leave
bicycle at
school
Other
7. How safe do you consider the route for cycling?
Safe all the way
Unsafe part of the way
Unsafe all of the way
Other
21
27
1
2
41.18%
52.94%
1.96%
3.92%
Other responses
 Too far
60
50
40
Response
30
Percentage
20
10
0
Safe all the way
Unsafe part of the way Unsafe all of the way
Other
8. Please indicate which of the following improvements could be made at school to
encourage you to travel sustainably.
More secure cycle racks
17
27.42%
7
Better rain cover for racks
More space for storage of helmets etc
Different location of cycle/scooter racks
Other
25
10
4
6
40.32%
16.13%
6.45%
13.33%
Other responses
 Better security where you leave them, put me off letting them take them
 Very muddy around racks – needs to be tarmacked
 As kids too young, nothing needs improving (except for the weather!)
 Safer crossings
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Response
Percentage
More secure cycle Better rain cover More space for Different location
racks
for racks
storage of
of cycle/scooter
helmets
racks
Other
9. If you are using a car, is your journey to school usually...
A special journey to get to school?
A continued/combined journey, e.g. to work?
Part of a car share arrangement?
I don’t travel by car
Other
11
14
3
15
1
25.00%
31.82%
6.82%
34.09%
2.27%
Other responses
 Some days we walk, when I drop at school then onto work
8
40
35
30
25
20
Response
15
Percentage
10
5
0
A special journey
A
continued/comb
Part of a car sh
I don’t travel
Other
Unsafe Locations
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Crossing Sullivan Drive to get to Henty Close – have to walk over the grass, not
many crossing areas
Goffs park
It’s not safe to cycle near the bridge to Padstow Walk
Waterfield Gardens is a busy road but on the whole we do not see the motorists
being disrespectful at the drop off and pick up times. This may well change in
future years when the school doubles in size and the congestion at these times
increases
The turning further on from the school (for the adventure playground) I have often
seen children and parents chance crossing and children on bikes trying to get
across quickly enough
Too many to write
Crossing Hawkesmoor Road which is busy with school traffic
Speeding traffic
The Bewbush underpass
Some parts of the footpath behind the school are prone to flooding resulting in a
very wet and muddy walk. Some paving stones on footpaths are very uneven
causing trip hazards. Path through the forest behind Padstow Walk can get very
muddy
Crossing the main road (Waterfield Gardens Road)
Footpath parallel to Douster Brook often flooded
Waterfield Gardens Road (the road outside the school) needs speed bumps as the
cars often speed along this road also there is a bend in the road that can cause a
blind spot when we are crossing the road or trying to ride our bikes across the road
Dodgy paving slabs on Padstow Walk and uneven tarmac paving on Padstow Walk.
Plus broken glass bottles along Padstow Walk and nearby walkways
The only area I consider unsafe to walk/cycle is right outside the school. With
parents dropping off children in the staff car park or using the car park entrance
9
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(and the gap in the path at the other end by the car park) as a turning bay or
parking in the gap in the path or on the path too
Not very safe to walk/cycle from Gossops Green to Bewbush. Not enough safe
crossings like traffic lights
Crossing the main road – Waterfield Gardens Road
Subway near the Bewbush shops – when cycling you speed up a lot them, not safe
for younger kids to go on their own (this was a very common response)
The unsafe part of our walk to school is when we need to cross the street at
Hawkesmoor Road at the car park, because it is a busy time when everybody is
arriving or leaving from school (this was a very common response)
Blind bend on Waterfield Gardens
The major findings
71.43% of children travelling to school do so in a sustainable way through walking or
cycling/scooting.
61% of car journeys are car share arrangements or necessary due to the parent travelling directly
onto work.
See Appendix for photographic evidence of problems outside the school.
Staff Travel
Waterfield has 23 Full time members of staff and 12 part time members. 43% of our staff travel
sustainably. This involves walking, cycling and car sharing. Of those members of staff that do not
travel sustainably 85% live more than 5km from the school. Travel to school on public transport for
these individuals would not be conducive. Despite only 57% of our staff travelling by car, the car
park is still not big enough. Additional parking for staff and visitors is found on the road outside the
school (Waterfield Gardens). This is a concern as the school is expanding over the next six years.
Future Plans at the School
Waterfield doubled their Reception intake for September 2014 after a request by the County Council
just before the Easter break of the 2013-14 academic year. The school worked with the Council to
organise building work and successfully open a new Early Years Unit in September 2014. This
increased the number of children on role and therefore increased the number of people travelling to
Waterfield. We are concerned by the fact that 72% of our current Reception intake are from outside
of our current catchment area (fig 2) a pattern becoming clearer in the 2km Pupil Plot (fig 3). If this
trend continues as the school effectively doubles in size over the next six years there will be a
10
reduced capacity for sustainable travel and a subsequent increase of car traffic in Waterfield
Gardens.
Fig 2: Current
Catchment Area
11
Fig 3: 2km Pupil Plot for Waterfield Primary
In addition to these concerns we are also waiting for confirmation that our existing catchment area
will be changing. The proposal includes Waterfield’s catchment area to include the new Kilnwood
Vale development on the A264 between Crawley and Horsham (fig 4). This will also affect the
percentage of children arriving by sustainable methods of transport.
Fig 4: Proposed
Catchment Area
Staffing levels will have to increase. This will mean having to employ an additional six teachers and
six class based Teaching Assistants over the expansion period. Subsequently additional parking will
be required as Waterfield’s car park is currently overflowing when all staff are in school.
Due to the increased number of parent cars Waterfield expects there to be more congestion at the
beginning and at the end of the day. This will have an impact on the surrounding roads including
Hawkesmoor Road where parents already park during these periods. Parking on Waterfield Gardens
opposite the school already causes issues when crossing the road. The potential for Park and Stride
is limited as the surrounding roads are bus routes and parking along these roads can cause
difficulties for a bus to get through, e.g. Gasson Wood Road.
The school is considering long term initiatives to tackle the problem of growing numbers. Waterfield
is already a Bike It school, currently working with Sustrans to achieve Bike It Gold. However the
school is concerned about the increased out of catchment children not being able to take part in
cycling to school and how this will affect its status. Waterfield is also investigating road safety
initiatives including FOOTSTEPS and the Junior Road Safety Officer programmes to provide the
12
children with more traffic awareness when walking or Parking and Striding to the school. Waterfield
also wants to investigate appointment of a Lollipop operative to ensure safety for the children,
bearing in mind the context of increased traffic around the immediate vicinity of the school. A
possible location is on Gasson Wood Road – west of the junction between Gasson Wood Road and
Waterfield Gardens. This is a semi blind corner and road traffic is obscured at this point.
Specific concerns raised by the school building works
Working with the school’s development lead, Waterfield has identified the following concerns for
the school and school community during the building works.
Location
Identified concern
Proposed new emergency access via
Hawkesmoor road due to YrR extension
blocking existing route. (Picture 11 in
appendix)
Additional pedestrian access next to vehicle
access would be beneficial to the school for
safety reasons – moving existing school
access out of the EY area.
Moving the pedestrian
access would be beneficial
for the school, but this may
increase traffic in
Hawkesmoor road,
especially during drop off
and pick up time.
Identified
by
JM
Action
Assess
feasibility of
pedestrian
access. Speak
to CBC about
access over
land in
Hawkesmoor
road.
Travelling to School – Identified areas of concern
Waterfield has asked pupils and parents to identify barriers to them travelling in a sustainable way
to school. These locations were collected from the parent survey as well as by speaking to staff. The
results are shown in the table below.
Location
Identified concern
Gassonwood
Drive
No safe place for crossing.
Especially hazardous at the bus
shelter due to a blind spot. There
are speed bumps but traffic still
travels too quickly.
There is no crossing on this road
and despite their being speed
bumps traffic travels too fast for
families to cross in completely
safety.
Road becomes very narrow when
cars are parked both sides of the
road. This makes crossing
dangerous.
Sullivan
Drive
Waterfield
Gardens
Waterfield
Cars using the car park entrance
Identified
by
Parents
Action
Parents
Lollipop operative to ensure safe
crossing. Crossing to be put in place
Parents
and Staff
Lollipop operative outside school to
ensure safe crossing of Waterfield
Gardens.
Widen the road immediately outside the
school by cutting into the large grass
verge opposite.
Signage or a physical barrier to parking
Parents
Lollipop operative to ensure safe
crossing.
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Gardens –
outside the
school
Hawkesmoor
Road
Paths behind
the school
and the break in the path where
there used to be a car park
entrance to turn/park.
Crossing here is difficult due to
school traffic parking and turning.
Areas of path behind the school
are prone to flooding and are
uneven making for a muddy,
slippery, and in some weathers,
dangerous walk to school.
and Staff
or turning in these identified locations.
Parents
Provide a safe crossing area.
Parents
Address the pavement issues of
unevenness and flooding.
Initiatives and Promotions of Sustainable Transport
Waterfield has enhanced Healthy School Status. Under the umbrella of Healthy Schools we have
initiatives with discrete roles. Each week a different initiative takes a turn in a Wednesday assembly
to explain what they are doing for the school, as well as taking feedback with ways forward from
other pupils. These roles are highly valued by the pupils and the work of each initiative is recorded in
the weekly newsletter. We have also featured in the Crawley observer for our Bike It Silver award,
and our trip to the Houses of Parliament with the Eco Team.
Healthy Schools
Bike It Crew
Eco Team
School Council
Bike It Crew
Our Bike It crew have worked over the past three years to increase sustainable travel in school,
particularly with cycling and scooting. We have Bike It Breakfasts and Bling your Bike events once a
term to maintain the profile of Bike It. Each class has two Bike It reps who work to collect and record
sustainable travel data. Bike It crew has also worked hard to establish more bike and scooter parking
in a secure place on site to ensure that children and parents are happier leaving bikes and scooters
at school during the day. Waterfield Primary was one of the first Crawley Schools to be awarded the
Bike It Silver award, this is recognition of the hard work that has been put into sustainable travel by
successive Bike It reps. Waterfield also takes part in the Big Pedal each year.
Eco Team
Our Eco team is heavily involved in raising the awareness of sustainability in school. They link the
importance of sustainability to looking after the planet and our more immediate surroundings. As
well as working closely with Bike It Crew and School Council on the Travel Plan they have also
focused on the need for clean, tidy paths and other routes around the school. This work actually saw
them travel to the Houses of Parliament to present what they had been doing to other schools and a
selection of MPs.
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School Council
The School Council has always been involved in the development of the School Travel Plan and work
closely with the other more specifically focussed initiatives of Bike It and Eco Team in the school, e.g.
School Council worked well with the Bike It Crew to highlight the Big Pedal.
Waterfield are now also investigating the possibility of introducing the Footsteps and Scooter Skills
initiatives from WSCC Road Safety for children across the school. These are steps to increase the
profile of sustainable travel again and also highlight the importance of staying safe during your
journey.
Working with others
In addition to members of staff leading initiatives in school we also work with professionals from
outside Waterfield.
Bikeability is still run in our school for our year six pupils. They also attend Young Citizen which gets
the children to reflect on sustainability through recycling and reusing as well as keeping themselves
safe whilst making journeys.
We have also worked with Beverly Claydon, who has been a wonderful support to the school during
our development. In the summer of 2014 she worked with our year six children on a walking to
school programme as part of their transition to secondary school. This is in a ddition to the safety
assemblies she runs in school.
Nicola Dooris, the Sussex Community Safety Manager from Network Rail has attended the school to
talk to the children regarding their safety around railway lines due to accidents on the line very near
our school. She was accompanied by representatives of the Transport Police and Network Rail
engineers. This was followed up in subsequent assemblies.
We are also very fortunate to have Parish Council member John Stanley as one of our governors. He
is very supportive with the initiatives in school and is able to support us in understanding the
developments being carried out locally.
School Trips and Extended School Activities
Trips that require travel outside of Crawley are serviced by hired coaches. These are arranged
through the school office manager after consultation with the Key Stage Leader. The trips will only
be undertaken if seen as a benefit to the academic and/or experiential education of the children.
The cost of these trips is divided amongst the children travelling. Disadvantaged children are
supported through whole or part payment of the trip. Parents are invited to support on school trips.
Hired coaches have access to the school and are able to turn in a junction (Collins Road) just past the
school. Therefore children walk straight out of the school into the coach.
15
Other trips around Crawley have involved travel on Metrobus public transport. This is cheaper and
more sustainable. We have taken whole classes and smaller groups on more local trips using
Metrobus.
If we have a smaller group that needs to travel to either Gossops Green or Ifield the children usually
walk with adults.
All trips are risk assessed and checked by the EVC through EVOLVE. See Educational Visit Policy in
Appendix.
Curriculum Links
All year groups focus on the local area at a point throughout the Long Term Plan cycle. The topic
lasts a term and involves walks for all year groups around the local area, familiarising themselves
with safe pedestrian routes.
The learning across the year groups includes a focussed investigation of services and local transport
links using geography skills; or environmental science skills with an analysis of local plant and animal
life and how this relates to the type of environment the school is set in.
Traffic surveys are also part of the learning which involves data handling skills from the maths
curriculum.
Art skills are used when working with maps of the local area, focussing on the colours and forms
involved. Sketching was also carried out by all year groups. This included sketches of housing and
services including the local bus station.
ICT skills were used in identifying the location of Bewbush on online mapping. Different skills were
then used to create information leaflets and PowerPoints about the local area.
16
Action and Review Plan
Action
To continue to participate in
the annual “Walk to School
Week”.
To continue to focus on the
surrounding area listed in the
curriculum section of the
Travel Plan.
To continue the development
of the Bike It scheme. Work
towards Gold over two years.
Work with Sustrans Bike It
officer for Crawley.
To continue with the annual
Bikeability for Y6 children.
Implement Footsteps
initiative from WSCC Road
Safety
Implement Scooter Skills
initiative from WSCC Road
Safety
Continue to educate the
school community on the
values and ethos behind the
school safety zone on
Waterfield.
WSCC to carry out
assessment for the
implementation of a lollipop
operative to ensure safe
Success Criteria
An increase in the numbers
of children walking to and
from school.
Planning and Pupil
Interviews.
Photographic evidence of the
walks around the area.
School will achieve Bike It
Gold within three years.
Key Role
WSCC and PSHCE
Coordinator to distribute to
class teachers.
Class teachers and
Curriculum Coordinator.
Time Scale
Twice yearly
Date achieved
Ongoing Scheme
Yearly
Ongoing
Bike It coordinator/Crew and
Bike It Hannah.
Throughout the year
Chidlren will be better
equipped for safe journeys to
secondary schools on bikes.
Initiative to be implemented
by the end of 2015
LEA and Y6 teacher.
Once a year.
Inclusion manager and
Barbara Newton as part of
Healthy Schools Initiative.
Throughout the year
Safe crossing areas to
promote pedestrian safety in
area and encourage
sustainable travel.
LEA and Travel Plan working
party/J Moss
Ongoing
Safer crossing for children.
Bev Claydon/WSCC
Ongoing
17
crossing on Waterfield
Gardens and Gasson Wood
Drive
Increase parent involvement
in Bike It breakfast.
Continue to run after school
Bike It club.
Provide more suitable
flooring and cover for bike
rack area to improve
accessibility.
Address issues of path safety
behind the school.
To change family ethos, not
just children.
Improve cycle skills and
safety awareness.
More bikes being ridden and
left in the dry, without mud.
Eco/Bike It/J Moss
Termly
On going
J Moss
Weekly – Wed evening
On going
J Moss/Bike It Hannah/ Bev
Claydon
Yearly
Paths will be safe in all
weathers to encourage
sustainable travel.
Bev Claydon/WSCC
Yearly
Monitoring
This plan will be monitored by the Travel Plan Committee during half termly meetings. Reviews will be fed back to WSCC via the Safer Routes
to School Team at srts.team@westsussex.gov.uk
Authorised on behalf of the school
Headteacher
Chair of Governors
Travel Plan Lead
18
Appendix
1
2
These images demonstrate the concentration of cars before pick up time at the end of the day.
3
4
A crossing operative would make this road safer for the children as you can see the blind bend,
which is a problem exacerbated by the parking
5
6
19
7
8
The images above clearly show the blue car parking in what used to be the entrance to the car park.
A crossing operative would be of benefit to the children.
9
10
These 3 images are from Hawkesmoor Road. They demonstrate the hap-hazard parking by parents
at the end of the day. This makes crossing roads dangerous for children and parents.
Grass area - proposed
emergency access.
Pedestrian entrance would
be beneficial to school.
11
20
These paths often flood and create tricky
conditions for families to walk on. This also
translates to muddy uniform and school.
The bike rack area needs tarmacking or at least
given a suitable surface to walk on.
It would also benefit from some cover.
21