Nursery school children put their best foot forward to win sustainable travel award

A nursery in Portslade has won special status for cutting the number of children travelling to nursery by car.
Hannah Moss and Georgia Nicholas from Footsteps Day Nursery and Paul Nash from the Department for TransportHannah Moss and Georgia Nicholas from Footsteps Day Nursery and Paul Nash from the Department for Transport
Hannah Moss and Georgia Nicholas from Footsteps Day Nursery and Paul Nash from the Department for Transport

Living up to its name, Footsteps Day Nursery in Portslade has seen the number of trips to Footsteps made by car drop from 21 per cent to nine per cent in one year.

The nursery on Old Shoreham Road has been awarded Modeshift STARS ‘Early Years School of the Region’, for its efforts to encourage pupils to walk, cycle or use other active and sustainable means of travel.

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Initiatives which helped the nursery win the award included storage for bikes, scooters, and buggies and a parent shelter for cosier drop-offs and pick-ups. Promoting ‘Park & Stride’ and a ‘5-Minute Walking Zone’ help keep any cars further from the nursery. Staff car-free days encourage them to try sustainable travel.

Children earned stars on a chart for walking to nursery, and the things they saw on the way were discussed in lessons.

The honour was announced recently at the Modeshift STARS south-east regional awards event at The Camden Centre in London.

My First Friends and Footsteps Hove nurseries in Brighton and Hove was also nominated. Footsteps Portslade will now go forward to the national awards, announced next March.

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Supported by the Department for Transport, almost 1,000 schools and early year settings nationwide have achieved Modeshift STARS accreditation. All three Footsteps Day Nurseries in Brighton & Hove have achieved their Silver STARS, and are working towards Gold accreditation.

Hannah Moss, co-owner of Footsteps Day Nurseries, said: “Everyone at the Footsteps Nurseries is proud of our achievements in promoting active and sustainable travel. We are delighted that all the hard work has been recognised at the Modeshift STARS Regional awards."

Nick Butler, Modeshift’s national awards manager, said: “The regional awards are a great opportunity to recognise schools and early years settings for their commitment to promoting active and sustainable travel. It’s fantastic to see the varied range of new and creative ways that schools and early years settings adopt to embed a culture of active travel within their communities."

Chair of the council’s environment committee Cllr Gill Mitchell said: “Sustainable travel is a great life-long lesson for children.”

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