Nursery wins praise for its 'walk to school' scheme

A Portslade nursery has won a national award for encouraging more families and staff to walk, scoot and cycle to school.
Footsteps Day Nursery in PortsladeFootsteps Day Nursery in Portslade
Footsteps Day Nursery in Portslade

The Footsteps Day Nursery in Portslade has been named Early Years Establishment of the Year in the national STARS awards (Schools Travel Award Scheme) at a special event at the Houses of Parliament.

The STARS school travel awards scheme aims to promote sustainable travel for the journeys to and from school and nursery, and around 15,000 schools and nurseries are signed up to the scheme.

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Footsteps gained recognition for installing scooter storage, updating cycle storage and creating a covered waiting/sitting area for parents and made sure that spacious buggy storage was available. As a result, over the last two years the driving rate dropped from 20 per cent to eight per cent.

Meanwhile walking and scooting have both increased by five per cent and 'park and stride' by 10 per cent.

Cllr Gill Mitchell, chair of the council's environment committee, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for Footsteps Nursery and I’d like to congratulate everyone who has contributed towards this success.

“Walking, scooting or cycling to nursery, or parking away from nursery and walking the last five or 10 minutes can contribute significantly to recommended activity levels, as well as helping to ease congestion around the city.”