WYNDHAM Council is aiming to reduce traffic around schools by encouraging students to walk and cycle.
With financial support from the Transport Department, three schools in the municipality are taking part in a TravelSmart program that encourages schools to create their own safe travel plans.
Councillors last week resolved to explore further funding options to promote school transport alternatives.
The council also agreed to lobby the state government for investment in safe travel infrastructure, like school crossings and bike facilities, when any new school is built.
The latest school to secure TravelSmart funding, Truganina South Primary, launched its program on March 23. Principal Mandy O’Mara said the school spent part of a $5000 grant on bikes for students’ use.
“We have only 500 children here at the moment, but we could potentially have up to 700 or 800 children in the future, and we’re already having issues with traffic during drop-off and pick-up times,” she said.
“On the day, parents were encouraged to drop off their children at designated points at various boundaries of the school, like Sayers Road and Forsyth Road, so supervisors could walk them to school together …we saw a remarkable decrease in the amount of traffic.”
Ms O’Mara said promoting exercise would also boost pupils’ health and well-being.
Werribee North’s Bethany Primary has also secured $10,000 from the state government and the Catholic Education Office to promote sustainable travel to and from school.
The school’s director of community links, Simon Dundon, said that 12 months ago fewer than 40 of the school’s 600 pupils walked or rode to school. This number has increased to about 150 since safe travel plans were developed after the council funded a pedestrian crossing on Thames Boulevard.
“We’ve made safe travel videos and brochures, we’ve encouraged kids to walk to school in groups and parents who live further away to drop their kids off and let them walk the rest of the way,” Mr Dundon said.
“We felt it was important for kids to make their own connection, so they all teed up where they wanted to meet and it’s grown into a real socialising thing for the kids, a real culture.”
Cr Marcel Mahfoud said Wyndham schools had among the highest enrolments in the state and this had led to traffic jams and unsafe conditions around school precincts.
Cr Shane Bourke said the government, council and schools needed to work together. “We need lots of ideas about how we’re going to do this … schools don’t have all the answers, we don’t have all the answers.”
