These are Stanmore Public School’s guidelines for active travel to and from school.
Our school’s philosophy
Stanmore Public School supports and encourages students and families to use active travel in a safe, responsible manner to get to and from school.
Active travel means walking, cycling, scootering, skateboarding or any similar transport where human energy is spent to travel. Using public transport almost always includes walking to and from destinations, and therefore also can be considered as active travel.
The health benefits of active travel are well recognised, particularly as an alternative to motorised or sedentary forms of transport. Children's local active travel to places they regularly go to provides significant health benefits from physical activity, can improve concentration, increase independence and positive self-esteem, and contribute to safe mobility.
Active travel also has a positive impact on the local environment, by reducing the number of motor vehicles on local roads.
Our school’s practices and procedures
The school supports children walking or riding to and from school in a safe and responsible manner, as supervised or authorised by parents and carers.
It is parents’ and carers’ responsibility to ensure that any student walking to and from school is supervised in a way appropriate to their age and skill level, and is aware of and observing road rules and road safety behaviours; and that any student riding to and from school has the necessary safety equipment (including a helmet), and has a sound and roadworthy vehicle.
Children under the age of 16 are permitted to ride on footpaths, and they should do so exercising due care and respect for pedestrians.
Bike and scooter permits are no longer required for children to ride to and from school.
Accessing the school grounds
Children and parents walking to school may enter via the Kiss and Go gate on Holt St, next to the Library. In the afternoon, during the Kiss and Go pickup, only children being picked up in a car should exit via the Kiss and Go gate. Children and parents walking home should use one of the other four pedestrian gates instead.
Children and parents riding to and from school should not use the Kiss and Go gate on Holt St for bike and scooter access in the morning or in the afternoon. This is a busy gate and is prioritised for vehicle drop offs and pick ups. Bikes and scooters should enter or exit the school via the other four pedestrian gates.
Upon arriving at school, children and adults should dismount from their bike or scooter, and walk with their vehicle on school grounds at all times. Riding bikes or scooters through the playground is a safety risk and is not permitted at any time.
Storage of bikes and scooters
Stanmore Public School provides racks for students to store bicycles and scooters during the school day. The bike and scooter racks are located behind the Kitchen classroom, opposite the tennis court. Bikes and scooters should only be stored in this area of the school. Parents’ and carers’ bikes and scooters should not be stored on school grounds.
If the bike and scooter racks are full, additional bikes and scooters can be stored along the walls on either side of the bike racks, ensuring sufficient space for people to walk through the area. They can also be stored along the fence of the tennis court.
The school takes no responsibility for any loss or damage to any bike or scooter stored on the school grounds. The bike and scooter racks provided enable vehicles to be locked up, and this is the responsibility of parents/carers and children.
Scooters and skateboards should not be stored in or outside classrooms. All active travel vehicles should be stored in the designated area behind the Kitchen classroom, and should not be ridden inside the school grounds at any time.
