Award
School Project Award
Winner
Waimataitai School Travel Plan by Waimataitai School, Timaru
In brief
Waimataitai School committed to the development and implementation of a school travel plan to increase the use of active modes of transport, to improve safety, and reduce congestion at the school gate.
At at 12-month evaluation, walking and scooting had increased by 24%.
News article about the project: https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/133357646/new-initiative-to-boost-pupil-numbers-walking-scootering-or-biking-to-school
The details
Waimataitai School is a Year 0-8 primary school that has 50 staff members, 22 classrooms, and a roll of approximately 500 students. The school is one of the biggest primary schools in Timaru. Nineteen percent of students identify as Māori.
Waimataitai School is in central Timaru and located on Trafalgar Street, with two local arterial roads within 190m - 350m, and state highway one within 400m.
Within the WAVE Team at Te Mana Ora, there is a School Travel Plan (STP) Co-ordinator role that is funded by the Timaru District Council.
The issue. The school principal Jonathan Young reached out to the STP Coordinator Jane Sullivan as he was concerned about the traffic congestion outside the school gate and the declining number of tamariki using active travel journeys to and from school.
The predominant mode of transport for tamariki to and from school was travelling by car.
The solution. The school therefore committed to address these issues through the development and implementation of a School Travel Plan. Waimataitai School's vision is for more students to use active travel, for parents to park further away, and to raise the school community's awareness of active travel.
A working group of key stakeholders was established and includes representatives from Te Mana Ora (WAVE), Timaru District Council, SC Road Safety, New Zealand Police and school senior management (Principal, Deputy and Associate Principals), a Board of Trustees rep and a Trafalgar Street resident rep. This group has met quarterly to develop the STP Action Plan and review actions.
Initially students at Waimataitai School were surveyed by undertaking a classroom “Hands-Up” survey in April 2022 which asked questions about how they travelled to and from school, and how they preferred to travel. An online whānau school travel survey was completed in August 2022 to gain insights about travel behavior, motivation and barriers to using active travel modes.
The results from these surveys informed the development of a new school travel plan (2023) with five main goals:
- To increase the percentage of children using active travel modes to and from school to at least 75% (2022 baseline data showed 36% used active travel).
- To improve student awareness and knowledge of safe road use and citizenship (everyone is a road user).
- To create a calmer street environment on Trafalgar Street, Campbell St and White Street, so that everyone feels safe to walk and bike (i.e., reduce traffic congestion).
- To encourage parents to park further away from school – pick up/drop off zones; park & stride areas.
- To review and enhance street crossing points within an 800m/10-minute radius from school.
Actions. The school has implemented several actions from their school travel plan including:
- a review of road safety policies;
- a deliberate focus on road safety education and active travel through the curriculum;
- active travel encouragement initiatives each school term throughout 2023 and 2024
- and establishing four pick-up and drop off points (PUDO) with footpath artwork from these points to the school entrance on Trafalgar St.
The school is working with a local artist to carve bluestone pou with the cultural narrative and these will be installed at the four identified PUDO points.
The Timaru District Council has installed a refuge island crossing point at a busy intersection within 600m of the school to support Waimataitai School tamariki walking from the south east direction and for the wider community who cross at this point.
Initiatives. The school has actively promoted walking to school with several initiatives to engage and motivate students. 
- Gold slips were handed out by staff at various locations to tamariki walking and the slips went into a weekly draw and then a major prize draw (prizes donated by stakeholder organisations).
- Interclass challenge to find out which class had the highest active travel rates.
- Whole-school challenge to reach 75-80% active travel – achieved in Term 4, 2023
- Senior students and staff were involved in painting the WAI learner characters on the footpath to lead fellow students from the pou to the school gate. Image on right.
- Whole-school privilege – tokens were handed out by staff at various locations to tamariki walking to school. Tamariki got to choose between a visit to CBay Aquatic Centre or the CPlay playground.
- Students have had a voice in this mahi. Additional surveys were offered to Yr3-8 students to gauge their perceptions of travel to and from school in relation to safety, enjoyment, traffic and ease of crossing streets.
Success to date. During Term 4 2023 the interclass challenge saw active travel rates reach over 75% and several classes achieved 100%. The classroom teacher recorded the active travel rates onto a school wide spreadsheet. Tamariki mainly walked and scooted to school.
In March 2024 a repeat of the weeklong classroom hands up travel survey was completed, and the results have been compared with the 2022 results. The use of active travel modes of transport has increased by 24 percent, with the largest increase coming from more students walking to school in 2024 when compared with results of the 2022 classroom “Hands Up” survey.
Just over half of the students used active travel modes from school, which represents a 13% increase in active travel mainly in walking when compared with the results of the 2022 classroom “Hands Up” Survey results. Biking and scooting rates from school were similar across the two survey periods.
These results show the school’s commitment to supporting tamariki to travel actively to school is successful with more students walking.