Notting Hill & Ealing High School for girls has won an award from Transport for London for Gold star.
The TfL STARS award, meaning it is now in the top 10% of London schools that have fulfilled the criteria of setting high standards to inspire others to transform travel habits which has seen a reduction in the number of journeys made by car every day.
Winners were invited to the TfL STARS Top Schools Awards livestream event to hear from other schools, and talks from inspirational speakers, such as ‘Ambassadors of Change’ performance poet Francesca Beard, as well as the STARS team. TfL have also given some funding to the winning schools, which will be spent on new bike storage facilities.
Bella Henry, facilities manager at Notting Hill and Ealing High School, was nominated for a Top Schools Award under the ‘Top Influencer’ category by Ealing Council for the work that she did to help the school qualify for the award.
In 2018/19, Mrs Henry worked with the school’s Director of Finance and Operations to trial the use of minibuses to transport pupils between school and central London and reduce the number of journeys made by private car. A 25-seater minibus soon had to be replaced by a 50-seater coach due to the high demand for places.
In September 2020, the school conducted a survey to determine the level of interest for an additional bus route, from south-west London. Again a 25-seater minibus was increased to 50-seater coach with another minibus providing transport for girls living in the Harrow area.
Very few girls travelled by bus prior to the introduction of this initiative. Survey data for 2012/13 shows 527 (55%) pupils travelled by car and 97 (10%) travelled by bus. Now only 249 (28%) travel by car and 146 (16%) travel by bus.
Mrs Henry said: “It has been absolutely fantastic to finally receive the TfL Gold award after many years working towards achieving it. Eco Reps from Years 10 to 13 and students across the school have all contributed to the activities that helped us to gain the award. Thank you so much to all for their passion in promoting a more active and sustainable school.”
