Communicating with parents/carers

About this activity

Suitable for all schools and nurseries.

Parents/carers play a key role in influencing how their children travel to school and in their spare time. Therefore it is important to engage parents/carers in your nursery or school’s travel policies and campaigns throughout their child’s time with you.

Encourage prospective, new and existing parents/carers to speak to their children about the benefits of active travel to their health and wellbeing. Ask them to make decisions together around how they get to school in the most safe and sustainable way. 

For future and new pupils’ parents/carers you could:

• Include information about travel policies and campaigns in your school’s prospectus
• Talk to parent/carers at open evenings about your school or nursery’s travel policies and ask your Junior or Youth Travel Ambassadors (JTA/YTA) to present their experiences of active travel and its importance

For current pupils’ parents/carers you could:

• Keep them up to date with all travel and transport issues through the school’s website, newsletter (see examples in Resources), parents' evenings and a physical and online travel notice board
• Feature case studies of pupils and their families who have adapted their journeys to be more active in your school’s newsletter or on its website
• Include tops tips for making the school journey more active and safer in your regular communications
• Work with your JTA or YTA to produce a video or song to present to parents/carers on the theme of active, sustainable travel (find out about seeking funding for travel projects). Watch Cambridgeshire County Council's road safety video as an example of this kind of activity 
• Endorse car sharing and promote its benefits
• Invite parents/carers to any active travel events such as bikers’ breakfasts or bling your bike or ask them to be involved as a patrol officer in a zigzag line enforcement campaign, for example
• Offer cycle training for adults sessions at your school

How to evidence your activity

• Record any feedback from parents/carers
• Sign in to STARS to tell your story. Explain your activity and include feedback from parents/carers, any promotional materials you produced, links to webpages and copies of newsletters