Secondary school pupils showcased their creativity and passion for sustainable travel at a lively pitch event held at Oxfordshire County Council’s County Hall in Oxford on 19 March.

As part of the county council’s travel champions programme, students from Fitzharrys School in Abingdon and The Warriner School in Banbury pitched their active travel campaigns to a panel of judges, competing for £200 to help bring their ideas to life.

The judging panel of Councillor Andrew Gant and Councillor Emily Kerr representing the county and city councils respectively, and Ellie Clarke‑Jacques, from Active Oxfordshire, offered feedback and encouragement.

Students from The Warriner School, a rural school where many pupils travel by bus or car, focused their campaign on promoting respectful travel and car sharing. Meanwhile, pupils from Fitzharrys School set out to encourage more pupils to walk to school, boosting physical activity and improving local air quality. Both teams impressed the judges and were named joint winners, each receiving £200 to help deliver their campaigns.

Cllr Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said: “It was wonderful to hear the brilliant ideas and fresh perspectives the teams brought for ways their schools can engage their communities and inspire more sustainable travel. I am really looking forward to seeing their ideas take shape as they build their plans.”

Students described the experience of presenting in the council chamber as “inspiring” and “educational”, calling it a “good experience [we] were fortunate and proud to have.”

Following the event, the pupils will take part in a further session focused on marketing, before delivering and evaluating their campaigns and contributing to their school travel plans.

_{Image shows the winning student teams from Fitzharrys and Warriner schools with Councillor Emily Kerr - Oxfordshire County Council Active Travel Champion, and Oxford City Council; Councillor Andrew Gant - Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Transport Management; and Ellie Clarke-Jacques from Active Oxfordshire.}

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A number of school street trials to encourage safer, healthier and more active school day starts and finishes have been given the go ahead at an Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member decision meeting today – 11 December 2025.

The school streets trials approved are:

• Edith Moorhouse Primary School and St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Carterton

• Harriers Banbury Academy, Banbury

• Willowcroft Community Primary School and St Birinus Boys School, Didcot

An extension to the existing school street for Sandhills Community Primary School in Headington has also been agreed.

School streets restrict motor vehicle access to the area near the school entrance during school start and finish times only and would be enforced by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.

Councillor Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said: “Since the county’s first school streets were trialled in Oxford in 2021, our school communities have reported back to us on the considerable benefits that a comparatively small arrangement can make for the school gate environment.

“I am inspired by how positive the feedback has been from them – parents, carers and pupils enjoy a healthier, and a calmer and safer environment during the rush of school drop-off and pick-up. Residents on school streets are able to enter and exit their homes and start or finish the working day more easily without stress from school run traffic or vehicles parked blocking them in.

“Being able to park at a nominated site close to the school and walk the last little bit helps for people who need to combine the school run with other journeys. It doesn’t really take more time than queueing to find a parking space by the school and loses the stress of navigating other school rush traffic trying to get away to get to work on time.

“Some people have concerns about how a school street might impact them, and this is why we’re trialling them first. We want to make sure that school streets are a really positive experience for everyone.”

County council officers will work with the schools in the new year to implement the school streets trials. All households who may need an exemption for themselves, and/or a carer or family member will be written to later in January so that these can be arranged. Other considerations such as parents/carers needing exemptions due to their or their children’s disability or illness can be arranged through the schools.

It is anticipated the school street trials would begin in March. The school street restrictions and ANPR cameras will only operate during the approved times around school start and finish, on school days and covering the entry point.

Trialling the school streets will allow residents, schools and communities to feedback any aspects of the school street that need improving to help shape a better plan for the future.

Notes 

• The details of the school streets approved to be trialled are:

  • Banbury - Harriers Banbury Academy, 8.15am - 9.15am and 2.30pm - 4.00pm. Covering Harrier's View from the junction with Bloxham Road

  • Carterton – Edith Moorhouse Primary School and St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, 8.15am - 9.15am and 2.30pm - 3.30pm. Covering Carter’s Close, Edgeworth Drive, Home Close, Lavender Place, Richens Drive, Rose Close and Spurrett Gardens, and Lawton Avenue between Alvescot Road junction and Arkell Avenue/Rock Close junction

  • Didcot – Willowcroft Community Primary School and St Birinus Boys School, 8.00am - 9.00am and 2.30pm - 3.30pm. Covering Abbott Road, The Croft, Glebe Road, Kynaston Road between Mereland and Ridgeway Road junctions, Mereland Road between Abbott and Kynaston Road junctions, Richmere and Ridgeway Roads. Addresses in Sinodun Road, Abbott Close and Bridge Close in Didcot would also be exempt as they are reliant on streets within the school street for access

  • Headington – Sandhills Community Primary School, 8.00am - 9.00am and 2:30 - 3:30pm. Previously covering Terrett Avenue, Elton Close and Sweet Green Close. The trial will bring in Delbush Avenue – from the Merewood Avenue junction up to the Hill View junction to the existing school street arrangement. The existing trial school street for Sandhills community primary school in Headington, was approved to be made permanent at a cabinet member decision meeting on 9 October 2025. During its trial it became clear that there was a need to trial extending the area to include Delbush Avenue due to impacts from school run vehicles parking across the pavement in the Avenue

• Residents and businesses either in the school streets or whose access to their addresses is dependent on the school street can register their vehicles for exemption, and for specific vehicles that need to maintain access to their homes during school street times – such as carers. Other exemptions also apply including emergency vehicles, blue badge holders, certain service vehicles and carers. Oxfordshire County Council will publish more information in January. Any further enquiries can be emailed to SchoolsActiveTravel@Oxfordshire.gov.uk

• ANPR cameras are triggered by vehicles (not people) entering a set trigger area – in which case they photograph the vehicle’s licence/ registration plate details, and an automatic notice is issued if that registration is not on the school street’s exempted list. They do not record continuously and would be set to work only during the approved times stated above

• Officers will be looking at a range of mitigations identified during the recent consultation period including the opportunity to add a double yellow line on the Bloxham Road opposite Harriers View, to deter unsafe parking

• More information about school streets:

  • Report to cabinet  This webpage includes the report to cabinet and the supporting information documents relating to the proposals

  • Oxfordshire Local cycling and walking infrastructure plan

  • School streets (including details of existing school street locations and operating times, and exemptions)

• Oxfordshire County Council’s plans for a greener, fairer and healthier county are set out in Oxfordshire’s strategic plan 2025 - 28. School streets are a part of Oxfordshire County Council’s Local Transport and Connectivity Plan. This aims to deliver a net-zero Oxfordshire transport and travel system that enables the county to thrive while protecting the environment and making Oxfordshire a better place to live for all residents

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Five primary schools in Oxford and Didcot will have their school streets programme made permanent.

School streets encourage safe and active journeys to school with road restrictions around school start and finish times The decision was made at an Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member meeting on 9 October 2025.

The schools are:

•  St Mary and St John CE primary school in east Oxford,

• New Hinksey CE primary school in south Oxford,

• Tyndale primary free school in Cowley,

• Sandhills community primary school in Headington,

• Manor primary school in Didcot

Councillor Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said:  “I am extremely proud of the way these schools and their neighbourhoods have embraced their school streets and the opportunities reduced traffic brings, including support from local groups to create park and stride spaces where parents living further away can swap ten minutes finding a spot to park for a short walk through the school street and chance to socialise with school friends and other families.

“School streets create a safer and welcoming environment where children can walk, wheel or cycle to school with their parents or carers, and a quieter space at school start and finish times where residents can benefit from quiet streets without congestion and parking impacts from the school run.

"Nor do the benefits end there: children who travel sustainably to school have better educational outcomes, better physical and mental health, and learn vital skills which will help develop resilience and independence as they grow and explore their community and neighbourhood.”

The schools have been trialling their school streets using ANPR cameras under an experimental traffic regulation order since September 2024, and before this were trialling the school streets concept with volunteers operating pop-up gates at school start and finish times to discourage motor traffic from entering close to the school gates.

The aim is to reduce traffic and create a safer environment for children, parents, and teachers to walk or cycle to school.

The ANPR cameras will operate only during set school drop-off and pick-up times, on school days only and covering only the entry point. Residents and business owners in the school street, and dependent on the school street for access, are exempt from its restrictions. Other exemptions also apply including emergency vehicles, blue badge holders, certain service vehicles and carers.

Notes to editors

• More information about school streets:
  • Report to cabinet (p3).
  • Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure plan.
  • School streets (including details of existing school street locations and operating times, and exemptions).
• ANPR cameras are triggered by vehicles (not people) entering a set trigger area – in which case they photograph the vehicle’s licence/ registration plate details, and an automatic notice is issued if that registration is not on the school street’s exempted list. They do not record continuously.
• School streets are a part of the vision set out in Oxfordshire County Council’s Local Transport and Connectivity Plan to deliver a net-zero Oxfordshire transport and travel system that enables the county to thrive while protecting the environment and making Oxfordshire a better place to live for all residents.
• Four primary schools in the county previously trialled their phase one school streets with the support of Oxfordshire County Council under the UK government’s active travel initiative since 2021. Larkrise, St Ebbe’s and Windmill schools in Oxford and St Nicolas school in Abingdon were the first schools in the county to successfully implement permanent school streets. They trialled volunteer-led pop-up gates before progressing to ANPR use.
• Secondary images show children and parents volunteering for the Manor School, Didcot school street trial.

Oxfordshire County Council is currently seeking people’s views on proposals to trial a further phase (phase three) of school streets – at Harriers Banbury Academy, Edith Moorhouse primary school and St Joseph's Catholic primary school in Carterton, and Willowcroft community primary school and St Birinus boys school in Didcot. This includes a proposal to extend the phase 2 school street for Sandhills community primary school in Headington to include Delbush Avenue following concerns about road safety and parking issues. People can read the proposals and share their feedback in a survey open until the end of 13 October 2025.

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School children at Brookside Primary School in Bicester have thrown their support behind a new initiative to reduce children’s exposure to harmful tobacco smoke.

Oxfordshire County Council’s smoke free school gates campaign aims to encourage more smoke free zones at school entrances throughout the county.

Councillor Kate Gregory, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health and Inequalities, said: “We all know about the risks of second hand smoking. On top of that, around two thirds of smokers started as children, and young people are four times more likely to light up if they live with a smoker.

“That’s why we want to encourage initiatives such as these to help normalise healthy smoke free environments for children and young people.

“Brookside has set the standard for what can be achieved when a school community comes together to protect children’s health. We’re eager to see more schools follow their example.”

Pupils at the school were involved in researching the health risks of second-hand smoke and, with support and signage provided by the council, created educational materials for parents and carers.

The campaign will be delivered alongside national efforts including Stoptober, helping to raise awareness and support families who want to stop smoking.

James Watt, Deputy Head of Brookside Primary, said: “This has been a whole school effort. Our children took the lead in learning about the dangers of smoking and worked with staff to create a healthier school environment.

“This scheme has not only changed behaviours around the school gates but has also helped some families begin their journey towards quitting”.

The council’s free stop smoking service, Smoke Free Oxon also provides a range of support services to help residents quit, including aids, coaching and more. People can find out more by visiting Smoke Free Oxon’s website, by calling 0800 772 3673, or text QUITOXON to 66777.

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Residents are now able to share their views on Oxfordshire County Council’s proposals for more school streets initiatives, improving walking, wheeling and cycling experiences to some schools in Banbury, Carterton and Didcot. A survey about the proposals is open online at letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxfordshire-school-streets until 13 October.

School streets is a popular programme in Oxfordshire, with nine schools so far implementing the temporary road closures around schools for most motor vehicles, during the school’s start and finish times. This creates safer, more welcoming spaces for children and encourages active travel to school, reducing congestion and improving air quality for local residents.

The council is asking for views about school streets proposals for the following schools:

• Banbury – Harriers Banbury Academy
• Carterton – Edith Moorhouse Primary School and St Joseph's Catholic Primary School
• Didcot – Willowcroft Community Primary School and St Birinus Boys School
• Oxford – extending the existing school street for Sandhills Community Primary School in Headington to include Delbush Avenue.

Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Transport said: “I am exceptionally proud of the success of our school streets programme and the great feedback we get from the schools benefitting from a school street. It’s an example of positive action to create a better environment for our children and young people.

“The benefits of an active journey to school are well known, helping set children up for a day of learning and boosting wellbeing. School streets bring extra safety and enjoyment to the final stretch of the school run.

“I look forward to hearing people’s thoughts on the proposals as this will help to shape the final plans so that they work best for everyone.” 

The county already has nine school streets – in Abingdon, Didcot, Headington, east Oxford, and south Oxford, with Larkrise Primary School in Oxford now benefitting from a 21 per cent reduction in car use for pupil travel to school.

School streets are enforced by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. Residents on the designated school street, and some other vehicles, are still able to drive through it during times of operation – including emergency vehicles, public service vehicles and blue badge holders.

School streets are developed in collaboration with schools. They contribute to a school’s travel plan, which could also include initiatives such as Bikeability cycling training, and park and stride (where parents and carers who need to drive for that trip can walk into the school street from a designated parking site close by).

Residents can request a paper copy of the survey if required by calling our customer services team who will ask a member of the school streets team to contact you) or emailing us. Residents can also share their views by email.

Notes to editors

• Frequently asked questions about our Oxfordshire school streets proposal
• The school streets programme is part of the council’s countywide Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP). The travel to school policy (Policy number 11, page 53) was approved at the council's cabinet meeting on 21 June 2022. It contributes to its vision to make walking, cycling, public and shared transport the natural first choice for journeys. It supports the 2030 LTCP target of replacing or removing one out of every four current car trips in Oxfordshire. 
• School streets are also a part of the council’s sustainable school travel strategy for promoting sustainable travel to and from school and college across Oxfordshire. This supports its vision to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people by enabling active and sustainable travel to school and college on a safe, ecofriendly Oxfordshire transport system. The sustainable school travel strategy was approved at the council's cabinet meeting on the 17 September 2024.
• More about the school streets initiative on our website:  About School Streets | Oxfordshire County Council 
   

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Children in Oxfordshire are leaping into walk to school week (19 - 23 May) with a space-themed challenge to help build healthy habits for life.

Oxfordshire County Council is funding 29 primary schools across the county to take part in the week as part of an annual walk to school challenge delivered by Living Streets. This year, schools are launching ‘the great space walk’ and it will celebrate five themes: mental health, physical health, sustainability, road safety, and community.

Students can walk, wheel, or cycle to school every day, with each day this week focusing on one of the celebration themes, highlighting the benefits associated with these journey choices.

Councillor Liz Leffman, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: "The journey to school can set children up for a lifetime. This week will get families thinking about the benefits of everyday active journeys, which can have such wide reaching positive impacts.

“The great space walk is a very exciting theme, which will no doubt inspire young imaginations and create opportunities for fun together with family and friends.”

It’s not just about walking to school, students can also take part in playground activities, physical activity lunch clubs, and even class walks.

Schools that join the walk to school challenges see an average 23 per cent increase in active travel journeys to school and a 30 per cent reduction in reliance on private car journeys to school.

Chesterton Primary School in Bicester is one of the schools participating in the challenge.

Mr. Horner, Headteacher of Chesterton Primary School, said: "We always try to participate in walk to school week, as it fits in with our wider goals regarding sustainability and the environment. Even though some of our families can't walk to school due to the nature of our catchment area, we show them that there are still alternatives to driving from door to door. The pupils (and staff) always enjoy being part of the challenges and competitions that we set, and families regularly feedback that they have really enjoyed the experience."

Students might pretend to have moon boots on when walking into school, look for exciting new life-forms, start the walk with "one small step", or take part in a solar system hunt on their way to the classroom.

More information about the national walk to school week challenge is available on Living Streets’ website, with some free resources to promote the benefits of walking to school, including a booklet, a diary, and a free family walk to school kit.

Ends

For more information about this release contact the Oxfordshire County Council communications team on 01865 323870 or email press.office@oxfordshire.gov.uk

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Here's what Cutteslowe Primary School student council shared about what they like about walking or wheeling to school:

As part of Oxfordshire County Council's safer routes to school programme, the raised zebra crossing, speed humps, side road entry treatments and footway widening were completed this week at Sandy Lane West in Littlemore.

The zebra crossing allows pedestrians coming from both directions along Sandy Lane West to access St John Fisher Catholic Primary School.

Paul Higgins, headteacher of St John Fisher Catholic Primary School, said: “We have been petitioning for a crossing at St John Fisher for decades, and I made it my top priority when joining the school.

“This crossing will improve the lives of our children, and the children of Blackbird Leys and Littlemore for generations to come. We are proud to lead on improvements for our community and delighted to have seen this crossing open.”

The £400,000 scheme was funded through the council’s Vision Zero programme, a package of initiatives aimed at eliminating deaths and serious injuries on Oxfordshire’s roads by 2050.

Road humps on both sides of the crossing will reduce vehicle speeds and increase awareness of the crossing point. Visibility has also been improved by the removal of the hedge in front of the school, although a replacement hedge will be planted on the school grounds at a later date.

Side road entry treatments on three side roads will enhance pedestrian safety along the southern footway that is used extensively by pupils at both St John Fisher School and the Oxford Academy.

Paul Fermer, Oxfordshire County Council’s Director of Environment and Highways, said: “Everyone should be able to walk to their destination safely, especially children travelling to school, so we are pleased that these safety measures are now in operation.

“We hope they will make a real difference to the confidence of pupils and parents at both St John Fisher Primary School and the Oxford Academy.”

The scheme was designed and delivered by Oxfordshire County Council’s principal highways maintenance contractor, M Group, which was previously known as Milestone Infrastructure.

Richard Lovewell, M Group business director for Oxfordshire, said: “Improving walking routes and providing safer routes to school is very important to M Group and we’re proud to support Oxfordshire County Council’s Vision Zero programme.

“Our teams worked closely with Oxfordshire County Council, ODS and St John Fisher School to design and deliver a comprehensive solution so improve safety on this busy road, including speed humps, footpath widening and a zebra crossing.”

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In partnership with the University of Oxford, Oxfordshire County Council’s public health team is calling on school and colleges to sign up to the project, which enables partners to better understand young people’s mental health and wellbeing and helps shape future support.

Open to children and young people aged nine to 18, it is a 15 minute anonymous questionnaire completed during the school day.

It asks students about their mental health and emotional wellbeing (including their sleep patterns) and their experiences with social media and bullying, school support and access to services.

Councillor Dr Nathan Ley, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health Inequalities and Safety, said: “By gathering insights directly from young people, the survey ensures their voices are put at the heart of efforts to improve their mental health.

“As well as allowing Oxfordshire schools and colleges to learn about and respond to their students’ needs, the data gathered will also inform broader national research on youth mental health trends.”

Schools and colleges can sign up to take part for free by visiting the OxWell 2025 sign-up portal. The survey will run until 24 March 2025.

Professor Mina Fazel, Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, who leads the research, said: “Not only does this survey give us valuable insights into young people’s lives, but we are also committed to translating those findings into practical measures and plans that improve their mental health and wellbeing. That’s why the more children we get taking part, the better the picture we get of what is happening in their lives and minds, and what their priorities are.”

The last survey, undertaken in 2023, provided critical insights into issues affecting the county’s children and young people, such as self-harm, loneliness, vaping and safety. The findings helped schools and local authority to create targeted interventions to directly benefit students, including mental health strategies, anti-bullying policies and student well-being initiatives.

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Is your school ready to WOW with the Walk to School challenge?
This year we’re walking with imagination!

Oxfordshire County Council is partnering with Living Streets to provide free resources and support for schools taking part in the WOW Walk to School challenge.

Until the 25 November, schools in Oxfordshire who have not tried the Walk to School challenge in the last three years, can sign up to secure one of 20 fully funded places for the 2024/5 challenge.

Schools who have joined the challenge so far have seen an average 23 per cent increase in active travel journeys to school and a 30 per cent reduction in reliance on private car journeys to school.

How it works:

WOW began as a Walk on Wednesday or Walk once a Week initiative to promote walking to school regularly at least once a week for students and their parents/carers.

The increase in physical activity levels can improve physical health, whilst helping pupils to feel more energised in the mornings and more ready to focus on their studies. There is also the opportunity for parents/carers and children to socialise on the school run, boosting wellbeing and sense of community.

Pupils walking, wheeling, cycling, scooting or parking-and-striding to school at least once a week can earn monthly collectable badges with a unique, imaginative transportation design for each month. The badges are inspired by competition entries to design the badges from primary school students across Britain.

A key stage one teacher from Chilton Primary School in South Oxfordshire, whose school took part in the challenge last year said: 
“The children love coming in and recording how they have travelled to school and there is always great excitement when it’s ‘badge time’ at the end of the month!  
Many children enjoy collecting all the badges and it encourages them to try to ‘park and stride’ to school rather than drive in order to be eligible.”

It doesn’t have to be just walking to school – there are other ways to get the badges too. Living Streets’ schools team and Oxfordshire County Council officers offer support to schools to help make sure the challenge is inclusive and find more ways students can take part – including playground activities, physical activity lunch clubs and even class walks.

Cllr John Howson, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Young People's Services, said: 
“Walking, wheeling, cycling or scooting to school is a fun and refreshing start to the day. It helps to boost a positive bond with friends and family, spark interest and curiosity in the world around us, and of course helps us feel a little bit more healthy and energised.

“It’s wonderful to hear that this year the challenge is to fill the school journey with your imagination and I’m looking forward to hearing about the exciting travels – commanding a Viking longboat, steering a super-powered magic scooter or riding a bus with the floor made of lava…the possibilities are endless!”

Walk to School Challenge schools receive a full welcome pack with resources, class guides and a poster as well as support to help kick-off the challenge for their school, and a virtual launch assembly to introduce the challenge to students.

The schools get access to a fun Walk to School travel tracker which works with education whiteboards, computers and iPads. For the pupils, the tracker features engaging graphics and relatable icons for recording their journeys – including walking frames and wheelchairs as well as walking, bicycles and scooters. For education staff and leaders, it forms a great part of data logging which contributes to the school’s travel planning performance including its national awards Modeshift STARS and Healthy Schools status.

Want to get your boots on? Your school can sign up with Living Streets for the Walk to School challenge until Friday 25 November.  

You can find out more about the Walk to School challenge on Living Streets’ website: 
livingstreets.org.uk/walk-to-school/primary-schools/wow-the-walk-to-school-challenge/
It doesn’t have to be just walking to school – there are other ways to get the badges too: 
More than just walking: WOW in SEND schools

Glossary of terms:

• Wheeling – travelling using a wheeled mobility aid – such as a wheelchair, rollator, or mobility scooter.
• Park-and-stride – a school run can also include a short walk to the school gates by parking safely ten minutes’ walk away and completing the last bit of the journey actively.
• KS1 – Key stage 1 is an educational stage – meaning the first stage of primary school education in England – referring to five- to seven-year-olds.

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Five primary schools in Oxford and Didcot will have their school streets programme supported by the use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. The decision was made at an Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member meeting on 5 September 2024.

The schools have been trialling the school streets concept, which involves timed road closures with volunteers operating pop-up gates close to school entrances at school start and finish times. The aim is to reduce the volume of motor vehicles during school drop-off and pick-up times creating a safer environment for children, parents, and teachers to walk or cycle to school.

During October and November,  ANPR cameras will be installed at the school street entry points to help operate the scheme consistently without reliance on a volunteer team. The cameras will operate only during set school drop-off and pick-up times, on school days only and covering only the entry point.

Councillor Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said: “School streets are a simple but very effective way to help make it easier for the school community to start and finish the school day feeling safer, more confident and healthy.

“It’s also a hugely positive thing that schools are supporting their families even further to get the most out of the school journey with other opportunities such as walking buses and park and stride – which allows people who need to drive for longer or more complex journeys to park nearby and enjoy the social benefits of walking or wheeling for the last leg of the school run.” 

“As a highway authority we have a responsibility to improve how people can get about the county, together with a duty to reduce our impacts on the environment and make it better for everyone. We have learned from the school streets scheme so far that generally school communities enjoy the welcoming atmosphere of the school street and residents are seeing less of traffic impacting how they enjoy their neighbourhood and access their homes. I am incredibly proud of our local schools helping us strive to make Oxfordshire the best it can be and look forward to the continued success of the school streets.” 

The schools are:

• St Mary and St John Church of England Primary School, Oxford
• Sandhills Community Primary School, Oxford
• Tyndale Community (Primary) School, Oxford
• New Hinksey Church of England Primary School, Oxford, and
• Manor Primary School, Didcot.

Residents and businesses in the school street locations will receive letters on how to apply for their vehicle exemptions and when their school street ANPR cameras will become operational. Oxfordshire County Council’s school street webpages also provide a full of list of exempt vehicles – which includes residents, local businesses, blue badge holders and carers – and details on how to register an exemption.

Notes to editors

• More information about school streets:

• Full report to cabinet.
•  Local Transport and Connectivity Plan.
• Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure plan.
• School streets (including details of existing school street locations and operating times, and exemptions).

• ANPR cameras are triggered by vehicles (not people) entering a set trigger area – in which case they photograph the vehicle’s licence/ registration plate details, and an automatic notice is issued if that registration is not on the school street’s exempted list. They do not record continuously. 
• School streets are a part of the vision set out in Oxfordshire County Council’s Local Transport and Connectivity Plan to deliver a net-zero Oxfordshire transport and travel system that enables the county to thrive while protecting the environment and making Oxfordshire a better place to live for all residents. 
• Four primary schools in the county previously trialled their phase one school streets with the support of Oxfordshire County Council under the UK government’s active travel initiative since 2021. Larkrise, St Ebbe’s and Windmill schools in Oxford and St Nicolas school in Abingdon were the first schools in the county to successfully implement permanent school streets. They trialled volunteer-led pop-up gates before progressing to ANPR use. 
 

For more information about this release contact the Oxfordshire County Council communications team on 01865 323870 or email press.office@oxfordshire.gov.uk

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The county council has been running the interest free loan scheme since July 2023 to help maintained schools reduce their overall energy usage, which in turn could help cut operational costs.

The school applied to the council for just under £12,000, out of an £800,000 fund, to finance the classroom installation of photovoltaic (PV) technology, which is designed to convert sunlight into electrical energy.

Councillor John Howson, Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Young People’s Services, said: “We’ve already carried out 50 energy efficiency audits on our council maintained schools. The latest round of the loan scheme was launched earlier this year, with Sonning Common Primary School being the second to make use of the fund, after Nettlebed Community School.”

The school hopes to install the photovoltaic (PV) technology during the summer break in readiness for the new term in September.

Chris Hirst, Headteacher at Sonning Common Primary School, said: “We are thrilled to be able to add to our existing solar PV array. This most recent addition will help us to reduce our carbon footprint even more and will help us on our journey to become net carbon zero. We are proud to be playing our part and hope that other schools will follow to install renewable technologies.”

Other schools are applying for energy efficiency loans and details of their plans will be released in coming months.

Action on Carbon and Energy in Schools (ACES), an energy efficiency support service, funded by Oxfordshire County Council and delivered by Oxford Brookes University and Low Carbon Hub, has been supporting schools with applying for the loan.

Your Oxfordshire

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A total of £2.23 million was approved by councillors at the 19 March meeting of cabinet to create 23 new places at Mabel Prichard Special School in Oxford. The school provides education and support for pupils with a range of severe learning difficulties and is managed by The Gallery Trust.

The school is co-located with Orchard Meadow Primary School. It is also an academy and is managed by United Learning.

It is proposed that Orchard Meadow Primary School will relocate its foundation stage accommodation into surplus space elsewhere on site, enabling the provision of the additional school places for children with SEND.

Councillor Kate Gregory, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Improvement, said: “The expansion of Mabel Prichard School in Oxford is just one part of our continued efforts to provide quality local facilities and support for SEND children.

“We’re fully committed to improving Oxfordshire’s SEND services for children, young people and their families. We’ve recently published a priority action plan and we are working together with families to make a difference to the way children and young people get the support they deserve to help them thrive.”

Kay Willett MBE, Chief Executive Officer of the Gallery Trust, said: “We are delighted that the expansion of Mabel Prichard School in Oxford has been approved.

“The Gallery Trust will always respond to local needs by enhancing or expanding our schools and services and is happy to support Oxfordshire's SEND strategy on this project.

“We are so pleased that this partnership will support the provision of the much needed additional special school places in Oxfordshire and we know that this will have a positive impact on many children and young people and their families."

The cabinet’s approval is part of wider plans to increase SEND provision in the county. Bloxham Grove Academy opened in January, and the Department for Education is due to submit a planning application soon for another school in Faringdon. Meanwhile £14.4m of funding was approved by cabinet in January for a new school SEND school in Didcot.

The proposal for the school in Didcot will be the first of two new special schools planned for the area, which will take the total number of Oxfordshire special schools to 17.

SEND partnership improvement information can be found on the council’s website and parents and carers can sign up for a SEND e-newsletter online and SEND coordinators can also fill in a simple form. In addition, online support for parents and carers of children with SEND has been improved, with more to come, to make it easier to find information, which can be accessed at oxfordshire.gov.uk/localoffer

Councillor Felix Bloomfield is the Chair of the council for 2023/4. He said: “I was delighted to attend St Nicholas Church of England Infants School in Wallingford on 19 December to award Ronan his winners’ prize for my Christmas Nativity card competition.

“I was hugely grateful to the enormous number of primary pupils and their schools from across the county that took part, well done to them all. Ronan designed a fantastic card that I felt was the worthy winner despite a wealth of other wonderful entries.

“Ronan's design stood out with its bright vibrant colours and strong composition combining to make a happy and joyful image that made me smile and captured how we should all feel at Christmas time. His design now graces the front of my Christmas cards and is truly joyful and triumphant.”

This follows Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission’s local area partnership inspection of SEND services in July.

The local area partnership members include Oxfordshire County Council, NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB), Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. They have been working together with the county’s parent carer forum (PCF), as the official body for the voice of parent carers, and professional subject matter leads, to develop the priority action plan detailing clear and measurable service improvements.

Ofsted will provide feedback on the draft plan within 70 days of the report submission date. After this point, the report will be finalised. However, action to deliver and implement improvements has already begun.

Today (16 November), the DfE has published an improvement notice that has been issued to the county council. This is an official document sent to councils following inspections that have similar outcomes, outlining the steps needed to evidence progress in the improvement of services. 

The partnership has committed to continual dialogue with families, children and young people and professionals, and will hold a variety of mid-term information gathering and sharing sessions (online and in-person), including in educational settings, to gather feedback. This will be supported by existing meetings with the parent carer forum and other parent and carer support groups.

Only one Oxfordshire secondary school is a local authority maintained school and around half of primary schools in the county are now academies. These schools are therefore run independently of the council and managed by the Regional Schools Director/Department for Education.

The county council has been kept informed by a small number of academies in the county who do have RAAC issues but who have each come up with arrangements to ensure that children continue to be educated. Parents were fully informed of the individual situations at these schools by academy trusts earlier this week. The county council will help each school where it can.

The schools are:

• John Mason School in Abingdon updated parents that some RAAC had been found in the school - this affected the school from the week beginning 11 September.
• Wallingford School remains open to all children despite some areas of the buildings being affected by RAAC, again the council is trying to assist with temporary classrooms.
• Hardwick School in Banbury is able to remain open to all children despite a small part of the school potentially being affected by RAAC with survey work being undertaken.

At its meeting of 23 May, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet will hear about the plans in place to mitigate earlier proposed changes to the spare seats scheme, which would affect 235 pupils overall.

Because of the progress made, council officers are not recommending a moratorium on future spare seats planning, something that was discussed at the council’s People Scrutiny Committee on 30 March.

Solutions have been found for the 150 pupils affected at four schools:

• Wheatley Park School
• Wood Green, Witney
• Icknield School, Watlington
• King Alfred’s, Wantage.

Meanwhile work is continuing on finding transport options for the remaining 85 children at the other two schools:

• Warriner School, Bloxham
• Marlborough, Woodstock.

Wheatley Park School

From September 2023, Oxford Bus Company has confirmed it will operate a double decker bus as a standalone public service school bus.

The route will operate from Garsington, Cowley and Headington to Wheatley.

The new arrangements do not easily support transport requirements for children in the Baldon’s area, so the council is currently assessing its contracted transport to see if those pupils can be accommodated.

Wood Green, Witney

From September 2023, Pulham’s Coaches will increase capacity on Oxfordshire County Council’s contracted service bus 3-WG02. Pulham’s will sell the spare seats direct to parents per academic year.

Icknield School, Watlington

In readiness for September 2023, Oxford Bus Company has submitted a revised timetable for its number 11 public service bus. An additional morning and afternoon journey serving the school has been added into the timetable.

King Alfred’s, Wantage

From September 2023, Oxfordshire County Council will continue to offer spare seats across existing contracted services to the school by using spare capacity on other buses. The council will work with the school to find a longer-term solution from September 2024 as the school already contracts vehicles themselves.

Warriner School, Bloxham

Following a meeting with the school and parents in early May, Oxfordshire County Council is exploring various options, the preferred one involving a local bus operator providing a closed contract service direct to families.

Marlborough, Woodstock

Oxfordshire County Council has proposed several travel options to the school and parents, which were well received at a meeting in late April. The school is sending a survey to all parents, including those who currently make their own transport arrangements, and the council will analyse the survey results later this month.

Councillor Liz Brighouse, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Youth Services, said: “We are extremely grateful to the parents at all six schools, who have worked hard with us to make significant progress in providing spare seats’ solutions. The council is committed to working with parents, schools and bus companies to explore ongoing and practical options for spare seats on school transport. There’s more to do and we look forward to further progress. I thank parents for all their help and support.”

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The day included visits to Grosvenor’s Barton Park development including Barton Park School and Barton Sports Pavilion, in addition to Barton Community Centre, the Elmsbrook development in Bicester and Kingsmeadow.

Councillor Liz Leffman, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “I am delighted to have been able to welcome Professor Whitty to the county to showcase our health place shaping work.

“Tackling inequalities and creating healthy communities is a top priority here in Oxfordshire, so it is great to see our work receive recognition from the chief medical officer for England.”

Councillor Phil Chapman, Cherwell District Council’s Portfolio Holder for Healthy Communities, said: “Healthy place shaping is an approach which combines community activation, different models of care, and a built environment which promotes healthy life choices. The work that’s been done on this in Bicester for a number of years is leading the way in creating better outcomes for our residents, and we’ve since adopted it across the district. We are absolutely delighted to have been able to showcase this important work to the Chief Medical Officer.”

Councillor Louise Upton, Oxford City Council Cabinet Member for Health and Transport, said: “Barton Healthy New Town aims to create an innovative and sustainable way to improve health and wellbeing and was showcased at the World Health Organisation’s Healthy Cities Conference in 2018. The overall aim of is to give all residents equal opportunities to achieve good physical and mental health outcomes.

“As well as creating a built environment that has health and exercise designed in, we’ve got new ways of working with healthcare professionals, and we’re supporting the community to get more active in its own wellbeing. Grant funding has provided things like a breakfast club for children and young people and a Community Cupboard to improve food access, and there has been more targeted healthcare support for people with long-term conditions and high users of healthcare.”

Dan Leveson, executive director for Oxfordshire at the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board, said: “Professor Whitty’s visit was welcome recognition of what we can achieve to improve people’s health and wellbeing through close working across health and care, schools, businesses, volunteers, housing developers and academics.”

Rupert Biggin, Project Director, Grosvenor Property UK said: “As master developer for Barton Park, one of the 10 NHS Healthy New Towns, we laid the groundwork for healthy living by building the infrastructure that would encourage walking, cycling and active lifestyles right at the start of the project.

“By partnering with the council to understand and respond to what local people wanted, we believe Barton Park shows how new places can create healthier and better-connected communities.”

Steve Hornblow, Head of Special Projects (North West Bicester) at A2Dominion, said: “Everyone at A2Dominion was delighted to welcome Professor Whitty to our award-winning Elmsbrook development at North West Bicester. 

“England’s chief medical officer is one of the leading figures in promoting healthier living and his visit provided a great opportunity for us to showcase our commitment to building sustainable homes for the future, and ensuring that health and wellbeing is a lasting legacy of our communities.”

Healthy place shaping in Oxfordshire aims to create sustainable, well designed and thriving communities, where all residents are supported to live healthier and happier lives. The experience and learnings generated by the Healthy New Town pilots have informed Oxfordshire’s approach to healthy place shaping and it is now being delivered across the county to reduce health inequalities.

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Applications should be submitted online at: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/secondaryadmissions

Oxfordshire County Council is encouraging parents and guardians to list four preferences on their application. This doesn’t make it less likely that their first preference will be offered. But it does reduce the risk of all preferences being unsuccessful and children being allocated a place at a school that is not named on their list.

The deadline for completed applications is 31 October 2022.

Parents and guardians will then be contacted with the result to their application on national offer day, 1 March 2023.

It is important to apply on time. Late applications will be processed later in the year and are far less likely to secure places at preferred schools.

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A scheme to make streets around schools safer is set to continue in four primary schools in Oxford and Abingdon.

A School Street is a timed road closure near school gates that restricts access for motor vehicles during school drop-off and pick-up times. The timed road closures create a safer environment for children, parents and teachers to walk or cycle to school.

School Streets was trialled at a group of primary schools last school year. Four schools are continuing the programme in the 2022/23 school year. These are Larkrise, St Ebbe’s and Windmill schools in Oxford, and St Nicolas school in Abingdon.  

Schools that opted to join the trial were supported by Sustrans. Temporary gates to restrict motor vehicles were used during the trial while volunteers from Sustrans and participating schools monitored changes in travel patterns throughout the trial. Going forward automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras will be used to enforce the scheme.

Councillor Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Highways Management, said: “I am really delighted that we will be continuing to build on the successes seen during the School Streets trial. We are committed to make walking and cycling the first natural choice for people. School Streets make it easier for parents, children and teachers to choose healthier ways to travel.

“School communities, along with volunteers from Sustrans have worked extremely hard to help shape the plans and staff the temporary gates, helping to make the areas around school gates safer at start and finish times and reduce traffic impacts associated with school travel.

“We are now working closely with the schools to progress the next steps to bring the programme into being with a more sustainable model. We are keen to extend the programme more widely and welcome interest from more schools in trialling a School Street.”

ANPR cameras will be installed at entry points in autumn. School Streets will continue to be operated by volunteers till then. Details for applying for exemptions will be published in October 2022.

Ends

For more information about this release contact the Oxfordshire County Council communications team on 01865 323870 or email press.office@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Notes to editors

• Click here to see the full report to cabinet.
• Click here to see the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan.
• Click here to see the  Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure plan.
• Click here to read more about School Streets.

People can now have their say on a proposal for permanent measures to restrict motor vehicle access to four school streets during school start and finish times to create a safer environment for children, parents and teachers to walk, wheel or cycle to school.

Championed by Oxfordshire County Council, and supported by Sustrans, the school streets programme initially ran as a trial with nine schools last year under an experimental trial regulation order (ETRO). Following some great results from the trial, four of the participating schools now wish to make the school streets programme permanent from September 2022. 

The participating schools are Larkrise Primary School, St Ebbe’s Church of England Primary School and Windmill Primary School in Oxford, and St Nicolas Church of England Primary School in Abingdon.

The measures propose to restrict traffic from the road accessing each participating school’s entrance for around 45 minutes each during school start and finish times during term time only. Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras will be operated during these times and permanent signs at the road entrances will be used to warn and inform people.

People can have their say online on Let’s Talk Oxfordshire until 26 August 2022.

Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways Management, said: “Safe streets are essential to build confidence and encourage children and their parents to walk, wheel or cycle. School streets create a welcoming and attractive environment where children can thrive, be healthier and happier because they have the added benefit of reducing air pollution and traffic congestion.

“School streets will help embed active travel habits amongst children as they grow. This will contribute to our vision of making walking, cycling, public and shared transport the natural first choice for everyone. I am delighted that several schools from the trial reported that the programme worked very well for them and are committed to continuing with it. The sterling input from school communities and local residents to help achieve this success cannot be understated. 

We look forward to hearing your views on our consultation to make these school streets safer and encourage other schools wishing to participate to contact us.”

Schools wishing to join future school streets trials are invited to contact the schools active travel team by emailing schoolsactivetravel@oxfordshire.gov.uk .

Ends

For more information about this release contact the Oxfordshire County Council communications team on 01865 323870 or email press.office@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Notes 

• More about school streets can be found on our website
• You can read the results from the 2021/2022 school streets trial online. The report was written for Oxfordshire County Council by Sustrans
• Sustrans is a charity group dedicated to making it easier for people to walk and cycle, by supporting in creating healthier places and happier people

The campaign looks to raise awareness of the four major illnesses that are likely to affect school-age children this winter: the flu, norovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19.

These viruses can spread very easily, particularly in busy environments such as schools.

Councillor Mark Lygo, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health, said: “I was delighted to be able to join some of the pupils at Heyford Park School to talk about this campaign and raise awareness of how we can all protect ourselves in the winter months.

“There is a much higher risk of catching a winter virus this year as people have more exposure to common viral infections. Last year, we didn’t see the kind of levels we would normally, which has meant this year we’re all a little more at risk when it comes to catching them – particularly school children. It’s likely that all these winter illnesses will be in circulation at the same time too.

“For the majority of children, although unpleasant, these illnesses will not be too serious, and they will soon recover after a bit of rest, but it’s important we do all we can to minimise the chance of them spreading to protect those individuals who may be at a higher risk of complications.

“We hope that this new campaign will help young people of all ages know what they can do to help keep these bugs at bay. Those aged 12 and over will now be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19, which is even more important with the new variant, while all school-aged children can get a flu vaccination.”

The campaign is being run with Oxfordshire County Council-run schools and early years services, with younger children being offered stickers and bookmarks and posters being displayed throughout schools.

There are simple steps that young people can take to protect themselves against the four viruses this winter:

• Stay at home if you’re feeling poorly.
• Cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze.
• Stay away from people are ill.
• Wash AND dry your hands regularly.
• Throw away tissues straight away – don’t leave them lying around.

People can find out more about winter viruses and how to stay well by visiting the NHS website,

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The programme started on September 22 with the Oxfordshire School-aged Immunisation Team from Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust giving quick and painless nasal spray vaccinations to consented pupils from reception classes to year 11.

Schools are contacting parents, guardians and carers to ensure consent is provided. Any consented children who miss out on the day of immunisation at their school, either through sickness or absence, will be able to get their influenza vaccine at catch up clinics.

Around 50,000 children – 73% of reception to year 7 pupils – were immunised last year. The 2021 influenza campaign now includes secondary school children up to year 11. This includes children educated at home and children who attend special schools.

Preschool children over two years old will be offered the immunisation by their GP surgery.

You can find out more information on our vaccinations in non-school places by emailing: flu.schoolnurses@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk.

Ansaf Azhar, Director of Public Health at Oxfordshire County Council said: “The programme offers children and young people a chance to get their flu vaccines quickly and easily, protecting both them and those around them.

“It is also a good opportunity for them to meet their school nurses and health professionals and speak with them about any health-related concerns they may have.”

Fiona Singleton, Manager of the Oxfordshire School-aged Immunisation Team, said: “The flu vaccine provides the best protection against the virus and we are pleased that it has been extended to include all school aged children.

“Children can catch and spread flu easily. Vaccinating not only protects them but also those around them including those who are vulnerable. This is even more important now with Covid still present.”

Top 5 reasons to get your child vaccinated

Flu is an unpleasant and occasionally serious illness which can lead to children spending days in bed rather than being at school and participating in everyday family life. It can have serious complications such as bronchitis and pneumonia.

Immunising children reduces the spread of flu across the population and helps to protect other household members too.

1. Protect your child: The vaccine will help protect your child against flu and serious complications such as bronchitis and pneumonia.
2. Protect you, your family and friends: Vaccinating your child will help protect more vulnerable friends and family.
3. No injection needed: The nasal spray is painless and easy to have.
4. It’s better than having flu: The nasal spray helps protect against flu, has been given to millions of children worldwide and has an excellent safety record.
5. Avoid costs: If your child gets flu, you may have to take time off work or arrange alternative childcare.

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School Streets aim to improve road safety to help boost cycling and walking and improve air quality. Oxfordshire County Council has been working with Sustrans, a walking and cycling charity, to implement nine School Street trials across the county. The pilot scheme trialled restricting vehicle traffic using experimental traffic regulation orders (ETRO) at drop-off and pick-up times during term-time.

Five hundred and eighteen residents and parents and a further 112 pupils completed surveys about their experience of their local School Street. Of these, 59 per cent of those parents and residents said they supported the School Streets, 27 per cent did not and the remaining 21 per cent weren’t sure or supported with modification. Sixty per cent of pupils who completed a survey said they felt the road outside their school felt safer or much safer during the School Streets trial, 30 per cent were unsure and 9 per cent thought it was less safe or much less safe than before.

Councillor Mark Lygo, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health and Equality, said: “We know that without safer streets, many children and their parents will not have the confidence to cycle or walk. I’d like to thank Sustrans alongside the many volunteers and school staff that have contributed to the School Streets trials across Oxfordshire. Valuable things have been learned from the trials, which we hope to develop for the longer term to help encourage cycle journeys by children and their families whilst helping to reduce traffic.”

Sarah Leeming, Head of Delivery at Sustrans, said: “It’s been amazing to see whole school communities get behind the School Street trials – the support from headteachers and volunteers has been fantastic. Pupils, parents and residents reported that the area outside the school gates felt safer. I hope that the successful outcome of the trials will provide confidence for local leaders to make the case for more School Streets across the county.” 

Since March 2021, nine primary schools have adapted the road outside their gates for safe walking and cycling to school while limiting the motorised traffic – reducing traffic volumes to just essential access for a six-week trial.

Schools that took part in the six-week trials were:

• St Christopher’s School (Temple Cowley, Oxford)
• East Oxford School (Cowley, Oxford)
• Windmill School (Headington)
• Bure Park School (Bicester)
• St Edburg’s School (Bicester)
• Tower Hill School (Witney)
• Larkrise School (Florence Park, Oxford)
• St Nicolas School (Abingdon)
• St Ebbes School (south Oxford)

Windmill, St Christopher’s, Larkrise, St Nicolas and St Ebbes primary schools have decided to continue with their School Street based on the success of the initial trial. Each will collaborate with the county council to work within the ETRO to carry on reducing motor traffic at school drop off and pick up times. The remaining schools will continue to be offered support to look at alternative measures for traffic calming, reducing problem parking and improving both air quality and the surroundings outside their school to make it safer and more appealing to walk and cycle.

The council hopes to continue with School Street trials to address parking and safety issues around schools. The trials also depend on the availability of volunteers to marshal the scheme. If your school is interested in taking part in a future scheme or you’d like to become to volunteer, please email to register your interest.

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Since its launch in Oxfordshire in October 2020, the app has been met with great enthusiasm by schools and communities with Oxfordshire having the highest sign-up rate for Street Tag in Britain. The Farthing Truss team won season two, which ran from January to May with 1,400,370 points.

Councillor Damian Haywood, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Equality, Oxfordshire County Council, said: “During this pandemic, finding time to get active has been shown to be doubly important: fitness helps our immune systems and better mental health is linked to increased physical activity – Street Tag can help you get both.

“By turning being active into tag competitions between friends and family members, while linking it to prizes, Street Tag can be an invaluable way of motivating you to get outside and staying healthy.

“I’d like to congratulate our winners of this season’s community league and all others that took part. However many points you collected you will have really benefited your health and wellbeing.”

Street Tag has two leagues; one for schools and one for communities. The community leaderboard provides opportunities for residents of an area to compete in smaller teams of up to six and scan virtual tags of their area, converting steps into Street Tag points, as well as joining online fitness classes to earn PE codes to be redeemed for more points. 

Other results from the season two community league are that players walked and cycled 29,546 miles and walked 30,187,775 steps across Oxfordshire.

Further good news on Street Tag is that ten libraries have teamed up with the scheme to offer bonus points. If players go to pick up a book, they can now scan the Street Tag QR code to collect bonus points. The libraries are Abingdon, Banbury, Bicester, Didcot, Henley, Kidlington, Oxfordshire County, Thame, Wantage and Witney.

Players can also treble their points during ‘Power Hour’. Players can pre-select a 60 minute burst on the Power Hour tab in the main menu of the app to boost their scores.

To sign up to the community leaderboard, install the app, create a team and join.

Players can earn Street Tag points from physical activities, indoor and outdoor – walking, running and cycling by scanning virtual tags.

The most active communities and schools benefit from real rewards. Those with the highest rates will be rewarded with £50 for parent teacher associations of the top three leading schools in the districts and rewards of sports equipment, Amazon vouchers and more for the highest scoring communities within each district.

For more information visit Street Tag online or find Street Tag on the Play Store, App Store, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

School Streets aims to improve road safety to help boost cycling and walking and improve air quality. They are being delivered by Oxfordshire County Council together with participating schools, in partnership with walking and cycling charity Sustrans and backed by financial support from the government.

Rosie Rowe, Healthy Place Shaping Lead at Oxfordshire County Council, said: “We know that without safer streets, many children and their parents will not have the confidence to cycle or walk. School Streets are a great way to allow this to happen, which not only offers a more sustainable form of travel that will improve air quality but provides the opportunity to increase the physical activity levels of school children and their families.”

Sarah Leeming, Head of Delivery at Sustrans, said: “Following the successful pilots in Oxford, Sustrans is delighted to be working with school communities in the county towns of Witney, Oxford and Abingdon in the role out of more School Streets. It feels like momentum for School Streets is gathering pace across the county, with school staff, parents and residents keen to see a happier, safer and healthier environment outside the school gates.”

School Streets restrict motor vehicles (other than buses) outside schools and apply to both school and through traffic, while typically continuing to permit access for people living there.

In a six-week scheme starting on 24 May, Tower Hill Primary School in Witney will join the trial. From 7 June, St Nicolas Church of England Primary School in Abingdon and Larkrise Primary School in Oxford will also join the trials. In addition, Bure Park Primary School and St Edburg’s Church of England Primary School, both in Bicester, started trials on 12 May.

If the trials are deemed a success by the schools, they will be extended for a further 18 months.

On roads where School Streets are trialled, orange and white cones or barriers will be placed along the road temporarily to stop cars from going through, with signs telling drivers not to park in the area to keep the children safe. Marshalls will be on hand to enable residents to access or leave their property. The restrictions will apply to school staff and all through traffic alike.

Sustrans is supporting schools across the country to deliver School Streets as part of its commitment to making it easier for people to walk and cycle.

For anyone interested in having a School Street, please register your interest with the council. If you'd like to help volunteer on this scheme, Sustrans South is looking for Steward Leads for School Streets trials in Witney, Abingdon and Oxford.

A series of frequently asked questions on School Streets are also available online.

School Streets aim to improve road safety to help boost cycling and walking and improve air quality. They are being delivered by Oxfordshire County Council in partnership with walking and cycling charity Sustrans, backed by financial support from the government. This follows extensive engagement and designs with residents and the schools prior to the scheme launch.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “We know that without safe and low-traffic environments, many children simply won’t have the confidence to cycle. School Streets are a great policy in enabling a travel revolution to improve air quality and physical activity levels of school children and their families.”

Sarah Leeming, Sustrans head of delivery, said: "We’re really pleased to be supporting Oxfordshire County Council to trial the School Streets initiative.

“School Streets schemes in other parts of the country have proved beneficial for road safety and air quality. And they create a cleaner, more pleasant environment outside the school.

“In turn, School Streets increase the likelihood that children will walk or cycle to school instead of being dropped off in a car, so they get to school feeling alert and ready for a day of learning.”

School Streets restrict motor vehicles (other than buses) outside schools and apply to both school and through traffic, while typically continuing to permit access for people living there.

In a six-week pilot scheme starting on 22 March, Windmill Primary and St Christopher’s Church of England primary schools in Oxford will be the first to begin the trials. These will be followed by East Oxfordshire Primary in Oxford in May.

If the trials are deemed a success by the schools, they will be extended for a further 18 months.

On roads where School Streets are trialled, orange and white cones or barriers will be placed along the road to stop cars from going through, with signs telling drivers not to park in the area to keep the children safe. Marshalls will be on hand to enable residents to access or leave their property. The restrictions will apply to school staff and all through traffic alike.

Sustrans is supporting schools across the country to deliver School Streets as part of its commitment to making it easier for people to walk and cycle.

The charity hopes that schools, local authorities and residents will see the benefits of the schemes and consider options for making them more permanent, as a number of schools across Britain already have.

For anyone interested in having a School Street, please register your interest with the council. A series of frequently asked questions on School Streets are also available on the county council’s website.

Photo: Sustrans/Paul Mitchell

Changes this week to lockdown measures include schools and colleges opening to all students and residents in some care homes being allowed a nominated visitor.

Reported new cases of COVID-19 in Oxfordshire are now below a rate of 50 per 100,000 population – putting the county in a great position to support children returning to school this week.

Ansaf Azhar, Oxfordshire County Council’s Director of Public Health, said: “We are seeing cases now falling across all age groups in the county, which is really reassuring to see. This puts us in an excellent position as the government begins to implement its roadmap out of lockdown.

“Seeing young people finally able to return to school is an incredibly reassuring first step. It’s been clear that the pandemic has had a tremendous impact on young people, with both their mental wellbeing and their learning impacted by not being at school.

“Although there are now additional steps in place to protect teachers, other school staff, young people and their families, such as testing, I must remind residents that it is inevitable that, with schools going back, it is likely that we will see a small spike in cases once more. It’s crucial that we continue the great progress we have made by following government rules for each roadmap stage. We are still in lockdown.

“This includes not mixing with households – apart from meeting with one other person outside for socially distanced exercise, staying at home apart unless absolutely necessary, including to continue to work from home where possible, and adhering to all the guidance around washing our hands, keeping our distance from others and wearing a mask. Even if you have had your vaccination, you must remember that you need two doses to receive the maximum protection against the virus, and you may still be able to pass the virus onto loved ones and those around you who may not have had it.

“Testing remains crucial in our fight against COVID-19. You should continue to make use of any symptom-free testing programme you are eligible for – through your school, workplace, our symptom-free testing facilities, or the government’s home testing scheme to protect yourself and those around you.

“If we let our guard down now, it could be all too easy for cases to rise sharply once more, as we saw back in the autumn. A third wave is still possible if we let our guard down too soon. With vaccinations continuing at such speed, we are so close now, and we can all do our bit to get us over that line.”

To support the return to school, the government is encouraging all households with primary and secondary school and college-aged children and young people, including childcare and support bubbles, to start regular twice-weekly rapid lateral flow testing.

Adults in these households who are workers or volunteers in a public facing role can get tested at one of the county council’s symptom-free sites, which are Spiceball Leisure Centre (Banbury), The Beacon (Wantage), The King’s Centre (Oxford). If they are not eligible for this programme, they can order tests online for home delivery.

They can also collect up to two packs of home test kits (each contains seven tests) from a COVID symptomatic site 1pm - 7pm. Testing will not be taking place at these sites during these times to avoid contact with anyone with COVID-19 symptoms. The sites are open seven days a week and residents do not need to book an appointment to collect home test kits.

There are four local and regional symptomatic testing facilities in Oxfordshire that are offering the collection of home test kits for parents and carers:

Regional testing site (drive-through)

• Oxford Parkway, Water Eaton Park & Ride, Oxford Road, Oxford, OX2 8HA

Local testing sites (walk-through)

• Woodgreen Leisure Centre, Woodgreen Avenue, Banbury, OX16 0HS
• Osney Lane, Oxford, OX1 1NY
• Woodford Way car park, Witney, OX28 6JS

Home tests kits cannot currently be collected from the county council’s symptom-free testing sites. Residents should not go to one of these sites as the kits they have are not suitable for home use.

Anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19, should book a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test at one of the symptomatic testing sites as soon as possible.

There are five local and regional testing facilities in Oxfordshire (as above with the addition of Oxford Brookes University in Headington). Booking is required.

In addition, mobile testing units are deployed in various locations across the county for a few days at a time, including Abingdon, Bicester, Bodicote, Chinnor, Carterton, Didcot and Wheatley.

Alternatively, residents can request the home delivery of a test when booking a test.

More information on this is available on Oxfordshire County Council’s website.

More information

This week’s COVID-19 statistics in Oxfordshire by district are:

• Cherwell 37.2 per 100,000 of the population compared to 71.8 the previous week
• Oxford 30.2 per 100,000 of the population compared to 82 the previous week
• South Oxfordshire 28.9 per 100,000 of the population compared to 45.8 the previous week
• Vale of White Horse 35.3 per 100,000 of the population compared to 58.1 the previous week
• West Oxfordshire 25.3 per 100,000 of the population compared to 26.2 the previous week.

Lateral flow testing

Rapid COVID-19 tests (also known as lateral flow tests) are available for households with school-aged children and through some workplaces via the government’s home testing scheme, and to anyone in a public facing role who does not have access to workplace testing at one of the county’s three test centres. They are only recommended for those not showing symptoms.

The test kit is a hand-held device with an absorbent pad at one end and a reading window at the other. Inside the device is a strip of test paper that changes colour in the presence of COVID-19 proteins (antigens).

Taking a lateral flow test usually involves taking a sample from the back of the throat near the tonsils and from the nose, using a swab. The swab is dipped into an extraction solution. This is then dripped on to the device's paper pad, producing the reaction that gives the result.

The result will be visible on the device in 30 minutes after the sample is applied. Unlike a PCR test, there is no need to send the sample to a lab.

Once a home test is completed, the kit should be placed into the bag provided and disposed of with general household waste.

Find out more about how the lateral flow test is being used in schools on the gov.uk website.

PCR

Anybody displaying any COVID-19 symptoms should get a PCR test through one of four symptom testing sites throughout the county. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are used to confirm a suspected case of coronavirus, where the person is already self-isolating and is showing symptoms.

Like the lateral flow test, the test usually involves taking a sample from the tonsils (or where they would’ve been) and from the nose, using a swab.

This test checks for the genetic material (RNA) of the virus in the sample and is sent to a lab for processing. Anybody showing symptoms should self-isolate immediately (along with their household) and book a PCR test as soon as possible.

A total of 89.99 per cent (6,371) of applications have been awarded their first choice. A total of 97.27 per cent (6,909) have been offered one of the four choices they listed on their application.

This first choice figure represents a slight improvement on last year’s figures and is comfortably ahead of national averages in all recent previous years (see below). This year’s national average will not be published until later in the year.

Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Cultural Services, said: “Our school admissions team have done an excellent job in ensuring that so many parents and children have been offered their first choice. I am grateful to them for the hard work they’ve done. Our aim as a council is to give every child a good start in life and our school admissions team play their part in that year in, year out.”

Since its launch in Oxfordshire in October 2020, the app has been met with enthusiasm by schools and communities with Oxfordshire having the highest sign-up rate for Street Tag in the country.

Councillor Lawrie Stratford, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said: “The enjoyment with which Oxfordshire’s school children and communities have adopted Street Tag and the fun it offers has been very encouraging. The game has been a very helpful boost to the county’s children. Despite the challenges of the lockdowns, exercise remains a vital part of our efforts to stay fit and healthy. Indeed, there is still time to join in the fun and rewards that Street Tag offers as we move into season two of the game.”

“Your daily walk or other permitted exercise can be a great way to win Street Tag points and tags and compete against your peers and rival communities, but we do ask players to keep to current government guidelines on permitted movement during the pandemic.”

Mark Peacey, Deputy Headmaster at The Batt Church of England School in Witney, said:

“It has been fantastic to see the whole school community, young and older, sporty and less sporty, united in wanting our school to do well on the leaderboard but, more importantly, enjoy being outdoors and exercising as a family.”

The Street Tag app rewards primary school pupils, communities and schools for their physical activities such as walking, running, cycling, among a number of other fitness activities.

The news comes after the end of the first season of the game, which ran between October to late December 2020 for the Oxfordshire Schools Leaderboard and October 2020 to 15 January for the Oxfordshire Community Leaderboard.

An impressive 95 schools signed up to play the Street Tag Oxfordshire schools games league with 4340 players. They walked an amazing 285,700 miles covering 318,453,192 steps and collected over 1,251,600 Street Tags on their way.

In schools that competed across the county, The Batt Church of England School in Witney won the most points with 14,698,105 and was also the Street Tag season one West Oxfordshire school games winner.

In the Oxfordshire community league, over 630 players joined, walking an impressive 10,470 miles over 13,168,519 steps. Players accumulated 51,980 Street Tags.

The good news for children and communities across Oxfordshire is that you can still join Street Tag and start winning points to gain rewards in season two. Schools can sign up by email or fill an online form.

To sign up to the Community Leaderboard, install the app, create a team and join.

Players can earn Street Tag points from physical activities, indoor and outdoor – walking, running and cycling by scanning virtual tags.

The most active communities and schools benefit from real rewards. Those with the highest rates will be rewarded with £50 for parent teacher associations of the top three leading schools in the districts and rewards of sports equipment, Amazon vouchers and more for the highest scoring communities within each district.

For more information visit Street Tag online or find Street Tag on the Play Store, App Store, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Following the introduction of a new residents’ parking scheme for Cowley Marsh, Oxford, Oxfordshire County Council received complaints that parking problems had increased on Rymers Lane, near the school. The council’s parking services team worked closely with local councillors and the headteacher to find a solution.

At short notice, double yellow lines were introduced on one side of Rymers Lane, stopping motorists parking inconsiderately and greatly improving the safety of children walking to and from school.

Councillor Liam Walker, Cabinet Member for Highways Delivery and Operations, said: “I’m really pleased our highways team has been able to help improve parking issues and road safety by the school. We do ask that all parents and residents across Oxfordshire help us by parking responsibly but, on some occasions, we need to intervene with measures like this.” 

Headteacher, Hannah Forder-Ball, added: “We would like to thank all those who worked so hard to ensure that the double yellow lines on Rymers Lane were put in place. It has made the journey to and from school so much safer for our families. Our house captains have sent a letter of thanks to the parking team and have sent a photograph of themselves on Rymers Lane to show how the situation has improved.”

The council is planning further improvements to the area with the introduction of a low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) for Florence Park. It will be surveying residents on the plans for the LTN later this month with the LTN implementation planned for early in 2021.

Called Street Tag, the app is being highlighted at the launch of this year’s National Walk to School Week between 5-9th October.

Street Tag is a family-friendly game app that rewards primary school pupils, communities and schools for their physical activities such as walking, running, cycling, among a number of other fitness activities.

The app turns physical activity into a game and converts steps or exercise into Street Tag points known as tags. It can even sync with Fitbit devices.

Funded by Oxfordshire County Council as part of its active travel plans to increase exercise and improve air quality, Street Tag is aimed at children, parents schools, leisure venues and community groups. It will also involve the use of outdoor spaces and school staff.

Oxfordshire County Council is supporting Street Tag to bring people together to participate in outdoor physical activities, by turning streets into a giant virtual playground matched by guidance by the interactive smartphone app. The app can also be used for indoor exercise.

The technology of the app also means that players can remain safely socially distanced from one another.

It is hoped that the app will help children to embed regular exercise into their daily lives be it through walking or cycling to school or as part of wider leisure time. It also directly encourages children to achieve their daily 30 active minutes as well as allowing users to connect with local green spaces and reconnect with their area.

An additional benefit is that it will help encourage communities to adopt active lifestyles as the norm including making cycling and walking part of a way of keeping fit and as a means of socially distant travel.

The most active communities and schools will benefit from real rewards; those with the highest rates will be rewarded with £50 for Parent Teacher Associations of the top three leading schools in the district and rewards of sports equipment, Amazon vouchers and more for the highest scoring communities within each district.

When playing Street Tag, competitors record their distance walked, run or cycled by scanning virtual tags with their smartphone at various geographic locations, watching their total distance accumulate to climb up on the local leaderboard versus other players. Each game season lasts 12 weeks. In that time, competitors can vie with each other to hit the top of the leaderboard to become the winners.

After the first 12 weeks there will be two more seasons for players to get to the top of the Street Tag Oxfordshire School Games leaderboard over the year. Smaller schools can partner with other small schools so that they are on a more level footing with larger primary schools.

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Environment said: “The launch of Street Tag is good news for Oxfordshire’s schools and communities as we encourage children and families to enjoy being active as part of daily life. The fact that the app will incentivise children to walk to and from schools is good for the whole community; it will mean cleaner air, less congestion and healthier, fitter residents.

“The Street Tag game is a real win for schools and communities in Oxfordshire.”

How does Street Tag work?

You can either take part in your Street Tag Oxfordshire School Games leaderboard or the community leaderboard.

Schools can sign up by emailing Seun@streettag.co.uk or fill an online form at streettag.co.uk/schools.

To sign up to the Community Leaderboard

- Install the app, create a team and join the leaderboard

Earn points from physical activities indoor and outdoor- walking, running, cycling by scanning virtual tags and convert your steps into Street Tag PointsGet ready to push the boundaries and start your journey to a healthy lifestyle with Street Tag.

For more information on Street Tag, visit: www.streettag.co.uk

Find Street Tag on the Play Store, App Store, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

During lockdown many people started to walk more as well as try out cycling and running as a new way to get around while also boosting their health.

Many will have seen benefits to their health and mood while the environment also got a reprieve from carbon and other emissions as the number of petrol and diesel powered vehicles on the roads plummeted.

The start of a new school year usually means a return to old travel patterns for thousands of Oxfordshire residents, but this year it is hoped that many will take up the challenge to keep up some of their new found active travel ways.

County Councillor Liam Walker, Cabinet member for Highways Operation and Delivery, said: “The county council has done lots of work during lockdown to make Oxfordshire’s cycle lanes, foot ways roads and town centres better for people on foot and two wheels.

“We also have a long term vision to invest millions more in active travel and we want people to really think right now about keeping up the good work they have done in recent months.

“Continuing to walk and cycle can pay real dividends for your health and teaching your children that there really are other ways to get to school than the car.

“There are some real benefits for young people by getting involved in active travel. Children enjoy being active and some exercise at the start of the day gives them a boost meaning that they are alert and ready to learn.

“I know it won’t be right for everyone, but the more who people think of the car as an alternative than the norm the better. If there’s less cars on the roads everyone benefits.”

Anyone who is planning to make the journey to school a more sustainable one is being offered some tips to make for a better start to the day:

· Plan and practice your journey – make the first day back stress free by trying the journey out in the evening or at the weekend. This will also give you a good idea of how long it will take.

· Find the best and safest route to school for you. See if there are any cycle lanes on the route and also look for opportunities to travel down quieter side roads.

· If you are cycling, check your bikes ahead of time. Are they safe – check the brakes work and the tyres are pumped up.

Oxfordshire County Council has appointed the main contractor to the project through the Department for Education construction framework.

Morgan Sindall Construction won this competitive tender to deliver the new 108-place school.

When completed, the school will provide a new home for the Orion Academy, which is one of six SEND schools in Oxfordshire operated by The Gallery Trust; a special multi-academy trust based in Oxford. The state-of-the-art development will be built on the site of the former Northfield School on Knights Road.

Northfield School became an academy on 01 February 2020; and was re-named Orion Academy as part of the conversion process. The school had been found to be inadequate by Ofsted in November 2018.

Plans for the larger, specially designed facility will allow the Orion Academy to more than double its intake of pupils, which currently range from ages 10-16, with an accompanying increase in staffing numbers.

County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, Cabinet Member for Education and Cultural Services, said:

“Oxfordshire County Council is so pleased to see the appointment of the main contractor to deliver a new and enlarged 108-place school for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the Blackbird Leys area of Oxford. This state-of-the-art building will be the new home for the Orion Academy, which is one of six SEND schools in the region operated by the Gallery Trust.

“We are really excited to see the plans for the new building with construction due to start shortly and completion scheduled for September 2021. This long-awaited scheme will help produce huge educational benefits for children and young people.

“These are encouraging times for special educational needs and disabilities provision in the county, with plans well advanced for the construction of a new special school at Bloxham Grove (near Banbury); and a new special school in Didcot.

“This is another exciting project, delivering on our commitment to provide first class education for the county’s children and young people.”

Two phases

The project will be divided into two phases. The first, which started recently, involves the construction of the main single-storey 2,700 square metre building. It will comprise 14 general classrooms: 12 for pupils aged 10-16 and two for students aged 16-18.

In addition to specialist rooms for science, art, music and design, there will also be a dedicated space for life skills; where pupils can practice cooking and other domestic tasks to prepare them for independent living beyond school.

A space in the middle of the school called The Bridge will act as a therapeutic base and social area. It will be configured to accommodate group collaboration, and individual work. There will also be a large dining area and separate games hall, with an attached gym.

This phase of the project is scheduled to complete in time for the new school term in 2021.

It will be delivered as a tandem build, to avoid disruption to pupils’ education, with teaching continuing in the existing building while the new school is constructed on an adjacent plot.

Following completion of phase one, the school will transfer into the new building, with the old structure then demolished. In its place, the site team will lay an all-weather Sport England compliant pitch, MUGA (multi-use games area) tarmac court, and a grass pitch with running track. The second phase will complete early in 2022.

Partner quotes:

James York, area director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “Providing modern, considered learning environments is a vital component to ensuring pupils with SEND can develop and thrive. We’re well versed in designing and building these schools and have taken the time to co-create our approach with experienced teachers, senior leaders and policymakers from within the sector. Success hinges on early collaboration with all of the stakeholders involved, and awareness of the important, nuanced design choices which render spaces suitable for a range of additional needs.

“We’re incredibly pleased to be working with the council and The Gallery Trust on this project and look forward to seeing it develop.”

Kay Willett, Chief Executive Officer, The Gallery Trust, said: “The Gallery Trust is pleased to be collaborating with Oxfordshire County Council and Morgan Sindall Construction in the development of this impressive building, which will greatly extend opportunities for pupils’ learning. Pupils and staff at Orion Academy are already excited by the prospect of moving into this environment in 2021, and are looking forward to studying in purpose-built, state of the art facilities”.

Building Better Futures (Morgan Sindall Construction)

In June, Morgan Sindall Construction launched its Building Better Futures report. Based on in-depth interviews and discussions with key stakeholders within the SEND sector, it sets out the current challenges and areas of focus required in the design of special schools, to ensure all children with special educational needs and disabilities can access they education they require.

The county council is currently spending almost £600,000, through the first part of the government’s emergency active travel fund, in a series of measures to help make journeys easier by bike and on foot and enable people to maintain social distancing. The government requires this money to be allocated to projects in the first four weeks and completed in eight weeks.

Longer term, the county council is now looking at ways to maximise environmental gains with a further £2.4m of government funding, and boosting the uptake of cycling, walking and public transport are at the top of the agenda. Measures being discussed include:

• Three new bus gates in central Oxford to slash city centre congestion, cut air pollution and improve the speed of bus journeys as services recover
• The adoption of school streets (ready for September) to prohibit vehicles around schools at certain times of day to help improve air quality and encourage active travel
• Greater reallocation of road-space for bikes across Oxfordshire
• Further 20mph zones to make journeys safer for those who walk or cycle (Banbury, Bicester & Kidlington, Abingdon, Didcot, Faringdon, Henley, Thame, Wallingford, Wantage and for villages that support them)
• Changes to road junctions to improve safety, especially for those on foot or bike (Banbury & Bicester, Abingdon, Didcot, Faringdon, Henley, Thame, Wallingford and Wantage)
• Electric scooter trials being brought forward from 2021 to this summer as another zero-emission way to travel sustainably

A survey of county councillors was undertaken in May to determine the core priorities for how the active travel funding should be invested to benefit all areas of the county.

Residents are welcome to give feedback on the proposals via the council’s active travel website:

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/activetravel.

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment, said:

“The active travel funding will build on our existing ambitious plans for transforming how people travel and how communities are connected.

“Active travel and climate action is at the heart of our plans, and I’d like to encourage everyone to make their comments about how we can target the funding to achieve cleaner and more sustainable travel for Oxfordshire and help transform our lives for the better.”

Many children from the reception year, Year 1 and Year 6 returned on June 1 - and with the prospect of further children potentially returning later nationally and locally in the Summer, the council is working to create as safe an environment as possible.

Guided by an over-riding focus on the health and safety of pupils, parents and staff, the county council has already taken vital steps to protect pupils, teachers and parents. These include:

• A risk assessment of the roadside stops to collect and drop school children to ensure enough space is available for pupils to maintain social distancing guidelines
• Moving pick up points entirely to a location with a larger available waiting area where required
• New vehicle loading guidelines: updated information on how many people school transport providers can now carry has been communicated

Preparations continue for the proposed return of Year 10 and 12 pupils with further risk assessments planned.

A recent survey of all 63 Oxfordshire County Councillors found that the introduction of school streets; a traffic control measure to restrict motor vehicles around schools at certain times of day, was a standout priority in terms of how Oxfordshire’s share of the government’s £250m Emergency Active Travel grant fund should be spent.

Although the majority of Oxfordshire’s school pupils have not attended since the lockdown started in March, 94% of Oxfordshire schools have remained open for children of essential workers and vulnerable children throughout the pandemic.

County Councillor Liam Walker, Cabinet Member for Highways Delivery & Operations said:

“The health and safety of pupils, teachers and support staff is our number one priority and how pupils travel to and from schools is an important part of how we plan to achieve this as we recover.

“We will continue to support them by ensuring the return to schools is as safe as it can be, with the necessary social distancing and transport adaptations in place, as increasing numbers of pupils come out of lockdown and return to the classroom.”

County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, Cabinet Member for Education & Cultural Services said:

“Children will be taught in classrooms where safety, hygiene and social distancing are absolute priorities and the council has provided hundreds of thousands of items of personal protective equipment (PPE) to assist schools.

“However, we’ve also wanted to focus on conditions as children arrive at and leave school and the measures introduced – with more under consideration – will certainly assist with allaying anxieties parents, pupils and teachers may have.”

The council is also working on a wider series of temporary changes to roads and transport networks to help residents travel safely and abide by social distancing. Ideas have been canvassed from county councillors all over Oxfordshire in the survey with particularly clear support outlined for measures including more 20 mph speed zones where supported by residents and an improved cycling infrastructure, such as more cycle-only lanes in every town. Further details will be outlined on these steps shortly.

Central government guidance on COVID-19 (educational settings) is available from the website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

This week, the council delivered hundreds of thousands of personal protective equipment (PPE) items to Oxfordshire schools:

IIR Masks: 151,000 (these are surgical, close contact, water resistant masks),

Aprons: 181,000,

Gloves: 121,000,

Visors: 900,

Sanitiser: 7,500 litres.

This PPE equipment will help all local schools manage an immediate response in the unlikely event of a pupil becoming unwell.

In addition, support is being provided to over 900 early years providers regarding supplies of PPE.

Since the lockdown began in March, 94% of Oxfordshire schools have remained open for children of key workers.

In preparation for receiving more pupils back to the classroom, schools are now being asked to complete a risk assessment in conjunction with staff and union representatives.

The risks and challenges will vary, so what works in one school may not work in another. This means that some schools will be able to welcome more children, or more year groups than others. Each school will act in the best interests of each child and family.

Local testing arrangements are in place; and everyone over the age of five can access them if they have COVID-19 symptoms.

The council is committed to supporting disadvantaged pupils; existing free school meals arrangements will continue.

Ansaf Azhar, Director of Public Health, Oxfordshire County Council, said:

“Oxfordshire County Council and the Public Health team are working with schools and other partners to coordinate the ongoing response to COVID-19, helping local residents in staying safe.

“Whilst current scientific evidence shows little COVID transmission among children, we will never be complacent. The health of children, teachers, support staff, and parents will always come first in Oxfordshire.

“That is why all schools are now carrying out risk assessments to decide what provisions they need to put in place, and how many pupils they can teach whilst ensuring safety and social distancing.

“Safety, hygiene and social distancing are absolute priorities. And where community testing indicates clusters of COVID-19 – schools will close.”

County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, Cabinet Member for Education and Cultural Services, said:

“The health and safety of pupils, teachers and support staff is our number one priority.

“The teaching teams are incredibly dedicated. They have tirelessly provided education and assistance to pupils throughout the county, often through online learning, over these past few months.

“We will continue to support them by ensuring schools are safe, with the necessary social distancing and sanitation provisions in place, as increasing numbers of pupils come out of lockdown and return to the classroom.”

Central government guidance on COVID-19 (educational settings) is available from their website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

To coincide with National Thank A Teacher Day  (20 May), Oxfordshire County Council asked for messages of appreciation for teaching and support staff, who are working tirelessly to provide lessons and resources remotely, whilst continuing to run classrooms for pupils of frontline workers.

The council is publishing some of the tributes on its website and sharing on social media, using the hashtag #ThankATeacher

Teachers and support staff are referred to as ace, fab, superheroes, and wonderful.

Here are just a few of the touching comments:

Dr Radcliffes C of E Primary School, Bicester

Pupil’s poem to a teacher:

Today we thank our teachers for all they say and do,

In my case I’m very proud to say that means you!

The COVID-19 lockdown, what a confusing situation,

But not quite as scary as mum playing teacher during home isolation!

Things have been tough for us all; anxiety, fear and tension,

But you’ve made home learning fun with Vikings, Doodle,

Literacy and even comprehension!

In a world that feels unfamiliar at this time,

Your supportive, kind and encouraging nature inspires me to rhyme!

When all is said and done, there is one simple truth this day,

Mr Fane, you are an amazing teacher in each and every way!

THANK YOU!

St Barnabas' C of E Primary School, Oxford

A big thank you from our household for the excellent way St Barnabas’ have helped to normalise the home-school experience in this family, and many others I’m sure, and managed to make it feel that, however much the children miss school (and they really do), they are not disconnected from it, and they are still learning.

Gillotts School, Henley-on-Thames (see photograph of pupils’ rainbow art - below)

… to all those who provide a safe place for my child, from teacher to cleaner, THANK YOU and I really mean that. 

Appleton C of E Primary School, Abingdon

… This half-term has seen the hardest of times for the school and everything has been handled with incredible leadership, kindness and love. Your staff are a credit to you and you should be immensely proud of both them and yourself.

The Bicester School

The care and support of our children at The Bicester School, led by Liz Metcalf has been outstanding. Every child is kept firmly in mind and encouraged to attend school where possible with creative and innovative activities to engage in learning and keeping safe.

South Stoke Primary School

I am very much in debt for the support and help from all teachers. Having received a phone call from Miss Wadsworth, emails from Miss T and of course the great support that you [Head Teacher] have given concerning my family's welfare and any difficulties that we have had with home learning. 

Sunningwell C of E Primary School, Abingdon

From a health worker:

The love for the NHS has been completely humbling and makes me smile with pride every day. I have to say though I think there are a lot of people who have been equally amazing but far less recognised along the way .... like our wonderful teachers. [We] are so hugely grateful that the school has helped us to continue working and send massive thanks for providing the support you have. Go Sunningwell! 

Heyford Park School

[Thank you to] school leaders who are sharing videos from subject teachers for new pupils due to join in September. They are also planning a ‘virtual tour’ of the building when they can access it.

Carterton Community College

Maths teacher Rich Bailey has provided amazing, proactive support for mathematics students across the faculty – not just on google classroom. He has been really forward thinking and e-mailed students who have not got work in, offered support, signposted. I know that the dawn chorus starts at the same time as he is opening Google classroom to provide feedback and encouragement to youngsters working at home.

Stanford in the Vale CE Primary School, Faringdon

I'd really like to take this opportunity to acknowledge how amazing Mrs Cook has been during the last five-weeks. The planning set on a Sunday offers a fantastic variety of activities for the children throughout the week which are both engaging and familiar to them. The daily videos that she uploads to YouTube, usually phonics related, are so incredibly helpful... She really has made this time much more manageable with her supportive but no pressure approach to home learning. She's ace!

Wheatley Park School

The support and commitment shown towards our children at Wheatley Park since lockdown has been amazing. Staff at S2B, led by Ellie Payne, have gone above and beyond, week in week out, to ensure all children are kept in mind with regular phone calls, resources needed and… emotional support given.

Long Wittenham Church of England Primary School, Abingdon

Class teachers Heather Richards, Victoria Rowley, Lauren Mason, Catherine McLachlan have totally gone above and beyond for our community this term. I have had nothing but hugely supportive emails from all of our families expressing their thanks for all of the support and consistent approach with home learning.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust shared a message of thanks from Dr Bruno Holthof, Chief Executive Officer, and Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery, Chair, to all headteachers in Oxfordshire. Read the letter here.

County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale

County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, Cabinet Member for Education and Cultural Services, said:

“I’d like to add my thanks and appreciation to Oxfordshire’s incredible, dedicated and talented teachers and support staff, who tirelessly deliver education and assistance to pupils throughout the county.

“These tributes reflect the appreciation of many of your pupils, their parents, and headteachers.

“It goes without saying that there are hundreds of other Oxfordshire teachers and support staff who deserve equal recognition for their professionalism and commitment, particularly during this difficult time.

“Thank you to every one of you.”

During the coronavirus pandemic, in Oxfordshire:

• Over 94% of schools have been open on any one day over the last seven-weeks for vulnerable children, and children of keyworkers.
• Every request for a school place has been met for keyworkers, when their child’s school is unable to open, through the County Council’s early years and school place brokerage service.
• There is a process of daily attendance reporting to support the safeguarding of vulnerable children.
• All the County Council’s run children’s residential and housing support provisions have remained 100% operational.
• Almost 5,000 visits have taken place to children looked after, or on a child protection of child in need plan since lockdown.
• Over 50% of childminders are currently open across the county.
• All children’s social care services remain fully operational.
• Almost 500 completed social care assessments have been completed during this period.
• All frontline social workers undertaking critical direct work with families and those staff in residential children’s homes and special schools have stable stocks of PPE.

(Statistics collated by Oxfordshire County Council on 07 May 2020)

The County Council is also encouraging residents to applaud, cheer and shout for NHS workers as they continue their efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to save lives. Read more here.

Photo (below): Gillotts School, Henley-on-Thames. 'Thank you' conveyed through pupils' rainbow artwork.

Kevin Gordon comes to Oxfordshire from Hammersmith and Fulham Council, where he is an Assistant Director in Children’s Services. He is scheduled to begin his new role in the summer.

As a trained social worker, Kevin has experience in practice and senior management roles across children’s services.

He is passionate about growing services in community and universal settings; helping identify children and families who need support at the earliest opportunity.

Kevin has delivered a number of improvement and change programmes in children’s services and education, working across schools, children’s social care and the voluntary and community sector.

Talking about his appointment, Kevin said:

“I’m pleased to be joining a council with the scale of ambition of Oxfordshire and look forward to working with colleagues in delivering further improvements to residents.

“These are unprecedented times for everyone, with particular challenges for families. Part of my role will be to support staff and partners across all settings, who are continuing to deliver vital services to Oxfordshire’s children and young people.”

Councillor Ian Hudspeth, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said:

“Kevin has vast experience across many organisations in children’s services, particularly regarding service transformation. He is passionate about preventative services, which are important to support those who need our assistance.”

Almost 89 per cent of applications have been awarded their first choice. A total of 97 percent have been offered one of the four choices they listed on their application.

Ahead of national averages

Oxfordshire’s almost 89 per cent compares with national averages for first choice offers in recent years as follows:

Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Cultural Services, said: “Our school admissions team have done an excellent job in ensuring that so many parents and children have been offered their first choice. I am grateful to them for the hard work they’ve done.

“Although the 2020/21 national average will not be published for a few months, we are very likely to be ahead of that yet once more in Oxfordshire – as we have been in all previous years. Our aim as a council is to give every child a good start in life and our school admissions team play their part in that year in, year out.”

The school felt it needed to take precautions in the context of a recent visit to Italy by a pupil who subsequently presented as unwell.

We stand ready to support the school and its community in any way necessary, working with partner agencies here in Oxfordshire and with Public Health England in the context of national policies.

“The council recommends that for up to date reliable information on Covid 19 the public should visit the government website on www.gov.uk/coronavirus.”

Any application submitted before or during this time has been received and you will have received an email confirmation. If you are unsure, please log back into your account where you will be able to check the status.

The portal will be available until midnight Wednesday 15^th January for you to submit your application. You can access the portal by visiting www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/admissionsonline

Please make sure you are using a laptop or desktop computer as the portal is not generally compatible with smartphones or tablets.

If you experience any problems, contact us.

This was the finding of a recent Ofsted review of SEND services following a full inspection in 2017. In the report Ofsted described the leaders as having an ‘aspirational vision’ for children with special educational needs and disabilities and inspectors found that leaders across the education, health and care system were taking full responsibility to improve the service. “Accountability has been strengthened and there is now a helpful mechanism for overseeing improvement,” the inspectors said.

Ofsted said that three out of five areas that needed reviewing after the 2017 inspection are now making ‘sufficient progress’, while two need further improvement. Inspectors found that parents do not yet feel part of this vision and do not fully understand what work is being done to achieve it. Oxfordshire County Council recognises this challenge and is addressing it with education partners.

Lucy Butler, Director of Children Services for Oxfordshire County Council, said: “We strive for excellence in our education of children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities. I am encouraged that Ofsted recognises this commitment and the progress made, but we know more must be done to show young people and their parents that we are determined to improve support for them.

“We are already looking at ways to involve parents, carers and children much more so we can work together to make sure that young people get the support they want and need to succeed. This is part of our determination to improve opportunities for all young people and make sure they have the best start in life.”

Inspectors acknowledged progress in the council’s and OCCG's work to improve the quality of EHC plans (these identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs).

More new EHC needs assessments are being completed within the statutory 20 weeks, despite a significant increase in the number of assessment requests. However, overall, the quality of EHC plans remains too variable, not reliably reflecting children, young people and their parents’ aspirations.

Ofsted stated it was encouraged by the reduction in the number of school days lost to exclusion:

‘Initiatives to reduce the high level of fixed-term exclusions in mainstream secondary schools are starting to make a difference… The rate of fixed-term exclusions for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs in secondary schools is also lower than it was in 2017.’

Leaders from both the County Council and OCCG are committed to working together to address areas requiring improvement; and those described as making ‘progress’.

Sula Wiltshire, Director of Quality & Nursing at Oxfordshire CCG, said: "We are encouraged by the improvements which have been made over the last two years. However, we continue to work with our partners to make the further improvements which are needed to ensure our most vulnerable children and young people in Oxfordshire, and their parents and carers, have the joined up services they need and deserve.”

The Ofsted report on the visit can be read here.

The Whitelands Academy is being built within the Kingsmere Village Community. The 5210 sqm school will have 26-classrooms, special educational needs provision including a garden, a four-court sports hall with changing facilities, external social spaces including allotments, quiet areas with a variety of trees to provide shaded areas in the summer and sports pitches for rugby, hockey and football and a multi-use games area.

Since 2011 more than 6,000 new places have been created in Oxfordshire secondary schools. Further planned changes in the 2020s – including Whitelands and a new all-through school in Grove Airfield – will see the overall number of school places created since 2011 rise to around 8,000.

Entirely new schools have been created at the Space Studio, Banbury, Bicester Technology Studio, Heyford Park Free School, Aureus School, Didcot, UTC Oxfordshire, Harwell near Didcot and the Europa School, Culham. The Swan School in Oxford will open in September 2019 with temporary buildings and permanently in 2020.

Other features at the school include a main hall linked to a drama studio, a dining area with access to a covered seating area, kitchens offices and staff spaces, provision for basketball and netball and parking for cars and cycles

The academy sponsor is The White Horse Federation.

Around 88 per cent of children and their parents received their first choice of school in Oxfordshire in 2019 despite continued rising demand for places. The county is consistently ahead of national averages for first places being awarded.

Planning ahead carefully

Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Cultural Services, said: “Our school admissions team and school organisation team do an excellent job in assessing population forecast trends and making sure we have the right school provision in place.

“Bicester is a growing town and there has been careful planning to ensure that Whitelands Academy begins its life as a new Oxfordshire school to meet new demand. I am delighted that work has now begun and I am looking forward to the school opening its doors in 2020.

“There have been a large number of school expansions and entirely new schools created in Oxfordshire in recent years and that’s down to the fact we plan ahead so carefully. We are proud of the fact that we do better than the rest of the country in terms of getting parents and their children their first choice of school.”

First class learning

Jason Brown, Director for Kier’s Oxford Office, commented: “We are extremely delighted to be working with Oxfordshire Country Council to deliver Whitelands Academy at Bicester. This new 600 pupil secondary school will open in September 2020 and provide first class learning and sports facilities for pupils in the surrounding Kingsmere community. This award further reinforces Kier’s position as the UK’s leading builder of educational establishments, delivering over 1000 spaces per week.”

Important milestone

Andrew Carrington, Director of Countryside Properties (Bicester) Limited, the developer at Kingsmere, said: ““We are delighted that construction has started on site to build Whitelands Academy. It marks a very important milestone in Kingsmere’s development. The new academy will enhance the education offering we already have at Kingsmere, firmly positioning the development as a top choice for families looking to be within walking distance of good schools. At Countryside, we pride ourselves in developing places where communities can thrive, and education is at the very heart of this.”

Centre of academic excellence

Dr Nicholas Capstick OBE, Chief Executive Officer of The White Horse Federation, said: “As the White Horse Federation, we are proud and deeply excited to be the sponsor of The Whitelands Academy.

"We have great ambitions for the school and relish the opportunity to ensure it becomes a true centre of academic excellence. This school represents our third academy in Bicester and, as with our other schools, we intend to closely involve and consult with both parents and the wider community in the lead up to September 2020 when it will open. Together, we will collaboratively develop an educational offering that meets the present and future needs of Oxfordshire and its wide-ranging communities from all walks of life.“The Whitelands Academy will feature exceptional facilities that support a broad, balanced curriculum and provide the ideal setting for an outstanding education. The learning and social spaces have been specifically designed to engage and enthral the interests and appetites of every learner, ensuring an even richer experience is on tap to the young people of Bicester.”

‘School Streets’ has already been successfully trialled in other parts of the country and now primary schools in Oxfordshire will be asked if they are interested in taking part.

The project aims to reclaim roads outside schools from traffic at the start and end of each day, reducing air pollution outside the school gates and making it easier for children to walk, cycle or scoot to school.

It’s all part of the county council’s commitment to thriving communities – we help people live safe, healthy lives and play an active part in their community.

‘School Streets’ will be discussed at the Oxfordshire Schools Clean Air Network seminar taking place at County Hall on Clean Air Day (June 20) at 4.30pm - book here https://schools-clean-air-seminar.eventbrite.co.uk.

More than 10 schools have already signed up to the seminar which has been organised by Oxford Friends of the Earth.

Delivering a cleaner and healthier future

Schools will need to engage with staff, governors, parents and the local community before registering their interest in ‘School Streets’.

As part of the county council’s commitment to improving air quality, officers from its Public Health and Communities teams have been investigating the possibility of introducing traffic restrictions outside the school gates.

Restrictions won’t be enforced on main roads and a full consultation will take place before any pilot scheme is implemented. Two to three schools will be invited to take part and the pilots will run for 18 months.

Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth said: “It’s about us working together to explore all options that can reduce children’s exposure to air pollution.

“We all saw from the recent Climate Change strikes how passionate our schoolchildren are about improving the world around them and we, as a county council, are determined to deliver a cleaner and healthier future.”

In 2017 the east London borough of Hackney developed a blueprint for restricting traffic outside schools at opening and closing times.

Seven schools are participating and since the launch of ‘School Streets’, the proportion of children cycling to school has increased by more than 50 per cent, with traffic outside the school gates reducing by around two-thirds.

‘School Streets’ projects have also been a success in Solihull and Edinburgh, with traffic flows reduced and plans in place to expand the schemes.

WOW helping to create healthy habits for a lifetime

Oxfordshire County Council is already working in partnership with schools, communities, business and district council partners to make villages, towns and Oxford city healthier places to live.

WOW, the year-round walk to school programme commissioned by Public Health, encourages children to collect badges each month as a reward for making journeys actively.

Since its launch in 2017, active travel rates in participating schools – including walking, cycling, scooting or ‘park and stride’ – have risen from 65 per cent to 88 per cent.

Based on a typical return ‘school run’ of two miles for the entire journey between home and school, travelling at 30mph on urban roads, the WOW programme reduced emissions as follows:

• NOx: 727.5g per day across Oxfordshire or 40.4g per participating school
• PM2.5: 41.2g per day across Oxfordshire or 2.29g per participating school
• CO2: 276.8Kg per day across Oxfordshire or 15.4Kg per participating school

Mr Hudspeth said: “WOW has already been a huge success in helping to reduce congestion, improving wellbeing and creating healthy habits for a lifetime. Anything that helps to further improve safety and reduce air pollution should be supported.

“The first task is to find out which schools are interested and then we will need to work closely with local communities to ensure the pilot projects are effectively enforced.

“We will continue to explore other options to improve the wellbeing of schoolchildren by the school gates and are already in the process of advertising for more lollipop people to make school routes as safe as possible.”

Schools Tackling Oxford’s Air Pollution (STOP)

Schools Tackling Oxford's Air Pollution (STOP) is an Oxford City Council project which aims to raise awareness of the main sources and health effects of air pollution emissions among the school community.

Schools are able to download an air quality toolkit which has been created by the city council. The toolkit, which has been written to fit within schools’ existing science curriculums, provides science teachers in Oxford with a range of interactive activities, based both in the classroom and outdoors.

STOP has also provided air quality monitoring equipment to six schools across Oxford, alongside technical support, to enable students and pupils to measure pollution levels.

Cllr Louise Upton, city council Cabinet member for Healthy Oxford, and the city’s Cycling Champion, said: “School Streets, STOP and WOW are about two important things. One is air quality – the air filling our children’s lungs is harming them. We must change that by keeping traffic away from schools.

“By giving children the tools to track pollution levels around them, they become the strongest advocates for changing the behaviour of their parents.

“Secondly, it is about getting your daily dose of exercise which is so important for physical and mental health. By closing the streets around schools we can make a walk or cycle to school the obvious and, crucially, safe choice for parents and children.

“I am delighted that across the county we are taking steps to improve the health of our next generation and the planet.”

‘We can’t just sit back and say it’s nothing to do with us’

One of those schools signed up to WOW and STOP is Windmill Primary in East Oxford. Each class has its own eco representatives and pupils will be in Bonn Square on Clean Air Day promoting the clean air message using posters and leaflets.

So far this academic year it is estimated WOW has led to a 17% fall in car trips to the school – a reduction of 999 car journeys or six cars per day. Assuming a four-mile round trip, emissions were reduced by:

• NOx 13.6g per day
• PM2.5 0.77g per day
• CO2 5.2Kg per day

Headteacher Lynn Knapp said pupils and parents were already committed to making a difference outside the school gates.

She said: “We have to make a stand and as headteacher I feel a responsibility to ensure we’re making the right choices to protect the planet for future generations.

“We can’t just sit back and say it’s nothing to do with us and our new curriculum places a lot of emphasis on global and environmental change.”

Year 3 pupil Jenny Baxter, seven, said: “We tested different places around the school and found there was more pollution outside the front where there’s traffic. That’s really bad for anyone with asthma and other people might get lung disease.”

Year 4 pupil Olivia McDermott, eight, said: “I would make everyone walk, cycle or scoot to school to help the environment. We have to do something.”

Year 4 pupil Greta Callaghan, nine, said: “It’s our future and we need people to listen because otherwise we won’t have any world to live in. We need to be active now and stop using cars that produce CO2 gases.”

Year 4 pupil Nikhil Basuray, nine, said: “We need the environment to survive for us to survive. It’s not good to have your engine on when you’re not moving because it’s a waste of energy and causes more pollution.”

District councils urge drivers to ‘Turn it off’

Cllr David Rouane, South Oxfordshire District Councillor cabinet member for housing and environment, said: “We have launched a joint campaign with Vale of White Horse District Council to help improve air quality across southern Oxfordshire called ‘Turn it off’ which is aimed at drivers who leave their engines idling.”

Cllr Jenny Hannaby, Vale of White Horse District Council cabinet member for environmental and technical services, said: “Idling produces so much unnecessary pollution, so both councils are trying to encourage people to take the simple step of turning off the engine when it’s not being driven. This can make such a difference to our air and our health.”

The campaign, endorsed by Public Health England, is aimed at drivers who leave their engines ‘idling’ - still running even when the vehicle is not moving.

The councils will be promoting the campaign on Clean Air Day at a stall at Henley Market (10am-midday) and at Old Station Yard, next to Stert St in Abingdon (2.30pm-4.30pm). Read more here www.southandvale.gov.uk/turnitoff

It’s an accident waiting to happen’

Willowcroft Community School in Didcot also supports the WOW scheme and is keen to further reduce traffic flow outside the school gates.

Assistant headteacher Jodie Brown said Mereland Road was often flooded with cars and an accident waiting to happen at the start and end of the school day.

“We’ve even had to close the school car park because it was getting so unsafe. A member of our Senior Leadership Team and the caretaker are out there every day keeping an eye on the traffic,” she said.

“Our pupils are very supportive of WOW and know all about the need to reduce air pollution. More children are now walking to school and they love the badges. We would just like more parents on board.”

This academic year it is estimated WOW has led to a 22% fall in car trips to the school – a reduction of 8,968 car journeys or 56 cars per day. Assuming a four-mile round trip, emissions were reduced by:

• NOx 126.8g avoided per day
• PM2.5 7.21g avoided per day
• CO2 48.3Kg avoided per day

Year 5 pupil Esther Hedley, nine, said: “It’s really important to lead the way to save the planet. Somebody needs to start it off so others follow.”

Year 6 pupil Ares Papadopoulos, 11, said: “It’s bad that there’s a lot of cars because the plastic from the tyres makes small particles and you end up breathing them. Then that gets in your blood stream and you get heart disease and lung cancer.”

Year 5 pupil George Higginson, 10, said: “I’ve got eight badges for walking to school at least once a week. I like to do it because it stops air pollution from happening.”

Year 6 pupil Lilly-Ella Bedwell, 11, said: “It’s good to walk to school because you can get fresh air and it stops polluting air. It would be good if more people walked because then it would feel safer.”

The Oxfordshire Schools Clean Air Network seminar will feature speakers including Chris Church, from Oxford Friends of the Earth; Jake Bakus, from OxAir; Pedro Abreu from Oxford City Council’s STOP project; and Richard Kuziara, from the county council’s Public Health team.

Schools seeking more information on how to sign up to WOW should contact Sarah Ellis at Living Streets. Email her at sarah.ellis@livingstreets.org.uk

Thousands of pupils will be getting active from May 20-24 as part of an innovative scheme commissioned by Oxfordshire County Council’s Public Health team working in partnership with Active Oxfordshire.

Walk to School Week is an extension of the WOW project supported by Public Health over the past two years. Run by Living Streets, the year-round walk-to-school challenge encourages children to collect badges each month as a reward for making journeys actively.

The council’s Public Health team seeks to promote, improve and protect the health of local people. It’s all part of the council’s commitment to thriving communities – we help people live safe, healthy lives and play an active part in their community.

Tracking travel habits

Since the launch of WOW across Oxfordshire in September 2017, active travel rates in participating schools – including walking, cycling, scooting or ‘park and stride’ – have risen from 65 per cent to 88 per cent.

The scheme provides schools with a ‘Travel Tracker’ which they use to record the different modes of travel, providing valuable insights into travel habits.

St Mary’s CE Primary School in Banbury is one of 20 schools across the county signed up to WOW and its pupils are shining stars when it comes to getting active and helping to reduce air pollution.

All 145 children in Years 1 to 6 are tracked and complete their own registration each school day on the Living Streets website.

When St Mary’s adopted the scheme in October 2017, 57 per cent were making active journeys to school. Now 76 per cent are moving actively.

Teri Smith, PE co-ordinator at St Mary’s, said WOW was now an accepted part of its daily routine. She said: “We want all children to be as active as possible and also want to make sure we’re doing what we can for the environment.

“There’s lots of excitement over the way children get to school and making sure they achieve their badges. We’re really proud of the way everyone has engaged with the scheme.”

Headteacher Victoria Woods added: “We as a school are in a really built-up area and the last thing Banbury needs is for us to be contributing to the congestion.

“We teach children about road safety and behaving properly on their walk to school. The children really like the badges and doing their own registration. They don’t have to walk every day which I think for working families makes it that little bit more accessible.”

What pupils at St Mary’s say

Year 6 pupil Rio Ali, 11, walks to school three times a week. “It takes about 15-20 minutes and is really good for my health and fitness. I actually prefer walking to being dropped off in the car – it’s about socialising and being with my friends.”

Year 4 pupil Line Al-awad, nine, walks the 15-minute journey to school every day. “If you walk every day it gives you more energy, you get fresh air and it helps to develop your muscles.”

Year 5 pupil Mati Perez, 10, walks 20 minutes to school every day with her mum. “I like walking because it gets your brain ready for the day and it’s good exercise. It’s also good because it’s not polluting the area.”

Year 4 pupil Finley Adu-Frimpong, eight, takes about 25 to 30 minutes to walk to school every day. “I like it because sometimes you can see your friends and chat to them. Walking also makes you fitter and stronger. I love the WOW scheme because you get badges every month – it makes you want to walk even more.”

How WOW is making a difference

Pupils are rewarded with badges once a month if they walk to school at least once a week. There is the incentive to claim up to 11 badges in the school year.

Since the first 20 schools in Oxfordshire started the programme in September 2017:

• Active travel rates (walking, cycling, scooting, park and stride and getting off the bus early) have increased from 65% to 88%)
• Walking rates have increased from 45% to 61%
• Park and stride – which encourages parents to park away from the school gates and walk the last part of the journey – has risen from 9% to 16%
• WOW costs less than £450 per school per annum and can be funded using PE Pupil Premium.

Creating healthy habits for a lifetime

Val Messenger, Oxfordshire County Council’s interim director for Public Health, said: “It has been wonderful to see such enthusiasm from schools and pupils in support of this scheme.

“It’s a great initiative which reduces congestion outside the school gates, improves wellbeing and creates healthy habits for a lifetime.

“Increasing day-to-day physical activity is a priority in Oxfordshire, where 79 per cent of children aged five to 16 do not meet the Chief Medical Officer’s physical activity guidelines. (See guidelines here)

“The children clearly enjoy taking part and are learning some great messages about the importance of being active by walking to school and helping to look after the environment by reducing air pollution.”

Working alongside the county council to promote active travel

Tom Gubbins, Cherwell District Council’s recreation and sport activities officer, said: “Cherwell District Council is passionate about helping children establish healthy habits early in life.

“We’ve got a targeted affordable activity programme for families in key Banbury areas which St Mary’s pupils are really making the most of. Working alongside the county council to promote active travel complements our wider aims for healthy lifestyles really well.”

‘Improving air quality for everyone’

Jenni Wiggle, of Living Streets, said: “More children walking to school means fewer vehicles on the road, helping to reduce congestion, road danger and improve air quality for everyone. We would like to see more local authorities following in Oxfordshire’s footsteps and prioritising the walk to school to help clean up our air.

“Walking to school not only improves our air quality but is a great way for children to build more exercise into their daily lives, helping them to arrive at school healthier, happier and ready to learn.”

Get your school signed up

Schools seeking more information on how to sign up should contact Sarah Ellis at Living Streets. Email her at sarah.ellis@livingstreets.org.uk

Burford School sixth-form pupil Becky Davies won the Young Adult Category with her intriguingly-titled entry, Your Friendly Neighbourhood Bacon Lover.

And Jane Cammack, from Witney, captured the Adult prize with her story about The Talisman.

Both stories will now be available for any library user to read for free on the Overdrive eBook service – the county’s digital library which sits alongside its network of 43 libraries.

Becky, 16, and Jane also receive physical prizes in the form of tablet devices kindly donated by Overdrive.

The competition, now in its fifth year, is all part of the county council’s commitment to thriving communities – helping people live safe, healthy lives and play an active part in their community.

Lead Librarian for Digital, Information and Learning, Katharine Spackman, said: “The judging panel enjoyed reading and debating the entries from many talented writers and there was particularly stiff competition this year. The winners should be doubly proud of their achievements.”

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Bacon Lover

The Young Adult category is open to entrants aged between 11 and 17 (Year 7 upwards). Becky won with a story inspired by a car covered in stickers.

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Bacon Lover is a tale of two university students who keep on exchanging notes before eventually falling in love.

Becky explains: “I saw this car in Witney with lots of stickers on it and it just inspired me to write. In my story there’s a sticker on the car which says ‘You can’t buy happiness but you can buy a bacon sandwich’. Ellie is a vegetarian who obviously disagrees with the message so she leaves a note for James.

“They keep on leaving notes for each other throughout the story and eventually fall in love through these notes.”

Becky, 16, only started the story a couple of months ago and entered the competition on a whim.

“I do a lot of writing in my spare time and it feels amazing to win – I certainly wasn’t expecting it,” she said. “It has always been my dream to be an author and this is the first step, so I’m really happy.”

The Talisman

Adult category winner Jane believes her career as an opera singer inspired her entry, The Talisman. Jane trained at the Royal College of Music before going on to sing at the English National Opera, Glyndebourne and La Scala.

“The Talisman definitely comes from my days in the opera, with its references to legends and fairy-tales,” she said.

The summer holidays are long and Rose’s son, Robin, is bored. But when Rose suggests a picnic at the river, her young daughter Bella seems afraid.

She has heard the children at school speaking about Creeping Jenny and the Reed Women, who drag children down to the riverbed.

Only the Talisman necklace Uncle Theodore made, with its spiritual and cosmic power, will keep her safe. But when they reach Frogs Hollow, Rose’s attention drifts from the children to her book and whisperings start amongst the reeds.

Jane was delighted to learn her story had been chosen as the winning entry.

“It came completely out of the blue,” she said. “To be honest I sent it off and then completely forgot about it. It’s fantastic because it’s judged by librarians – they’re involved with books all the time and are the real experts.”

Download the winning stories

To see what made Becky and Jane this year’s outstanding authors and ensure them pride of place alongside national bestsellers visit the Oxfordshire Library eBook webpage or the Overdrive and Libby apps today. Go to www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/ebooks and select 'Overdrive'.

A total of 93.39 per cent of the 7,125 applicants have received their first choice – above all recent national averages across the UK.

The consistent high number of first choices achieved in Oxfordshire is due to the county council’s careful forward planning to make sure the right numbers of school places exist – since 2010 the council has created more than 10,000 new primary school places.

That means that since 2010 the number of primary school places in Oxfordshire has risen by 22 per cent. About a fifth of that has been achieved via the building and opening of new schools and the rest through expansions of existing schools – new buildings, making better use of existing accommodation, or marginal increases in admission numbers.

This year’s figure of 93.39 per cent for first preference offers compares with the 2018 figure of 92.77 per cent. Although the national average for 2019 will not be published for some time, Oxfordshire remains ahead of the averages for 2018 (91 per cent) and 2017 (90 per cent).

Oxfordshire County Council’s Director for Children’s Services Lucy Butler said: “Once again we’re delighted to be able to offer the overwhelming majority of families their first preference school, and wish all the children the very best for the coming school years. We constantly monitor demand for places and work closely with all schools to ensure there is sufficient capacity both across the county as a whole and within local areas.

“Oxfordshire compares very favourably with other parts of the country on school places and our strong track record on first-preference offers is down to that effective forward planning. We aim to give every Oxfordshire child a good start in life and this is part of that work”

Appeals

An appeal process is available to families wishing to challenge the outcome of their application, and details of how to do this have been sent to parents. Children's names can also be placed on ‘continued interest’ lists in case places become available at schools at a later date.

Late applications

Anyone who has yet to apply for a primary school place for their child for September 2019, should print out and complete an application form from the council’s website and submit it to the council’s admissions team as soon as possible and no later than May 3.

Eight organisations were chosen to receive a share of £54,400 in the latest round of the council’s Daytime Support Innovation Fund.

The fund was created in 2017 after Oxfordshire County Council made changes to daytime support for people aged 18 and over.

Its aim is to provide one-off funding to support the development of self-sustaining projects, supporting the county council’s commitment to thriving communities.

As well as the Innovation Fund, groups can also apply for support from the council’s Sustainability Fund, designed to ensure a sustainable model of daytime support that helps people to live independent and fulfilling lives.

Kate Terroni, director of Adult Social Care, said: “The county council provides in-house daytime support for older people and people with learning disabilities but also awards grant funding support for a range of voluntary sector providers.

“Oxfordshire has a long tradition of successful voluntary sector daytime support providers – many of whom thrive without financial support from the county council.

“Daytime support facilities, whether council or voluntary sector based, provide a range of activities and services and help people to live healthy, independent lives and remain engaged.”

Here we look at some of the projects to benefit from county council funding.

Monday Club at Eynsham: Getting the week off to a great start

For many of those attending the Monday Club at Eynsham, it represents the highlight of the week.

About 25 people visit Eynsham Village Hall to enjoy a host of activities ranging from seated exercise, to board games, arts and crafts, knitting, reading and quizzes.

Members are also treated to a two-course meal before sitting down to an hour’s entertainment in the afternoon. Eynsham Morris Singers, the Wooden Tops, Little Village Band and Eynsham Ukulele are regulars on the bill.

The Monday Club received £3,262 from the county council’s Sustainability Fund for 2019/20 and also enjoys vital support from Eynsham Rotary Club, fundraisers and volunteers.

Basia Schofield started as co-ordinator in July last year and described it as her best-ever job.

“It’s so warm and welcoming and the people I work with are very caring and dedicated,” she said. “We’ve got 13 volunteers who are a real treasure. I know that if I couldn’t be here it would run just fine without me. They are such a committed and friendly team.

“The idea is to provide a friendly place where people aged 60 and above can socialise, make new friends, chat and have fun.”

Seated exercise classes led by health and wellness coach Lisa Hyatt help get the day off to an energetic start.

“We encourage members to take part because we know how important exercise is, but they are not forced to. The exercise is varied and lots of fun,” Basia said.

Members then engage in activities before sitting down to a two-course meal.

On the day I visited, they were about to tuck into a lunch of gammon with parsley sauce, dauphinoise potatoes, cauliflower and beetroot, followed by trifle for dessert.

Basia said: “It’s always a lovely meal and something the members look forward to. We really do believe the Monday Club is thriving. We get lots of good feedback from members and it’s a vital service for the community.”

Grace Brown, who celebrated her 80^th birthday on April 10, has been attending the Monday Club for the past nine years. She said: “It’s the thing I look forward to every week. If ever I can’t make it you know I’m really poorly. Coming here on a Monday gives you momentum for the rest of the week.

“There’s such a friendly crowd here and the meals are wonderful. It’s a great set-up and the village wouldn’t be the same without it.”

Gill Malcolm-Davies, 83, has attended for the past three years and enjoys socialising and playing Scrabble.

“I’ve been unwell for a couple of weeks but I made up my mind I was going to come along today because I’ve missed it so much,” she said.

“Normally I’ll join in the seated exercise and I also enjoy the afternoon entertainment. Eynsham Morris Singers and the Wooden Tops are very good.”

Deputy co-ordinator Eileen Mace was busy leading a knitting project to create blankets for premature babies.

“We do get brilliant support from the whole community. I put on Facebook that I needed some wool for the knitting project and the next morning I woke to find bags left on my doorstep,” she said.

“Eynsham Rotary Club have also been fantastic in their support and we’re so happy with the way the Monday Club continues to serve the community.”

Silver Robin: Linking older people and school children through letter writing

A great-grandmother wants to spread the word about her pioneering project and see it take off across the globe.

Avril Lethbridge set up the Silver Robin website in 2015, encouraging people to share their life stories as a way of combatting loneliness.

Since then it has evolved as an inter-generational project between secondary school pupils and older people, exchanging letters and building friendships.

Now 87-year-old Avril wants to expand it further, encouraging all schools to get involved and see Silver Robin take flight abroad.

She was overjoyed the ‘Where Yesterday Meets Tomorrow’ project had received £4,566 from the county council’s Innovation Fund.

“It’s a great joy because up until now I’ve had to finance it all myself,” she said.

Avril, who has three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, was inspired to launch Silver Robin after a visit to her doctor.

“She encouraged me to go away and do something about loneliness,” said Avril. “I met somebody who hadn’t spoken to anyone for 10 days and I decided something had to be done.

“Some of the stories would break your heart. Loneliness is very damaging to people’s health. What saddens me is it’s not just older people; it affects young people too.

“The main idea is to encourage good old-fashioned letter writing so they’ve got something dropping on the doorstep which then helps to build up relationships.

“Linking older people with school children is great because they have got so much to offer each other.

“In lots of ways it’s better that they are complete strangers because it gives them lots to discuss about their lives. It’s the fact we’re introducing these people and sometimes they become best buddies.”

Avril worked in theatre for more than 60 years, helping to produce Son et lumière at venues like Hampton Court, Windsor Castle and Chatsworth House and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Dame Judi Dench.

She says she has enjoyed a ‘great life’ and has enjoyed seeing her Silver Robin project take off at schools including St Edward’s School, Oxford; The Oxford Academy in Littlemore; and London’s Holland Park School.

“Now I need help getting this out there further and getting even more schools involved, which is what the funding will be used for,” she said.

Syrian Community: Making plans for the summer

A host of summer activities are planned as members of Oxfordshire’s Syrian community seek to engage with other groups in the county.

Syrian Community in Oxford & Oxfordshire (SYRCOX) is organising a trip to the seaside, family fun days and a three-day summer camp.

It has received £5,100 from the county council’s Innovation Fund to put towards the activities.

Over the past few years more than 45 refugee families have arrived in Oxfordshire as part of a Government resettlement programme but several hundred more reached the county under their own steam.

SYRCOX founder Hadi Al Nuri said about 150 people enjoyed the first Syrian family fun day held in Oxford three years ago, but last year’s event attracted more than 500.

He explained: “What they have in common is a sense of loss and isolation, nervousness about their future and the pain of witnessing the continuing situation in Syria.

“This is about giving them opportunities to get to know each other and helping them to settle in. It’s about trying to help them engage with other communities and working together to promote ourselves in a positive way.”

A family fun day was held at the King’s Centre in Oxford in February and the next is planned for June 8 at South Oxford Adventure Playground, off Abingdon Road.

Hadi said: “It’s very important we keep improving our events and increasing the number of activities to engage further with other communities.

“It’s very important we organise opportunities for people to get out of the house and talk to one another, to keep children entertained, pool knowledge and skills and develop optimism.

“All of that will encourage our community to forget about the past, be active in society and participate in the development process. That’s why this money from the county council is very, very helpful.”

As well as the fun day, a three-day camp for 100 people in Boars Hill, Oxford, is planned, along with an outing to West Wittering Beach in West Sussex.

Oxfordshire Association for the Blind: Visually Impaired Coffee Clubs

Oxfordshire Association for the Blind is aiming to enrich the lives of visually impaired people with the creation of monthly coffee clubs.

People will be able to enjoy a cuppa in Didcot from the end of May, with further clubs planned for Banbury and Bicester shortly after.

The coffee project has been stimulated by an £8,580 grant from the county council’s Innovation Fund.

Clare Pearce, chief executive at Oxfordshire Association for the Blind, said: “Clearly, we are thrilled to have received funding from Oxfordshire County Council which will go some way to help us set up monthly Visually Impaired Coffee Clubs within the county.

“This project will focus on three areas outside of the city centre – Bicester, Banbury and Didcot – where visually impaired people have little or no opportunity to network in a relaxed, friendly and social environment with peers.

“These social support activities make a huge difference to the wellbeing of people within the community and enable them to maintain and build their confidence and independence.”

Each monthly coffee club will initially be available for 10 visually impaired people and the same number of family members and careers.

The social clubs will take place in existing local coffee shops and run from 10am until midday. Visitors will purchase their own refreshments and travel there and back under their own steam.

Clare said in addition to networking and enjoying the refreshments, OAB also plans to incorporate additional elements such as equipment demonstrations or run short sessions on technology.

“Once the clubs are fully established, if there is appetite from the coffee club members, we may also add in additional elements such as craft activities, short walks or museum trips,” she said.

Initially each coffee club will be run by a member of OAB staff with two volunteers. Once the clubs are up and running, they will be supervised by volunteers.

The scheme will be supported by the county council’s sensory impairment team, which will run orientation and mobility training assessments.

Clare said: “This project will mark a step change in how we work. We anticipate it leading to more bespoke support, increased financial sustainability, and a stronger presence in the community.

“Most crucially, we anticipate it having a hugely positive impact on many people’s lives.”

Oxfordshire County Council and the school sponsor the River Learning Trust had been waiting news from central government about the final signing of the funding agreement – the last formal approval required for the school to be able to open.

That agreement has now been signed and the school will be able to open for the 2019/20 academic year.

All systems go

Lucy Butler, Director for Children’s Services, said: “The county council, the River Learning Trust and parents across Oxford have been awaiting this news so that everyone has certainty as Summer approaches. We are delighted that the agreement has now been signed and it is all systems go for the Swan to open its doors in September.”

More than 86 per cent of children in Oxfordshire got their first choice of secondary school for 2019/20, which as in all previous years is above national averages. The certainty that the Swan School will open on time means that this figure is expected to rise further.