Modeshift STARS

Swindon Borough Council urges all schools in Swindon to complete and implement an online School Travel Plan through Modeshift STARS Education. A travel plan is a strategic document that sets out how a school will promote sustainable travel. The Modeshift STARS online platform gives schools a simple to follow template for their travel plan.

Modeshift STARS scheme includes the Government endorsed national schools awards scheme that has been established to recognise schools that have demonstrated excellence in supporting cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable travel. The scheme encourages schools across the country to join in a major effort to increase levels of sustainable and active travel in order to improve the health and well-being of children and young people.

The STARS scheme has five levels of accreditation and is a great scheme through which pupils, teachers, parents and community stakeholders can work together to make the school run healthier and safer for all.

Green accreditation (Approved travel plan) – Green is the simplest level to achieve, and shows that a travel plan has been approved as a starting point where the school can make plans of actions it is going to take over the coming term(s)
Bronze accreditation (Good travel plan) – As the initiatives and actions start happening, and the school provides evidence, the school can achieve bronze for its good travel plan.
Silver accreditation – (Very good travel plan) As more actions are achieved, the silver level denotes a very good travel plan.
Gold accreditation – (Excellent travel plan) This level shows that a school has gone over and above, and is demonstrating reduced journeys to school by car as well as partnership working in the community. A gold travel plan is an excellent travel plan!
Platinum accreditation – (Outstanding travel plan) Where a travel plan can demonstrate a consistent increase in active travel to school over a four-year period, this is considered outstanding.

Benefits of school travel plans

Healthier pupils – by encouraging active, healthy lifestyles for young people through more walking and cycling.
Safer pupils – identifying issues and improving the quality of the environment around your school.
Involving the whole school community – children, parents and teachers working together to make a difference.
School Travel Plan – automatic generation of a new School Travel Plan which will deliver significant time and costs savings.
National Accreditation – you will receive the Modeshift STARS plaque, certificate and use of the nationally recognised logo
The National STARS School Travel Awards – a chance to be considered for the National STARS School Travel Awards.
Changing behaviour – STARS will provide you with the tools to reduce car use and increase the number of children walking, cycling and using public transport on the journey to and from school.
Access to discounts, practical support and small pots of funding – additional support is available from the Council to help schools promote sustainable travel to school.

There is no cost for any Swindon school to sign up to Modeshift Stars.

Accreditation

Modeshift STARS offers a nationally recognised system of accreditation. There are five levels (Green, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum). The school receives certificates and plaques when they achieve a new accreditation or reach the next level. Green is the simplest level to achieve and the Council requires new schools to achieve this as a requirement of their planning permission, or receipt of funding or assistance.

Photo of the Modeshift school trophies

Training

Swindon Borough Council and Modeshift run regular “Getting started on your travel plan” webinars – Contact stars@swindon.gov.uk if you would like to be invited to the next one.

Next steps

Ready to sign up and get going? Email SBC’s travel plan coordinator to organise a login to the site. There is further support, guidance and resources on the STARS site once you are a registered user.

There are PDFs below that you can download to read more about the system, and take a look at www.modeshiftstars.org. We have also outlined some Frequently asked questions below.

Free support is available from the Council’s Travel Plan Officer who can deliver training sessions, offer advice on how to mitigate school travel and transport issues through soft measures (behaviour change) and support schools through the Modeshift STARS accreditation application process.

Please contact Travel Plan Officer, with any queries: stars@swindon.gov.uk

Downloads

What is Stars? Overview document PDF (952KB)
STARS Quick start guide PDF (131KB)
STARS Guide to getting accredited 2023 PDF (338KB)
STARS Guide to initiatives and consultations PDF (316KB)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Modeshift STARS and why does Swindon Borough Council endorse Modeshift STARS when creating school travel plans?

Launched in 2008, Modeshift STARS is the centre of excellence for the delivery of effective travel plans. It’s an accreditation scheme which recognises and rewards schools that show ongoing excellence in supporting active and sustainable travel to school, across their school communities.

Swindon Borough Council endorses using Modeshift STARS when creating school travel plans as it provides a comprehensive system and framework to create, develop and implement a travel plan at a school. The system and scheme also allow for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of a travel plan, as well as the initiatives.

Are there different levels of accreditation for your travel plan?

Yes, there are. There are 5 tiered levels of accreditation ranging from Green through to Platinum.

Green accreditation provides the first foundation level to accreditation. All necessary areas of the travel plan must be completed, including:

An introduction
Aims and objectives
Travel & transport section
Defining your issues
Setting your two targets
Inputting your 10 planned initiatives
Inputting your 5 planned supporting initiatives
Inputting your 2 planned consultation initiatives

Bronze accreditation is the next step-up from green and to achieve this you must conduct the following:

A simple pupil and staff travel survey asking both pupils and staff how they currently travel to school, and then how they would prefer to travel to school. (Please note, for primary schools you need an 80% response rate from pupils, and for secondary schools you need a 70% response rate. For staff, you need a 50% response rate.)
As well as this, you still need the same number of initiatives (travel, supporting and consultation), but these should be completed initiatives and not just planned initiatives.

Silver accreditation is the next step-up from Bronze and to achieve this you must also conduct the following:

Establish a working group with actions documented
Run a simple pupil and staff travel survey in the academic year that you’re applying to be accredited in, whilst also having run another survey in the last three academic years
You must also see a reduction in pupils travelling to school by car in the last four academic years. For example, in the current year you’re seeking accreditation versus any of the last four academic years.
There is also an increase in the number of completed initiatives to achieve. These are:
20 completed initiatives
10 completed supporting initiatives
7 completed consultation initiatives
Evidence is required for all completed initiatives

Gold accreditation is the next step up from Silver and to achieve this you must also conduct the following:

Have seen a 5-percentage point reduction in pupils travelling by car to school in the last four academic years. For example, in the current year you’re seeking accreditation versus any of the last four academic years.
There is also an increase in the number of completed initiatives to achieve. These are:
25 completed initiatives
15 completed supporting initiatives
10 completed consultation initiatives
The school should demonstrate that it has exceeded expectations in at least one of the following areas: Walking, cycling, public transport, air quality or road safety and training.

Platinum accreditation is the final level of accreditation and to achieve this you must also conduct the following:

Run a minimum of three simple pupil and staff travel surveys over the last four years, including one in the current academic year that accreditation is sought after
As well as this, to have seen an increase in active travel modes (walk, cycle, scoot) for the whole journey of at least 5 percentage points in the last four academic years, including in the current academic year that accreditation is sought after

What level of accreditation do most schools look to achieve at the beginning?

Swindon Borough Council recognise bronze-level as being an acceptable level for schools to complete their travel plan to, as it shows that action is taking place. This level also provides schools the ability to start collecting survey data which they can continue to analyse on an annual basis.

How long does it take to create a travel plan on Modeshift STARS?

We would advise that a travel plan can be created from the start, obtaining sign off to bronze-level, in one single term. This would allow plenty of time to fulfil all criteria, gain internal support as well as liaising with the Swindon Travel Choices team at Swindon Borough Council to obtain feedback and sign off.

Once we have gained accreditation, how long does it last for?

Your accreditation lasts for 12 months. You will need to monitor and update your travel plan over the 12 months after accreditation to submit for re-accreditation and gain a further 12 months.

How many staff members does a school need to dedicate to creating a school travel plan on Modeshift STARS?

You need at least one staff member to be the internal Travel Plan Champion and Project Manager. However, this person should also draw on the wider expertise and knowledge across the school community, whilst multiple logins can be provided to the school for other staff members or key stakeholders (such as parents / governors) who wish to input into the travel plan.

Who should be involved in creating and implementing a travel plan at a school?

There should always be a nominated Travel Plan Champion (or Project Manager) at the school involved with the day-to-day of creating the travel plan and uploading the necessary information into Modeshift STARS. However, the wider Senior Leadership Team and Governors should be consulted and help create elements of the travel plan, with particular focus into what the aims and objectives are of the travel plan; defining the issues; setting the school’s targets; and providing guidance on what initiatives the school has implemented, and what the school can implement moving forward.

Can a travel plan that is created on Modeshift STARS be shared externally?

Yes, it can. Travel plans are public-facing documents that can be called upon by any member of the public, or within the direct school community. Once created, this document can be downloaded as a PDF already formatted, and we encourage this to be visible and available on a school’s website.

If we want to create our school travel plan on Modeshift STARS, can we receive help in doing so?

Yes, the Swindon Travel Choices Team at Swindon Borough Council are the team that lead on facilitating Modeshift STARS travel plans across all of Swindon’s schools.

Initially, we can meet with you over Microsoft Teams to provide a short introduction and overview to the scheme and system. If you wish to proceed, we will then set you up with a login and signpost you to help and guidance that will be taking place. We can come to the school to help get you started, and there are webinars to attend. Also, if you get stuck along the way, we can answer questions by email.

How do I register for a login on Modeshift STARS?

Email SBC’s travel plan coordinator with you name and school to organise a login to the site.

STARS