Recognising that many children are dropped off and picked up at schools by car, the Brussels Region motivates schools and kindergartens to adopt a school mobility plan to encourage children and their parents as well as teachers and school personnel to use the active modes instead, with a focus on doing so safely.
During the first year, a team comprised of teachers, school personnel, pupils and parents, supported by an external coach, develop the mobility plan. They first analyse how children and adults travel to the school, and subsequently set school-specific goals and plan activities accordingly. Using the mobility plan, schools can request dedicated support from the authorities as well as materials and activities.
One such activity is Good Planet’s “the first steps in our neighbourhood”, in which pupils in kindergartens learn, through a ‘sensory walking adventure’ in the school’s surrounding environment, to participate safely in traffic as pedestrians.
Since the start in 2006, more than half of the schools in the Brussels region have implemented a mobility plan, of which two-thirds still actively participate in the project.
More Information
Brussels Mobiliteit/Bruxelles Mobilité (n.d.), Schoolvervoerplan (SVP)/ Les Plans de Déplacements Scolaires (SPD). https://bit.ly/447v5Ha (NL) / https://bit.ly/3LtZdp4 (FR)
Good Planet (n.d.), De eerste stapjes in onze wijk.