PUPILS at a north Swindon primary school have become the first in the south west to receive a prestigious award for using means other than a car to get to school.

Abbey Meads Community Primary School were presented with the gold ‘national travel to school award’ at a special assembly on Friday morning.

The recognition follows a lot of hard work on the part of teachers, parents, but most importantly pupils, in learning about safe and healthy ways to use the roads.

Presenting them with their award, local MP Justin Tomlinson said: “It’s a very proud moment for the school, to get the gold award.

“It shows the commitment, particularly of the parents, who have made those changes to encourage more walking, cycling and scooters.

“In these high density built up areas it makes a real difference to communities – all too often we can see gridlock which causes great frustration for local residents.

“It’s something that they complain about in their droves but it’s great to see this school being so proactive.

“I’m chuffed that they’ve been rewarded for the efforts that they’ve made.”

The children at the school have been working with the transport team from Swindon Borough Council to complete courses on a range of issues associated with getting to school including road safety and safe cycling.

Some have even taken on the role of ‘travel ambassadors’ in an effort to inspire their classmates to take the message forward.

Conscious that for some parents, driving to school is the only feasible option, the children got involved in measuring out a five minute zone which is used to encourage parents to park five minutes away and make the walk in from there.

This not only adds an extra burst of exercise into the day but also alleviates congestion in the immediate vicinity of the school.

Bob Buckley, Headteacher at Abbey Meads, paid tribute to his staff, in particular the travel ambassador co-ordinator Mrs White, without whom this achievement would not have been possible.

He added: “It is really the pupils that have put all the effort in and I’m very proud of what they have achieved.

“It can be difficult for children to have to set the example for adults but increasingly these days that seems to be the world we live in.

“Like every school in the country we become public enemy number one for a short time in the morning and the afternoon when parents block the roads.

“So this work is about traffic awareness but also about being healthy and active. We encourage our children to walk, cycle and use scooters – with helmets of course.”

In addition to the gold award, Abbey Meads have also been named as the south west region’s school of the year by STARS, the sustainable transport education body.

They will head to the national awards in the new year to see how they fare against schools from around the rest of the country.

In a testament to the work put it by the pupils to motivate each other, and their parents, it was they who collected the award from Justin Tomlinson at the assembly.

Two new travel ambassadors were also revealed, they will soon get to work, building on the school’s already fantastic achievements.