Active Travel

Active Travel to/from Two Mile Ash School
Choosing active travel to/from school - like walking, cycling, or scooting - comes with a range of great benefits for children, parents, our community and the environment.
Here are some of the key reasons you should choose active travel:
  1. Health and Fitness
  • Active travel can help children meet their daily physical activity target of at least 60 minutes.
  • Improves cardiovascular health and muscle strength
  • Encourages lifelong healthy habits
   2. Improved Focus and Learning
  • Physical activity before school can boost concentration, mood and readiness to learn.
   3. Environmental Benefits
  • Reduces traffic congestion and air pollution near schools.
   4. Social Interaction
  • Walking or Cycling with friends or family supports social development.
   5. Cost-Effective
  • Saves money on fuel or public-transport
  • Often quicker than driving short distances on busy school zones.
It's FUN! You get to move, see things and become more independent.
Living Streets Active Travel Tracker
Two Mile Ash School pupils have access to an interactive, online tool designed to encourage and monitor active travel to school. It's part of the WOW - Walk to School Challenge, a year-round initiative by the UK charity Living Steets.
The WOW Travel Tracker allows pupils to log their daily journeys to school using icons on classroom devices like interactive whiteboards or iPads. The WOW Travel Tracker provides useful insight into school travel habits.
When pupils record at least one active journey to school per week across a month, they are awarded a monthly badge. The class with the highest percentage of active journeys per month is also rewarded with our Active Travel mascot 'Stryder' as well as a certificate.
"But we live too far from school to walk or cycle to school" ....
 .... Have you thought about 'Park & Stride' using our Walking Bubble?
5/10-minute Walking Bubbles
Click on our 5/10-minute Walking Bubble image to see where you could park your car and walk to Two Mile Ash School. By doing the Park & Stride, you are reducing congestion around our school, improving air quality and safety for our children and community.
Two Mile Ash School Bike Bus
 
Every Friday between March and October there is a community-led Bike Bus to Two Mile Ash School. Starting at 8:10am from Petworth Park in Great Holm, the TMA Bike Bus, led by parent volunteers, takes on a route to Two Mile Ash School. ALL pupils able to ride a bike are welcome to join with their bike and helmet and must be accompanied by a bike-riding adult (this could be a parent or a parent with agreed responsibility during the ride).
You can join the Bike Bus anywhere along the route - to find out where we go, watch the TMA Bike Bus YouTube clip by clicking the image below.
 
           - Cycling Citizen MK
Bikeability & Learn to Ride 
 
Two Mile Ash School have pledged to the MK Council's target for 80% of Year 6 pupils achieving Level 2 Bikeability cycling proficiency (by 2025). To help us achieve this target, all our pupils have access to Bikeability courses in Year 5 and/or Year 6. To ensure children can access Bikeability courses, we have a fleet of school bikes and helmets for children to use if they need to. Courses are led by qualified instructors who provide children a fun, educational course which prepares them to ride their bike confidently to Secondary School.
To do Bikeability, children must be able to ride a bike. If they can't, we offer Learn to Ride sessions. Again, these sessions, usually up to an hour long, are led by Bikeability instructors who work with children one-to-one to help them gain confidence to ride. It is advised that children continue to develop skills learned in these sessions outside of school.
Each year, a group of five Year 6s represent Two Mile Ash School at the Bikeability Olympics - an event organised by Tom Bulman at Cycling Citizens MK. Pupils each take part in 5 exciting cycling challenges against pupils from other MK Schools. In 2024, Two Mile Ash were crowned Bikeability Olympics Champions!
 
Modeshift STARS Education Award
 
Modeshift STARS Education is a national awards scheme in the UK that helps schools encourage sustainable active travel.
Two Mile Ash School has an established Travel Plan, promoting safer, healthier and greener journeys to school. We collect data on how pupils and staff travel to school, run initiatives to promote active travel (like Walk to School and Cycle to School Weeks) and work with MK Council, Cycling Citizens MK and the community to support our vision to 'Prioritise Active Travel'.
Two Mile Ash School have achieved the following Modeshift STARS Education awards:
  • Very Good Travel Plan -  September 2024
  • Good Travel Plan - January 2024
  • Green Travel Plan - September 2023
Other Useful Links
Cycling Citizens MK - https://www.cyclingmk.org/ Find out about local cycling events and opportunities in Milton Keynes.
Get Around MK - https://getaroundmk.org.uk/cycling Discover Milton Keynes by using theGet Around MK Journey Planner.
Access to Bikes - https://getaroundmk.org.uk/cycling/access-to-bikes Need support with funding for a bike? If your child is on our Pupil Premium records, they could be entitled to this Council-led scheme.
Cycle Saviours MK - https://mkchristianfoundation.co.uk/cycle-saviours/ Local charity which repairs, recycles and sells donated bikes. You can get your bike serviced here too!
If you have any questions regarding Active Travel at Two Mile Ash School, contact our Active Travel Ambassador and 'Bikeability Champion', Mr Saville.