The City's Engineering department with HASTE has created Best Walking Routes to School pamphlets for all their elementary schools - developed using infrastructure and traffic count data, feedback from family surveys, and from walkabouts with all stakeholders.
To enhance this work, three elementary schools; Richard McBride K-5, Lord Tweedsmuir K-7 and FW Howay K-5, are part of the CLASP STP pilot. A Municipal Stakeholder Steering Committee is in place and walkabouts have taken place with stakeholders who include staff and persons from city engineering and bylaws, school administration and parent councils, ICBC and public health.The photo below shows stakeholder Deanna, a healthy living specialist with Fraser Health, helping with traffic observation.
Some Action Items include built traffic calming, and the Cool Routes to School Program - where one classroom in each STP school is the lead on helping promote active school travel using HASTE Lesson Plans. This student-led approach coordinates with parent ideas and stakeholder support to effectively take active travel strategies forward for the whole school community. At Richard McBride students exceeded the principal's challenge to walk a collective 500 days in two weeks, they reached almost 2400 days! The principal revealed his green hair at a special wrap-up concert featuring a special dance the lead class students performed with Wiil Stroet - he and his band www.willmusic.ca performed at all three STP schools, with 'I'm goona walk' and the 'Bike safety boogie' part of the fun.
Another higly successful event (pictured below) took place at FW Howey Elementary, A BIke Fest for all three STP schools, in a partnership with the City, Fraser Health and the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC).
The City of New Westminster has now funded the Cool Routes to School Program for their two middle schools; Ecole Glenbrook Middle grades 6-8, and Queensborough Middle grades 5-8. These two schools have joined the national CLASP STP pilot. Both walking and bicycing will be considered as the School Travel Plan develops. Classroom and family baseline surveys have taken place, a walkabout, and student participation best route to school and sensory mapping classes with HASTE facilitators.
