One church school in Milton Keynes has gone the extra distance to enable its community to be more active and consider the positive benefits of sustainable travel. Cold Harbour Primary School in Milton Keynes is celebrating its significant achievements after being awarded Modeshift STARS Local Authority Primary School of 2024/25 for their exceptional efforts to encourage cycling and active travel. Recognised for its innovative approach and hard work tackling parking issues outside the school. The school also worked closely with parents and carers, local cycling groups, and the wider community to support the school's aims and help with safety.
Modeshift STARS is a national awards scheme that was created to recognise the support and initiatives by schools to encourage and support pupils to get to and from school by cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable travel. Councillor Jennifer Wilson-Marklew, Cabinet Member for Transportation said, “I’m delighted that the hard work by the pupils and staff at the school have been recognised nationally. This is a great example of how we can make changes to switch to sustainable travel options for different journeys and this will help us to achieve our target for MK to be a carbon neutral city by 2030.”
Sarah Kotulecki, headteacher at Cold Harbour Primary School said, "We are thrilled to have been recognised with the Modeshift STARS award. This award is a testament to the hard work of our students, staff, and parents, who have all embraced the initiative and helped to make cycling a core part of our school ethos. A moment to where the whole community, ‘Let their light shine'.