This guide is for schools looking to get accredited on Modeshift STARS to Good (Bronze) level for the first time. The below timeline outlines the steps needed to accredit your school travel plan to Good within a school term.
Modeshift has multiple levels of awards from Approved (Green) as the most basic, to Good, Very Good (Silver), Excellent (Gold) and then the highest recognition which is Outstanding (Platinum). In your first year, the highest accreditation you can submit for is Good, as the levels above require 1 to 3 years of plans (so you can show how the work you have done has effected travel in the school).
Page contents
- Step one: Login to Modeshift STARS
- Step two: Complete background information
- Step three: Run your hands-up survey with pupils and staff
- Step four: Complete your transport issues
- Step five: Set two targets
- Step six: Detail your current initiatives
- Step seven: Finish and email the Safer Travel Team to say you've completed your school travel plan
Step one: Login to Modeshift STARS
Contact the Safer Travel team at schooltravelplans@surreycc.gov.uk and ask to be registered as a user. There is no limit to the number of users who can be registered.
Once this has been done users should receive an email from Modeshift asking them to set up a password. Users can then Login to Modeshift STARS. There is a 'forgotten password' icon in the bottom right corner of the login screen.
The Safer Travel Team runs regular training webinars on how to use Modeshift. Request a webinar at schooltravelplans@surreycc.gov.uk.
Users should see their school name on the home page. Click on to start the Travel Plan. The first page is the Site tab. Most of the information here will already be prepopulated. Users should also see Introduction, Accreditation Progress, Aims and Objectives, Working Group, Site Audit, and Users for site.
Top tip: Some of the tabs may not visible when you first log in. If so, there is a quite simple remedy. Select the pencil icon in the top right corner and then edit one of the sections and click save. The additional tabs will then appear.
Step two: Complete background information
All fields in the Introduction, Site Audit and Aims and Objectives must be completed. The Introduction requires important background information about the school, such as number of staff and pupils and the school opening and closing times. This should include information about where pupils and staff are travelling from.
The Site Audit section details the different ways the school is accessed by staff and pupils. Please detail about the road infrastructure nearby such as zebra crossings, as well as the parking facilities available. It is important to complete every editable box. Where a section requests information that the school does not have, a value of 0 should be entered rather than leaving the field blank.
This section may take some time to complete, but it should only need small changes in future years. The travel plan is public, so adding more detail here will help people understand the different ways children can get to the school.
The next section to complete is Aims and Objectives. The aim is the school’s ambition for creating the travel plan. The objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time limited (SMART). Our FAQ page, advises how to complete all the tabs.
Step three: Run your hands-up survey with pupils and staff
Primary schools need an 80% response rate from pupils and 50% from staff to meet threshold. Secondary schools need a 70% response rate from pupils and 50% from staff to meet threshold.
After all pupils and staff have completed the survey using the survey link that you will send out across the school, make sure that the student travel modal shift and staff travel modal shift tabs are showing and show your survey data.
Top tip: To send out a survey, copy and paste the link under survey link in the site tab and send it to the classroom teachers. Teachers do not need a Modeshift login to use the survey. They should fill in all the boxes, including the class name, year group, and number of absent pupils. Teachers can then ask the two survey questions and collect answers by asking pupils to raise their hands. When finished, they should click save. Initiatives and Consultations last for 3 years. Schools should check records from the last two and a half years and add any missing initiatives if needed.
Step four: Complete the transport issues
Transport issues are problems that affect how people travel to and from the school. These should focus on the problem itself, not on possible solutions. For example, a school may identify a lack of safe crossing points outside the school as a transport issue. However, this is actually a possible solution rather than the problem itself. The issue might be that heavy traffic makes it difficult for pupils and parents to cross the road safely. Another common one in Surrey is parents parking poorly such an in residents driveways, on double yellows or on the pavement.
Modeshift needs a minimum of one issue, though often most schools have many more. A plan should represent a cohesive web, with the issues relating to the aims and objectives. The targets and initiatives (detailed later) should link to the issues that they are trying to solve. For the first travel plan, schools are encouraged to focus on one to three of their most important transport issues. Additional issues can be added in future years if needed.
Step five: Set two targets
Schools need to set a minimum of two targets, targeted for the next school year. These can be a mix of:
- a modal shift target, (such as a change in how pupils or staff travel to school) relevant to the pupil / staff survey such as looking for an increase in those walking/cycling to school
- a qualitative target, for example, 'reducing the number of resident complaints about poor parent parking by x% over the next 12 months'.
Schools need at least one modal shift target for the next year. These targets should also relate to the issues. The initiatives need to support the school to meet these targets. When a modal target is set, Modeshift will automatically populate it with information from this year’s survey so schools can see what has already been achieved.
Step six: Detail the current initiatives
For Bronze accreditation plans need at least 10 completed travel initiatives, five completed supporting travel initiatives and at least two completed consultation initiatives.
Top tip: Initiatives and Consultations last for 3 years. Schools can look back over the last two and a half years to add different initiatives if necessary to make the numbers.
Useful guides to Modeshift STARS Education Initiatives, and Consultations can be found on our School Travel Plan Resources page.
Step seven: Finish and email the Safer Travel Team
Once the above tasks are completed please email schooltravelplans@surreycc.gov.uk to let us know that the plan is complete. We will then moderate the plan with the Senior Travel Plan Officer and provide feedback or sign off.
Do not click the submit button in the Accreditation Progress tab until we have checked over it.