Our school’s work on travel and sustainability was recently recognised when we were crowned Modeshift STARS national secondary school of the year. This followed local and regional awards last year. We’re a city school so most of our young people do not get to us by car. But we believe there is always more we can do to encourage sustainable travel among children and young people, families and staff. Traffic and congestion are key issues in our local area and our pupils have driven a wave of initiatives that are reshaping travel habits across the school community. Our student sustainability ambassadors are creating long-lasting changes by encouraging car sharing, use of public transport, park and stride and walking. They also launched a creative “how to reduce your carbon footprint” competition, challenging our wider school community to design nine practical ideas, tying into the Ninestiles name, showing how everyone can make a positive difference to the environment through their travel choices. Our carbon footprint poster competition featured in our school newsletter, on our social media, and within the local community, with prizes awarded to the top three entries. Greener habits These activities not only motivated young people to adopt greener habits, but also highlighted simple, achievable ways the whole community can work together to cut carbon and reduce congestion. Earlier this year, a group of our pupils presented their latest project to industry experts and the mayor of Solihull, highlighting its impact on sustainability, road safety, and carbon‑footprint reduction. Their project was designed to reduce congestion and cut down on harmful emissions. They bid for £200 of funding from the council, which was then used to reward those who demonstrated sustainable travel habits, with prizes such as water bottles, smart watches and beanies. They even organised bike-related rewards for those who switched to cycling as their main mode of travel. Their initiative also included road monitoring surveys, educational quizzes and social‑media engagement with the wider community. During our designated “travel wise” week, pupils, staff, parents and carers were encouraged to car share, walk or take public transport. Pupils in the walking competition tracked their sustainable travel choices and took part in a quiz that helped to educate them on how much car fumes contribute to air pollution. To further support changes in travel habits, we also sent a sustainability‑themed quiz to all form tutors, with prizes awarded to the highest‑scoring forms in each year group. Tracking travel We also challenged pupils and staff to walk, cycle or car share, with record sheets tracking travel modes throughout the week. Our continued commitment to travel planning through our active travel ambassadors has helped us secure priority status on Birmingham City Council’s safer school journeys programme. This will respond to concerns about unsafe parking and speeding in the local area, with investment aimed at creating a safer, more welcoming environment for children and families. The Summit Learning Trust, of which we are part, also endeavours to avoid having a negative impact on our climate and environment. As a trust we work to develop our children and young people as citizens with an ethical compass, a strong sense of their responsibilities to others and conscious of the impact they can have on their community, society and the planet. I am so proud of the creativity and commitment our pupils have shown promoting sustainable travel. Our young people are leading by example, showing that small changes to the way we travel can make a big difference to everyone’s health and the environment.