The latest Modeshift STARS Education League Tables have landed, showcasing another round of outstanding progress across our members.
Local Authorities (LAs) are continuing to lead the way in promoting active and sustainable school travel for everyday journeys. There are some new names rising through the rankings and familiar leaders building on their success.
Below, we highlight some of the standout performances in both the small and large Local Authority categories.
Small Local Authorities (less than 100 schools)
It’s been a fantastic few months for our smaller authorities, with several making significant strides since the Autumn leaderboard.
- Southampton remain in the top spot with 39.19% of their schools accredited which shows their ongoing commitment to active and substantiable everyday journeys.
- Isle of Wight jump up to second place from the fourth spot with a quarter of their sites acheiving approved accreditation.
- Solihull have moved up two places to fifth place with 23.26% of their sites reaching accreditation.
- Bath and North East Somerset jumped up two places to number seven, reflecting fantastic engagement from schools across the region.
Richard Pitman, School Travel Plan Officer at Bath & North East Somerset Council said:
‘Achieving STARS success with schools in B&NES is about building relationships, good communication, patience, training, listening, being as helpful as possible and encouraging schools to try things out. I started with one ‘Outstanding’ accredited school in 2023, now we currently have fifteen schools, one ‘Outstanding’, two ‘Very Good’, seven ‘Good’ and five ‘Approved’ Plans and last year we were lucky enough to see Chew Stoke Church Primary School win the National STARS Primary school of the year award 2024/245.’
Annabel Matharu, Sustainable Travel Officer, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council said:
‘I attended the National STARS Summit last year which I found inspirational. The Education workshop with fellow LA officers was a particular help and advice on getting schools to complete their Travel Plans in manageable ‘chunks’ has been so useful. I think some schools felt overwhelmed with the initial amount of information required, but by breaking it down into doable ‘chunks’ has been much more successful’.
Large Local Authorities (more than 100 schools)
The large LA category has seen an exciting shake-up this season, with Sheffield taking the top spot!
- Sheffield has become number one in the large LA category, with an impressive 32.06% of schools accredited, up three places since Autumn.
- Barnsley have made the transition from the Small Local Authority and have immediately climbed the rankings to be positioned in tenth place, this is testament to their commitment to submitting more site accreditations for 19.81% of the sites in their area which is a brilliant achievement.
- Kirklees climb three places to fifth position with an excellent spread of accreditations across their sites.
With so many large authorities showing continued commitment, the competition at the top remains closer than ever.
How they did it
In Sheffield Kat Harrison, Senior Transport Planner at Sheffield City Council said:
‘The Sheffield team are thrilled to be first in the Large LA category, this is how we’ve done it:
- Holistic and Integrated Approach: Sheffield’s success in promoting active travel stems from combining multiple initiatives into a cohesive, city-wide strategy.
- Collaborative Leadership and Engagement: The model thrives on both top-down support from leaders and bottom-up engagement with pupils ensuring shared ownership and sustained change.
- Strong Partnerships: Collaboration with other organisations has expanded our reach, creativity, and impact.
- Cultural Transformation: Sheffield is embedding sustainable, active journeys into daily life and aligning them with broader Climate Action and Net Zero goals, leading to healthier, cleaner, and more connected communities.
But most of all its teamwork! We have a dedicated, committed team who are enthusiastic and avid champions of active travel, who love working with schools to make a difference to pupils journeys.’
Vicky Harrison, Headteacher at Tankersley St Peter’s Primary School in Barnsley said:
‘Achieving the Modeshift Outstanding Award is something everyone at Tankersley St Peter’s is incredibly proud of. Our School Council has played a huge role in making this possible, organising termly Walk to School events that the whole school looks forward to (especially when they insist we provide some tasty treats!). One of our favourite projects was inviting the whole school to design a mascot for walking to school. The response was amazing, and from those designs Tank was born – with his fantastic outfit lovingly made by my mum!
Although we are a small school, we have a very big heart. Our pupils truly believe in our school vision of making the world a better place. By choosing to walk to school, promoting healthy lifestyles and reducing traffic around our school to make it safer, we know that even small actions can make a big difference. This award celebrates the enthusiasm, teamwork and commitment of our pupils, and we couldn’t be prouder of them.’
Toni Wood, Senior Technical officer School Travel Plan coordinator (Modeshift STARS) at Kirklees said:
‘The momentum we’ve built in Kirklees has been really exciting to see. We have worked hard to build support and awareness of Modeshift STARS within the Council, with elected members. We are committed to working with our partners to deliver a flexible, place-based approach to Modeshift. Our training and initiatives are chosen to respond to local needs, strengths, and areas of interest. Clear action planning, regular monitoring, and the development of pupil working groups to capture student voice has resulted in levels of engagement, with school keen to work towards accreditation.’
A huge well done to all!
Congratulations to all the Local Authorities, schools, and teams working tirelessly to deliver positive change. We can’t wait to see what the next update brings.
The next accreditation window closes on 31 March . You don’t need to wait for the deadline to make your submission!
