UK Primary School Takes Top Prize in Pan-European Sustainable Mobility Competition

3 October 2007

A UK primary school nabbed the top prize in a pan-European environment competition for their approach to sustainable mobility.

On Friday 5 October, Millfield Primary School in Norfolk will be presented with €4,000 at a special awards ceremony for helping to reduce local traffic congestion to and from their primary school.

The Environment and Innovation Project, hosted by Toyota Motor Europe and the Eco-Schools International Programme Coordination, invited schools across Europe to identify challenges and propose solutions to improve mobility and the environment in their local communities. 105 schools submitted proposals to the program. Twenty-five schools, representing up to 25,000 students, received a total of €75,000 in grants to implement their projects, before reporting back on their progress to a European Judging Panel.

The winning project, “Stamp Stanley – Walk to Millfield Project”, aimed to reduce traffic congestion by creating a long-term incentive for children to walk to and from school. The school installed permanent checkpoint machines along school routes so students could collect a stamp for each “green journey” made. Stamps are then saved up and exchanged at school for a wide range of rewards.

Millfield Primary School was crowned the European Winner from a shortlist of four national winners: Harkortschule Primary School (Germany), Tagliacozzo-Gramsci Primary School (Italy) and Leganés Eco-School Network (Spain). Project ideas included a road safety education program (Germany), new software to encourage car-pooling and alternative modes of travel (Italy), and a bicycle promotion program (Spain).