Safety-conscious schoolchildren competed in a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style event hosted by Hillingdon Council for the chance to win their school funding for road safety and sustainable travel improvements.
Teams of pupils aged between 11 and 18 from Oak Wood School, in Uxbridge, Park Academy West London, also in Uxbridge, Queensmead School in Ruislip, Guru Nanak Sikh Academy, Hayes and Vyners School, Ickenham, took part in the Hillingdon Pioneers’ Challenge, on Wednesday 31 January in the lecture theatre of the Battle of Britain Bunker Exhibition and Visitor Centre in Uxbridge.
Each team of ‘Travel Pioneer Ambassadors’ pitched their road safety idea to a panel of ‘Dragons’ including members of Hillingdon Council’s school travel and road safety education team and representatives from Transport for London (TfL) and the transport industry, in efforts to bid for funding towards promoting school road safety and sustainable transport initiatives.
Around 50 students took part in the event, with ideas ranging from incentivised walking and cycling groups, to creating banners and holding coffee mornings to encourage their wider school community to travel more sustainably. The event was a great success with all schools achieving a share of the £3,356 funding for their proposed projects, along with actionable guidance from the Dragons to support their initiatives.
Following the event, Cllr Jonathan Bianco, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet Member for Property, Highways and Transport, said: “It was brilliant to hear about the range of thoughtful pitches from the Travel Pioneer Ambassadors, who clearly share the council’s passion and commitment to creating safer roads that in turn help protect road-users.
“My congratulations to all five schools for putting forward some compelling suggestions that help address how we could reduce the dangers of air pollution from car journeys while promoting healthy, sustainable alternatives.”
The Dragons’ Den event complements TfL’s Pioneer Challenge programme that is being delivered to participating secondary schools in the borough and aims to equip students with skills and confidence to raise issues of traffic safety with peers and parents to try and bring about change.
The funding was provided by the council and TfL from money ring-fenced for education, training and publicity of road safety and sustainable travel.
A similar event for ‘Junior Travel Ambassadors’ – pupils aged eight to 11, will take place on Thursday 29 February at the same venue.
Secondary schools wishing to find out more about the Pioneer Challenge programme can email stars@hillingdon.gov.uk