Wales first Active Travel School – Ysgol Hamadryad, Cardiff

South Wales primary school sets the pace on health and the environment.

Huw Irranca-Davies AM

Chair
Wales Cross Party Group on the Active Travel Act

As Assembly Member for Ogmore, I am always keen to encourage more walking and cycling to schools, so we have healthy and active schoolchildren, help reduce traffic congestion and air-pollution around “school-runs” (let’s have school-walks and school-cycles and school-scoots instead!) as well as the wider community and environmental benefits.

I’m also Chair of the Cross-Party Active Travel Group of Assembly Members. So I am really pleased to share this story of Ysgol Hamadryad, a school which has worked hard to transform itself into a genuine Active Travel school where the normal way of children getting to and from school is cycling or scooting or walking or … well, anything but being driven there to be honest. Not every school can do exactly what Ysgol Hamadryad did and at the same pace, but there are lessons to learn there for all our schools and the communities in which they sit.

I hope you find it interesting, and I’m always happy to work with parents, governors and school heads to see what more we can do together to transform the way our children go to and from schools.”

Dr Dafydd-Trystan

When the Cross Party Group first started considering active travel to schools, we heard from Dr Dafydd Trystan, Chair of Governors at Ysgol Hamadryad, how this Cardiff primary school had become Wales first active travel school.  Dr Trystan has now written an account of the school’s journey. It is available here as downloads……………….

English version  http://www.huwirranca-davies.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Ysgol-Hamadryads-Active-Travel-Journey-Eng.pdf

Welsh version   http://www.huwirranca-davies.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Ysgol-Hamadryad-Active-Travel-Journey-Cym.pdf

 Related articles:

Welsh Government statement (Lee Waters). May 2019

ACTIVE TRAVEL TO SCHOOL WAKES UP THE MIND AND THE BODY