About Us
We are parents and residents, with children at state and private, primary and secondary schools. We are passionate about reducing school run traffic, and want to create more convenient and sustainable travel choices for families. We worry about the road danger our children face on their way to and from school and that they are being exposed to health-damaging levels of air pollution.
OUR VISION
A safe, green, clean school run for every child.
Our Mission
To empower local communities - parents, residents, councillors and campaigners - to take effective and targeted action towards a sustainable school run.
who we are
We rely on an incredible network of parent & carer volunteers - our day to day team members are below.
A campaigner, environmental psychologist and ex-journalist, Claire has spent the last five years using her communication skills to campaign and work to reduce air pollution. She lives and works in South East London.
Nicola Pastore
Nicola has in depth expertise in data analytics having spent over 15 years finance and analysis roles in industry and consulting. She has been campaigning for car-use reduction & improvements in air quality for the last seven years.
Our Story
When we (Nicola & Claire) first met we both had children at the same primary school. We shared concerns about the high level of traffic around the school, which affected air quality as well as our children's freedom.
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And so the obsession with the school run began. As we started to look into it, we realised that despite the school run being a significant proportion of daily traffic, it was completely under recognised, in terms of data and solutions.
So we got stuck in, with termly bike buses and weekly walking buses. We had awareness-raising stalls at the school summer fair, organised air pollution monitors and active travel obstacle courses.
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Soon our day jobs reflected our obsession, as between us we campaigned and worked with grassroots network Mums for Lungs, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, and HomeRun, a tech start up focused on the school run. We learnt about air pollution, its impact on children's health, and why it is essential to engage communities in the movement to reduce traffic around their schools.
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And so we have created a network of concerned residents and parents who all face the different challenges that the school run presents. Whether that is dangerous and stressful journeys to school with young children, the school-related traffic swamping our streets and bringing pollution to our homes, or the fear of letting children travel to school unaccompanied.
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Using a data-led approach we actively campaign in Dulwich, South East London for safer and healthier journeys to school. We are solutions focused and in early 2023 we received funding from the Foundation of Integrated Transport to develop our school travel data dashboard and solutions toolkit. We hope these will provide other campaign groups, councillors, schools and parents in London the data and information that we have found so helpful in our local work.
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We know that we need systemic change to reduce car-use and air pollution. But we can't help but feel excited and optimistic at the constantly expanding array of sustainable solutions - from cargo bikes, to smart route planning for school buses - that can be implemented to increase choice and convenience for parents who don't want to be reliant on cars. We want to inspire and enable that choice.
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We look forward to a future where a child can get to their school safely, healthily and sustainably, wherever that school may be.
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Please join us!
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Thank you!
Claire & Nicola
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We are supported by:
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