Granard Primary School Organises Borough’s First Ever Play Street

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Y6 pupils report on the day and hope they are inspiration for other local schools

On Wednesday, 12 June Granard Primary School and Sustrans, a charity that helps make cycling and walking easier, organised a Play Street – the first ever to take place in Wandsworth!

Children were able to walk, scoot, cycle and play freely on the street outside our school, Cortis Terrace, which was closed off to traffic. The Play Street included fun playground games, scooter and bike rallies and even a smoothie-making bike! Everyone had great fun making their own delicious, nutritious drinks using pedal power.



Dr Bike, our resident bike mechanic, was onsite providing free maintenance checks to make sure bikes were healthy and safe to ride, and the police were on-hand performing security marking. The event also provided us with the opportunity to raise awareness to the community about some of our travel concerns.

The goal of our Play Street was to provide families with a safe space to play and to reduce congestion and road safety concerns that we often experience during drop-off and pick-up time. The streets around our school are often full of idling cars and speeding traffic, which create air pollution and an environment that isn’t very nice for walking and cycling. We are hoping to encourage more regular street closures and help people think differently about travel.

We hope that our Play Street event will inspire more schools to host their own Play Street and to raise awareness about travel and its impact on health, wellbeing and the environment. We want to create more sustainable, active and safe journeys and hope others will join us in making positive change happen.

Anshu Chopra and Mona Syed
Year 6 Pupils at Granard Primary School

June 20, 2019