We had a great day at the school’s summer fair at the end of term. We set up an obstacle course for the children, to show how much fun clean air can be! Yes! Really. 

First they had to ‘active travel’ on a balance bike through some cones, or around them, or on them – the choice was theirs! Then they reached a pile of bean bags and had to throw them on an image of their favourite form of active travel – walking, scooting or cycling. 

Once they’d completed the challenge they got a sticker (advertising our Walking Crocodiles that will happen every Wednesday in the new academic year), and the chance to look at a life-size model of lungs and discuss how important they are. Then they chose their prize, a biodegradable balloon (full of clean air), a seed bomb, and if they were really lucky, a sweet.

Parents had a chance to read up on why clean air is so important, especially around schools, plus join our Rosendale Clean Air group. It was a fun day out, and we look forward to seeing many of you in September at our Walking Bus.

We are delighted to announce our walking buses will now take place every Wednesday starting this coming Wednesay 16th June. The walking buses are socially distanced crocodile lines that start at Brockwell Park Lido & Wigwam toyshop and families can join the lines at various ‘stops’ on the way. It’s a great opportunity to be social & active on the way to school, giving people the opportunity to meet local families across different classes and years.

There is parking at the beginning of the routes so those who live further away from the school can “park and stride”, keeping harmful vehicle pollution away from the school.

The routes & times are below – look out for a family with the “Rosendale Walking Bus” sign & join in! Buses will arrive at school in time for first drop off.

Route 1 from Brockwell Park Lido
Stop 1 – 8.20 Brockwell Park Lido car park
Stop 2 – 8.30 Brockwell Park/Rosendale road gate
Stop 3 – 8.35 Rosendale/ Harwarden Grove
Stop 4 – 8.40 Arrive Rosendale road gates

Route 2 from Wigwam Toyshop, Rosendale road
Stop 1 – 8.20 Wigwam Toyshop, Rosendale road
Stop 2 – 8.25 Rosendale/Carson road north
Stop 3 – 8.30 Rosendale road/ Walkerscroft Mead
Stop 4 – 8.35 Rosendale road/Lovelace road
Stop 5 – 8.40 Arrive Rosendale/Turney junction

If you would like more information on how to travel actively to school please see our blog post with information on healthy routes to schools as well as our resources to start cycling here.

Thank you to all those who joined our Walking Buses on Wednesday and particularly to governor Mark Creelman and parent Zoe Rippon who led them. Despite the rain it was surprising how much the children and adults enjoyed being social and active together with the opportunity to chat to those in different classes and year groups on the way to school.  Those who lived further away parked in the ‘Park and Stride’ locations at the beginning of the routes (at Brockwell Park Lido and Wigwam toyshop) and joined in the fun whilst keeping vehicle pollution away from the school. It was such a success it hit the headlines in this news piece!

We hope to be able to have regular Walking Buses so watch this space.  Please see photos below and on our twitter page – well done again to everyone who took part. Our thanks also to Katie at WigWam toyshop for advertising the route.

Click here to learn more about air pollution at Rosendale and sign up to follow our blog (below) and twitter for a chance to win a bottle of champagne & free bike accessories!

Brockwell park route – striding across the park

Our valiant Wigwam bus leaders!

Lambeth council has published plans for a Healthy Route from Brockwell Park to Gipsy Hill. With measures such as new cycle lanes and bike parking stands, new zebra crossings, speed humps, raised tables and the removal of informal car parking spaces, the focus in the road will shift from cars to make space for pedestrians and cyclists.

With the suggested improvements, the area will not only become a lot safer for our children, their health will also benefit from reduced pollution and the new trees, planters and greening that are part of the proposal. 

Very importantly for our school, the plans include the roundabouts at Rosendale Road and Turney Road to be removed. Left turns from Rosendale Road into Turney Road will be banned to make space for safe crossings by foot or by bike. A stepped cycle track is proposed to run along the whole length of the Rosendale Road. These measures promise to hugely improve the safety and convenience for children walking to Rosendale from all directions. With Lambeth’s plans, a safer, cleaner and overall much more pleasant Rosendale Road is within reach! 

All the details have been published on the council’s website: 

https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/better-fairer-lambeth/project/healthy-route-brockwell-park-to-gipsy-hill

We are currently at the beginning of a month-long engagement period. There is still a chance that these brilliant plans will not be implemented. It is vital that Lambeth receives as much positive feedback as possible to encourage the Healthy Route’s realisation. We encourage everyone to complete the council’s survey and to leave positive comments:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Lambeth

Or go to one of the drop-in sessions to show your support for the designs:

Session 1
Date: Tuesday 4 February 2020
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Location: Emmanuel Youth & Community Centre, 96 Clive Rd, London SE21 8BU

Session 2
Date: Thursday 13 February 2020
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Location: All Saints West Dulwich Church, Crypt Hall, Lovelace Road, SE21 8JY

 Together we can make a real difference! 

The Clean Air group will be present with a stall at the Rosendale Christmas Fair on Saturday, 7 December. We’ll be there to talk about all things traffic and pollution with the community and to discuss ways to improve the quality of the air our children breathe. We’ll be happy to answer your questions and to receive suggestions what else could be done.

We’ll have a clean air related quiz at the stall, children’s games and detailed information on the various schemes and initiatives that we and the school are involved in.

You can sign our petition for a closure of Rosendale Road during drop off and pick up times at the fair and join our Whatsapp group if you’d like to get active too.

We’re looking forward to meeting you!

Lambeth Council is running an anti-idling campaign. At an anti-idling event at Rosendale in October volunteers informed on the bad effects on air quality when car engines are unnecessarily left running when stationary. A useful leaflet was distributed that busted common myths:

• Stopping and restarting a car engine after a minute causes less pollution than letting it run. It also uses less fuel.
• Modern car batteries don’t need the engine to be kept running in order to stay charged.
• It’s not necessary to keep an engine running for it to stay warm. It will stay warm for 30-60 minutes after switching off.
• Just because a car’s engine is running doesn’t mean you can’t be fined when parked on a yellow line.
• Modern engines don’t wear out due to frequent stopping and starting.

Please switch your engine off when stationary. Whenever possible, avoid making short trips by car and walk, cycle or scoot to school.

For more information visit:

http://idlingaction.london

We are a network of Rosendale parents who passionately care about improving air quality around our children’s school. Pollution levels around Rosendale are close to the legal limit (and very likely exceed it at peak times). The effect that daily exposure to bad air has on everyone’s health, and in particular on the condition of our children’s growing lungs, has been confirmed. 

There are a number of initiatives underway to address this issue – from TfL’s STARS scheme that inspires young Londoners to travel to school sustainably, to the school and the PTA’s own efforts to local grassroot organisations – that we as a group support. 

The Clean Air for Rosendale blog is a place to share information on what’s going on, to publicise new data on air pollution and on its links to health and wellbeing and to interact. We always welcome new volunteers to the group and are happy to receive input.