School Superzones
School Superzones aim to address multiple health impacts within a 400m radius of schools which are within the lower 30% of the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Their foundations are crafted by in-depth consultation with the school and local community, and involve working across multiple teams within the borough to identify and address issues linked to the themes of air quality, active travel, food and drink, play and parks / access to green spaces, and community safety, planning and licensing, advertising and tobacco.
An evidenced based action plan is co-created by partners to address the communities priorities over a 12 period, delivering improvements against key objectives. Helping to create long-lasting and meaningful impact on the health and well-being of the children, their families and local residents
PWLC have been involved in the facilitation of School Superzones since 2022. We support from the bid-writing phase through consultation to leading on facilitation of the action plan.
We also complete the feedback and reports for the GLA to reduce admin for local authority staff.
One of the greatest benefits of School Superzones is the way departments can work together to effect real, lasting change within communities. PWLC Projects supports cross departmental collaboration to identify opportunities, pulling together cross cutting threads to ensure goals are met and outcomes delivered. We provide regular updates to key stakeholders and presentations to keep everyone updated and ensure all involved understand the broader impact of the project, report to the Local Authority, GLA and school, and provide case studies.
Some of the highlights of this innovative approach to engagement have included:
• Collaborating with the Parks department, local allotment committees, parents and children to develop a raised-bed garden area within the school for use by the community to grow fruit and vegetables to support healthy eating and sustainability aims. Inclusive work with Highways, the Active Travel team, external not-for-profit organisations and the local Community Centre to establish a Park and Stride scheme to encourage parents to walk, wheel or bike the final part of the journey to school.
• Working with local charitable organisations, retailers, schools as well as the Pollution, Active Travel and Public Health departments to create a community garden and nature access in a local park.
• Consultation with two schools close to Ilford Lane raised concerns about road safety, which fed into design work to improve infrastructure in the area, leading to two new crossings being installed. One school also benefited from new bikes for breaktime cycle sessions and a bike lane upgrade outside the school gave the opportunity to highlight the work achieved and a launch event was held including the Deputy Mayor and local councillors.
The School Superzone pupil team at Uphall Primary School, with Deputy Mayor Cllr Saira Jamil, Cllr Foyzur Rahman, Cllr Jo Blackman
