Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programme

Round 4 of the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programme was officially launched yesterday. 105 additional schools nationally have been accepted onto the active round. Minister for Transport Darragh O’ Brien TD, Minister of State Emer Higgins, along with the National Transport Authority and Safe Routes to School, were in attendance to launch Round 4 of the SRTS programme at Leinster House.

We are thrilled to announce that Scoil Mhuire Naofa is one of only two schools in County Leitrim to be included in Round 4.

The programme works closely with school communities, parents and local authorities to ensure that proposed measures reflect local needs and gain broad support through community engagement. Almost half of participating schools have reached an advanced stage, with 227 projects either completed, under construction or in the final design phase following public consultation.

This programme will progress in conjunction with our school extension. Our vision is to create a modern school campus which is easier and safer to access for students, staff, parents, guardians and visitors.

Eleonore Bascoulergue has been appointed as our SRTS Infrastructure Officer. Some of the key aspects of the programme, including the roles of the stakeholders involved and key milestones include:

Stakeholders

The stakeholders involved in the SRTS programme are:

• School: you play a vital role in helping us and the local authority understand your school’s needs and in championing the works that will be delivered.
• SRTS Infrastructure Officer: I gather information on your school’s context, identify opportunities for improvement, and compile this into a delivery plan for your school.
• Local authority: responsible for designing and implementing the SRTS scheme for your school, using your school’s delivery plan as the foundation.
• National Transport Authority (NTA): funds and oversees the SRTS programme, allocating resources to local authorities for scheme delivery.

SRTS Process and Key Milestones

The SRTS process and the associated key milestones are as follows:

1. Travel Survey: An online survey of parents/guardians will help us understand how students travel to school and highlight key issues. I will send you a survey link and supporting text soon so that you can share it with your school community and encourage as many responses as possible.
2. School visit during school start / finish time: typically conducted with the local authority during school start or finish times to observe the school environment, identify potential safety risks, and highlight opportunities for improvement.
3. Route audits: audits of the main routes to school (as identified through the travel survey) to identify barriers and opportunities.
4. Draft Delivery Plan: a report combining survey, visit, audit findings and proposed improvements. The draft is reviewed by the NTA and local authority.
5. Stakeholder engagement meeting: a presentation outlining the findings and proposed interventions included in the draft delivery plan. Your feedback will shape the final version.
6. Outline Delivery Plan Completed: after incorporating feedback, the outline delivery plan is submitted to both the local authority and school.  
7. Preliminary Design: the local authority begins the process to design a scheme for your school.
8. Public Consultation: if the proposed interventions require planning permission, the local authority will host a public consultation. This is a key phase that seeks community feedback on proposed interventions before final designs are confirmed. We’ll support your school in sharing information and encouraging positive engagement.
9. Detailed Design: the local authority will finalise the scheme designs based on input from the public consultation.
10. Construction: this phase focuses on delivering the designed treatments on the ground while minimising disruption to the school community. We can also support with developing leaflets to share this information with the school community.
11. Completion of Works: on completion of the works we will develop a leaflet to convey the changes to the wider school community. The local authority may work with you to have a formal launch of the scheme and celebrate the works that have been delivered.

Timeframe

Schools move through the process in small batches, so timelines may vary. Gathering data and developing the Outline Delivery Plan can take several months. 

Once the plan is complete, the local authority is tasked with the delivery of the interventions. The associated timelines can vary due to the complexity of the scheme, constraints or external factors. The local authority will provide you with more information related to this as your school progresses through the programme.