Kirklees Together

A Kirklees school have been celebrating this week after winning a top sustainable travel prize at a prestigious ceremony held in London.

Upper Batley High School were awarded the Modeshift Secondary School of the Year for 2024/25 at the National Modeshift STARS Summit 2025. This comes hot off the “wheels” of being recognised as the Regional Secondary School of the Year, at the regional awards last year.

An award for the school and local community

The award acknowledges the dedication and outstanding efforts of pupils, staff, parents and the local community in promoting and adopting healthier and greener ways of getting to and from school including walking, cycling and wheeling.

To encourage cycling, the school have handed out hi-vis jackets, reflectors, and bike locks, upgraded bike parking, and partnered with the council to monitor traffic and raise awareness of sustainable travel options. It’s these efforts that have contributed to a reduction in car use, improved air quality, and a stronger commitment to active travel and environmental responsibility across the school.

Councillor Munir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Highways and Environment said:

“I’d like to offer my congratulations to everyone involved at Upper Batley High School for their remarkable achievement! To have their incredible efforts recognised nationally is certainly something to celebrate.

“To see how you have embraced walking and wheeling to school and leave the car at home is inspiring. It’s encouraging how you have supported each other, and turned to unique ways to make it more fun like the “Odd Sock Walk”!  The positive effects this is having on the health and wellbeing of the school community will certainly have lifelong impacts.

“You are an inspiration to this generation of high school children, and future generations, not only in Kirklees but across the country.”

A learner at Upper Batley High School said:

“It was an honour to represent our school at the awards ceremony in London. We were extremely excited to be nominated as one of the schools across the country, but to win the award was amazing! We’ve worked really hard to encourage sustainable travel and improve the local air quality. I know we have made a real difference to our community, as a school, that makes us all very proud.”

Awards ceremony happened in London

The annual awards ceremony took place at The Royal Society, London and were presented by with Minister for Local Transport, Simon Lightwood MP. There were over 200 representatives and nominees from businesses, healthcare, residential and education sectors in attendance, including pupils and staff from Upper Batley High School.

The ceremony is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate schools that have demonstrated excellence in identifying travel issues and solutions whilst increasing levels of walking, wheeling and other forms of sustainable and active travel within their school community.

How your school, community and business can get involved

Modeshift STARS is a national accreditation programme for schools who want to improve their pupils’ health and wellbeing through active and sustainable travel. It can also help to directly impact and improve the environment around schools to the benefit of the wider school community.

Details of the Modeshift STARS scheme are available on the Modeshift STARS website.