'Hands up' travel to school survey 2026
Thank you for taking part in the 2026 'hands up' travel to school survey.
You can take part by clicking the 'take the survey' button and answer the questions with the help of your pupils.
The survey should take around 5 to 10 minutes to complete.
Your school will have decided on a date to collect the travel data on the same day.
Completing the survey
If possible, please complete on Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11 or Thursday 12 March.
If your school needs a different date, please use the reserve dates of Tuesday 17, Wednesday 18 or Thursday 19 March.
Instructions
In this survey, you'll be asked to ask your class how they travelled to school and how they would prefer to travel to school each day.
Phases
Information
Every year the School Travel Team carries out a city-wide ‘Hands-Up’ Sustainable Mode of Travel Survey (SMOTS) at all schools in the city. Most schools take part and we would like to thank you in advance for carrying out the survey again this year.
It is essential that all schools take part in the hands-up survey, as we use this data to demonstrate to Government how schools are meeting their Statutory Duty under the Education Act 1996 (as modified by s508A of the Education & Inspections Act 2006) to promote safe and sustainable transport.
We also use this data to prioritise where the Council can provide key support to your Schools in providing services such as cycle, scooter and child pedestrian training and when dealing with traffic, parking and safety issues outside schools. It does not take long to complete and the data is invaluable to us.
Survey instructions:
The on-line survey will become live & accessible from the 10th March 2026.
Please carry out the survey across the school, on the same day in all classes (including nursery classes if you have them), ideally on Tuesday 10th or Wednesday 11th or Thursday 12th March. If these dates are difficult, please carry out on following days: Tuesday 17th or Wednesday 18th or Thursday 19th March.
1) Please carry out the survey as soon as you can after the pupils arrive at school.
2) Please ensure there is nothing unusual happening on the day of the survey, which may affect travel patterns, e.g. a school trip.
3) There are instructions for completing the survey on the first page of the on-line survey.
4) If teachers have difficulty inputting the data, please contact the School Travel Team to ask for help.
5) Please ensure the totals of present, actual method and preferred method are equal.
Once we receive the results, we will collate them, produce a summary report and send you the results, showing the different modes of travel your pupils take to school and how this compares with other schools in the city.