A model school, the Franco-German Grundschule Sillenbuch is attended by pupils from all over Stuttgart. This means that many of them live a long way from the school and are driven to school by their parents, who drop them off right in front of the school. This creates a dangerous traffic situation for other children who are walking to school. To change this, the primary school staged an action week under the banner "Parent Taxi".
Using the MobileKids Initiative documents, a list was drawn up of what it takes to run a successful campaign. Motivating the children to walk to school is not enough. The parents also have to be encouraged to change their routine. The solution was a reward system: During the campaign week, each child who walked to school was awarded a point by their class teacher. The children were later able to exchange their points for a reward. They didn't have to forego the car altogether. Even if the children only walked the last part of the way, this made the street outside the school less fraught. To ensure that the parents didn't incur additional expenses, the school marked "parent taxi drop-off zones" on a map. It was easy for parents to park here and let their children out safely. The drop-off zones also served as a meeting point for the children, who could then walk the rest of the way to school together.
The children at the Grundschule Sillenbuch had a lot of fun during the campaign. They discussed the subject of "How we get to school" with their parents and often insisted on not being driven the last metres of the journey. Staged without any wagging fingers or moralising tones, the campaign was a complete success: At the end of the week, only one car stopped directly outside the school - before it had been up to a hundred. The primary school now intends to extend the points campaign and stage a traffic campaign every year to show new first grade pupils and their parents the importance of walking. And to ensure that the area outside the Franco-German Grundschule Sillenbuch remains safe.