ANSTEY Junior School has received a £3,750 and £5 per pupil grant after submitting a travel plan to the Department for Education and Skills (DFES).
The government is currently trying to encourage more children to walk to school and the grants aim to help schools draw up more environmentally friendly travel choices.
The school conducted a number of surveys to determine which factors were putting pupils off walking to school and what could be done to rectify this.
The plan found that the majority of pupils would like to walk to school but that they had difficulty in crossing the roads. Their plea was for safer places to cross, for more school crossing patrols, and for a reduction in both speed and traffic volume.
Anstey School worked towards their application for a travel plan grant for over a year. Parents, children, school staff and governors all worked together with the local council to put together a documentation which was submitted to Hampshire County Council (HCC).
"We were delighted to receive this grant," head teacher Carol Walters said.
"It means we are looking to do something that will have a very positive impact on the lives of children, not just at our school but at other local schools as well."
The school is in consultation with HCC to see how it can maximise various projects using the grant money. Roads highlighted as being particularly difficult to negotiate include the Old Odiham Road and its junction with Greenfields Avenue, Church Street, Nursery Road and Victoria Road.
In a report to East Hampshire District Council's north west area community committee, deputy head teacher Tony Jones reminded members that traffic conditions in Alton have become more hazardous over the past 10 years, reflecting an increase in development.
In addition, national statistics show that 40 per cent of all pedestrian casualties are children, and that 82 per cent of these occur on roads used to and from school.
The DFES has recently announced capital allocations to a number of schools which have produced School Travel Plans (STPs) authorised by the county education officer and director of environment and in place by March 31 this year.
The Anstey School Travel Plan has drawn up a six-pronged plan of action which asks HCC to review the dangers to pedestrians crossing the Old Odiham Road between its junction with Greenfields Avenue and the cemetery opposite, which is used as a short-cut to the school.
The creation of a footpath and the reinstatement of a school lollipop person or, better still, a pelican crossing are suggested.
HCC is also being asked to consider the construction of small build-outs in Nursery Road and Victoria Road to enable children to see round parked cars - and to alleviate problems of traffic congestion and hazards at the front of the school by creating an alternative entrance into the playground at the rear to enable satellite parking, possibly in partnership with Alton College.
It is being asked to address the flooding problem along the Plevna Place footpath and to improve lighting along other local alleys.
The school itself needs to find ways of enforcing correct use of the school car park entrance and to integrate a cohesive road safety programme which would, for example, ensure that all college students are aware of speeding implications along Nursery Road.
In praising Anstey Junior School for being the first to produce such a comprehensive travel plan, Alton councillor Bob Booker said that he hoped other schools, including Amery Hill and Eggar's, would follow suit.
Ms Walters was keen to praise her deputy Mr Jones for all his hard work in submitting the application for the grant.