Road Safety
PARENT PANEL MEETING:

ROAD SAFETY
The first Parent Panel meeting took place on the 30th October 2012 and the topic for discussion centred on road safety outside school and the constant issue of dangerous driving and bad parking. Thank you to the parents who took part. This special newsletter will give you a flavour of the ideas discussed at the meeting to improve safety for our pupils outside school during busy times:

PREMISES AND COMMUNITY IDEAS
SCHOOL PREMISES
• We are going to explore the possibility of extending the fence at the  gate to the Foundation Stage entrance of school.
• As well as this we will also research costs for a new scooter park and  a cover for our bike park.
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WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY
• Contact will be made with the PSCO and Traffic Wardens to make spot checks on parking outside school and, if necessary, give penalty  notices.
• A letter will be sent to Leicestershire County Council Highways  requesting alterations to the road markings and zoned areas.
 
SCHOOL AND CURRICULUM IDEAS
• Have more regular ‘Walk to School’ weeks
• Coordination with other schools in Burbage and share ideas to  promote road safety.
• More visitors in assemblies to talk about road safety, even victims of road accidents to talk to the older children.
• Rewards for children who walk to school.
• The School Council and Junior Road Safety Officers will design a ‘Parking Ticket’ which will then be placed by the children on badly or dangerously parked cars outside school.
• We could design large MDF figures of children to attach to the fence along the road to remind parents about road safety.
• The Junior Road Safety Officers will organise competitions throughout the year to keep road safety awareness going.
• We will contact Simon Huckle at Leicestershire County Council who provides advice on road safety programmes.

WORKING WITH PARENTS
• It was suggested that next year we change our school bookbags to a high-viz colour and maybe provide high-viz armbands to all pupils.
• We could also try having a regular day to encourage walking to school, for example:
‘Walk to School Wednesday’.
• We would like to re-launch the ‘Walking Buses’ to encourage pupils and parents to leave their cars at home. 
• However, this is dependent on parent volunteers willing to undertake training and lead this initiative.
• We would like to recruit some parents or carers to act as ‘Road Safety Wardens’ outside school wearing specially designed high-viz jackets with school logos designed by the children.
• It was suggested that we publish a special newsletter with photographs of badly or dangerously parked cars (this was something our ex-head Mr. Fewster did at his previous school!)
• We would also encourage parents to report badly or dangerously parked cars to the school office.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Help us to keep the road outside school safe for our pupils! Please think carefully about where you park and put the safety of ALL our pupils first. Also, please do not turn into school whilst the traffic is stopped by the Crossing Patrol.
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If you can spare us some time to lead a walking bus or become a Road Safety Marshall, please speak to Mrs. Campbell. Full training will be given.