Safety at the school gate

This term we are learning about safety at the school gate and our routes from home to the classroom. This topic links to our Green theme as we will learn about sustainable choices of transport in our journeys to and from school and also through the Health curriculum as we learn about keeping ourselves safe from harm, that is; sustaining ourselves.

In Week 1 we walked from all the school entry points to our (old) classroom. Mrs Walmsley surveyed the children about which path the children took to class. We talked about which route was most popular, the shortest and longest routes and what hazards or problems we may come across.

Consider this:
Children are not mini-adults:

• They do not hear and see things in the same way as adults
• Their eyesight is not well developed, especially peripheral vision
• They are easily distracted by noises or things such as animals
• They are short in stature and so can’t see over or round things easily
• They can’t judge safe distances or speed easily and so may make poor decisions about crossing the road

They may forget road safety rules if something unexpected happens.

On Thursday 31 July, Constable Carl and the Road Patrol children are coming to speak to us about being safe pedestrians and the role of the Road Patrol. You are welcome to attend with us to learn about this important aspect of safety. 
Where: Room 12
When: Thursday 31 July 10.30 am
Who: Constable Carl, Road Patrol, Room 12 children and teachers and you.

Arahoe Road
Arahoe Road has 2 entrances. When we were in Room 23 the entrance closest to the crossing was the fastest route to our class. Which is the fastest now? Note how close cars are to the entrance.

What are the hazards?

Grandison Crescent
Grandison Crescent and Arahoe Road are the most popular entry points.

The footpath is a lot closer to the driveway entrance. Can you see how we used the footpath and not the carpark? (Still a bit scary when cars are so close at the road end). 
It was interesting that the children did not talk about cars going in and out as being a hazard to be wary of. Therefore drivers must be extra careful of children walking beside the road and carpark as they do not recognise the dangers of moving cars. The audio did not work too well on this video unfortunately.

Please visit our class on Thursday at 10.30 to hear Constable Carl if you are able to. In the meantime, keep on walking and talking about safety!