Road Safety Education Action Statement
ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT
Blaxland Public School is located in a residential environment bordered by reserve bushland. It is situated on the corner of The Great Western Highway and Baden Place. Traffic flow around the school is busy due The Great Western Highway being the major arterial road in the area.
Most students travel to and from school as pedestrians or car and bus passengers. Supervision is provided for bus travellers in the afternoon.
Key road safety issues.
Pedestrian Safety.
Students walking to school are encouraged to:
- Stop, Look, Listen, Think when crossing streets;
- use crossing facilities when available and
- hold an adult’s hand when crossing roads if under ten years of age.
Bus Safety
Students are encouraged to:
- wait safely away from the edge of the road whilst waiting for the bus to arrive;
- wait safely away from the edge of the road whilst waiting for the bus to come to a full stop;
- remain seated during the journey to and from school until it is time to disembark;
- demonstrate polite behaviour at all times and
- ensure no limbs are placed outside windows.
Car Parking
Parents are requested to ensure:
- they park according to road parking signs;
- cars are not double parked;
- students are not called across the car park or road to a car;
- students enter cars safely, preferably from the footpath side of the road and
- the staff car park remains for staff cars only to ensure student safety.
STUDENT OUTCOMES
The school will provide teaching and learning programs which lead to the achievement of student outcomes as specified in the NSW Board of Studies K-6 Personal Development, Health and Physical Education Syllabus.
Students will develop:
- knowledge and understandings of road use and road environments;
- skills for road use in varying traffic environments;
- responsible attitudes, values and road use behaviours.
The teaching and learning programs reflect the Department of School Education Road Safety Education Policy Statement P-12; 1994.
Developmental needs of students
Teaching and learning programs at Blaxland Public School will:
- reflect current road safety information and research
- be implemented from Kindergarten to Year 6 and in all Stages
- be appropriate to level of understanding, needs of particular groups and cultural differences
- provide students with learning experiences in the traffic environment.
WHOLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM-BASED ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION
Road Safety Education at Blaxland Public School is planned and implemented:
- within the school’s PDHPE Program
- with the use of quality resources such as the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) Move Ahead With Street Sense
- to include passenger, pedestrian and safety on wheels (including bicycle education). Bus safety education is provided in passenger and pedestrian safety
- to include evaluation and assessment strategies.
These teaching and learning experiences may be enhanced by:
- Visits to the CARES Facility, St. Marys.
- Visits and presentations by the local bus company
- Road safety talks at the school assembly by officers of the NSW Police Service.
SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
- The school has management practices that support road safety education programs. These are documented in the school’s supervision plan.
- The school informs parents of key road safety issues through parent meetings, permission notes and newsletter.
At Blaxland Public School students will demonstrate safe road use by:
- taking appropriate care to Stop, Look, Listen, Think when crossing streets
- taking extra care at the road intersections and marked crossings near the school
- modelling safe road use on excursions, school activities and around the school
- setting a good example for the younger students
- using identified pedestrian/cycling entry/exit path(s)
- wearing bicycle helmets when cycling, skateboarding or when riding on scooters
- wearing seatbelts when travelling as car passengers
- boarding, travelling and alighting from buses safely.
Community members and parents and carers help support student road safety behaviour by:
- walking with their children from their car to the school gate
- driving within the 40 km/h school zone speed limit
- modelling safe road user behaviour
- ensuring that children are protected whilst travelling through the use of helmets and seat-belts and well maintained bicycles
- parking vehicles safely outside the school and observing all parking signs
- reinforcing the safety messages delivered at school
- identifying safety issues in and around the school and addressing these issues as they arise
- modelling the care and protection of community property
- actively supervising the travel of young students
- encouraging younger students to hold a grown ups’ hand in the traffic environment.
Reviewed February 2006
