Pupils from Churcham Primary School and Ashleworth Church of England Primary School in Gloucester received enhanced and hands-on road safety lessons in SkillZONE’s unique street setting today as part of Road Safety Week (17-23 November).

Andre Bovington from the Road Safety Partnership says; “We are always keen to highlight road safety, especially as it’s darker at this time of year and pupils need to be aware that drivers can’t always see you in poor light. We are also asking pupils to ‘look out for each other’ on their school journey, which is about respecting all road users as well as taking the time to really look for others for safety reasons.”

Children visiting the Gloucester safety centre during the national week were taught a host of road safety tips from SkillZONE’s partner Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership around the national theme of ‘looking out for each other’. These include:

• Take the time to look out for cars, cyclists, pedestrians and children on scooters on their journey to school.
• To always ‘Stop, Look and Listen’ for traffic before crossing the road safely with parents or guardians.
• To be extra careful at this time of year because drivers have less chance of seeing you in darker mornings and evenings.
• To always cross where you can be seen and wherever possible use controlled crossings and to wear something bright when walking near roads in the dark.
• Not to be distracted by mobile phones, chatting to friends or listening to music near roads, particularly when you are about to cross a road.

SkillZONE manager, Donna Potts said of the visit; “We are happy to celebrate Road Safety Week each year with our local schools and I’m pleased we’ve been able to deliver these important road safety messages with young people in a way that they will remember.”

It was the second time Churcham Primary had been to the safety centre with teacher Claire Gobourne saying; “ I think it’s a fantastic learning opportunity to come to SkillZONE. We do cover road safety in school but this really brings those lessons to life.”

Her pupil Amy McKay, 10, adds; “I’m so excited about coming here today. I have learnt a lot about road safety and one of the things it reminded me was to wear my seatbelt at all times, even if just going around the corner.”

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Photo: Pupils from Churcham Primary celebrate Road Safety Week from left to right Maddie Skatulla-Emberson, 10, Emily Brit, 10, and Logan Smith, 9.