Walking to school and going out to play with friends all bring new risks for primary school pupils. Road Safety Scotland has a range of options for teachers designed to engage young learners.
Streetsense2 gives primary age pupils the chance to challenge their road safety knowledge and reflect on their own behaviour and attitudes. Teachers have online support, ensuring links to experiences and outcomes.
The Junior Road Safety Officer (JRSO) programme in Scotland puts children in control of highlighting road safety issues within their own school. A particularly empowering programme, it gives senior pupils the opportunity to become JRSOs for a year. Their task is to organise a road safety noticeboard, deliver safety presentations to classes or assemblies and run school road safety competitions.
Specific themes can provide a baseline for young people to develop their own road safety ideas. The core resource is www.jrso.com, which includes a ‘Members Only’ area specifically for JRSOs.
Drama and theatre are very effective when it comes to engaging young people in road safety messages. Theatre-in-Education is particularly suited to tackling social pressures and alternative behaviours. For that reason, plays should be regarded as a key element of the curriculum as well as a way to spread the road safety message.
Baldy Bane Theatre Company takes its forum-style production of ‘The Journey’ to Primary 6 and 7 pupils across Scotland. Tours are organised by Baldy Bane Theatre Company and local road safety teams who contact local schools directly. A support resource for The Journey is now available in the resources section below. It consists of two Pre-show lessons (including a PowerPoint presentation) and four Post-show lessons. The lessons further explore the themes covered in the play encompassing a wide range of experiences and outcomes.