‘It could be you’, pupils are told

RSO Norma Sheppard has developed a novel way of grabbing the attention of Darlington’s secondary school pupils - and of getting across road safety messages to this challenging age group.

"Let’s face it, most secondary school pupils go into a trance when they hear the words ‘road safety’ – and teenagers think they know it all and consider themselves immortal," says Norma. "So if you’re going to get their attention you need to come up with a way of arousing their curiosity and holding their interest for long enough to get a message across. Just preaching to them won’t work."

Norma has successfully managed to achieve this through her National Roadshow Lottery, which she pioneered some five years ago while working in North Yorkshire and has taken to schools in Darlington where she currently works.

So how does it work?

"Before the pupils arrive I dress the classroom with posters and a banner and ask to be introduced as a representative of the National Roadshow Lottery," Norma explains. "There is no mention of road safety at this stage."

Norma then goes on to explain to the pupils that they are participating in a pilot to test the viability of a lottery game for the under 16s.

Each child is handed an individual numbered lottery ticket bearing the slogan ‘It could be you’. Norma explains there will be three ‘winners’, the winning tickets are then drawn and the ‘prizes’ are unveiled to each winner in turn.

"Third prize is two days off school with the head’s approval," Norma explains. "Second prize is a ‘luxury’ two week break – no school, no homework, being waited on hand and foot, lying on your back watching TV. And the star prize is no school and no homework ever again."

Norma then goes on to say that these prizes have already been claimed in large numbers by pupils of a similar age around the country and asks each winner to read from a card exactly how many ‘winners’ there have been in each case.

Inevitably someone will ask why he or she hasn’t heard about this lottery if there have already been so many winners. "That’s when I explain that the numbers relate to slight, serious and fatal road casualty figures," Norma explains. "And that the ‘prizes’ are what pupils can look forward to if they join the casualties."

The whole process takes around 20 minutes (though Norma says half an hour is better) and has proved so popular that Alison Butterfield, Norma’s successor in North Yorkshire, still gets requests for the lottery from schools some five years on.

Further information about the National Roadshow Lottery can be obtained from Norma Sheppard by telephone 01325 388717 or by e-mail: norma.sheppard@darlington.gov.uk