Portsmouth salutes work of JRSOs

For the past year Portsmouth’s first Junior Road Safety Officers, at Langstone Junior School, have been working in partnership with the city’s road safety team to develop a School Travel Plan for submission to the DfT/DfES.

The plan will assist in obtaining a grant of up to £5000 to improve sustainable travel and healthier non-car based journeys to and from the school.

A group of Year 6 pupils organised supervised site visits and meetings with a traffic safety engineer to design suitable road safety engineering schemes around the school site. The JRSOs are also working with the road safety team to promote road safety to other pupils, update a notice board, organise competitions and report any road safety problems to the council.

Councillor Eleanor Scott, executive member for education, children and lifelong learning, acknowledged the hard work of the JRSOs in a special assembly held at the school. Special JRSO badges, certificates and fluorescent armbands were presented to recognise their dedication to the Safer Routes to Schools project.

Ilza Rudgley, the school’s headteacher, said: "We are very proud of all the hard work and enthusiasm put in by our Year 6s. They are helping to make our school a safer place for everyone."

Staff, governors and parents have identified speeding cars, parking on zigzag lines, narrow pavement widths, and cracked road surfaces as among their biggest concerns in their School Travel Plan.

For further information contact Dean Spears, traffic safety engineer, dean.spears@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.