Safe and Active Schools

The Safe and Active Schools Programme has been offered to Warwickshire primary schools since 2017. Our programme is designed to give children the knowledge and skills to travel actively and safely. Active travel contributes to children’s physical, mental and social wellbeing and is high on government, Warwickshire County Council’s and Warwickshire Schools’ agendas. We believe that providing road safety education, training and practical support prior to promotion of walking cycling and scooting is essential.

A Safe and Active School will receive:

• Road safety education sessions that contain messages which are appropriate for age, ability and environment of all children aged 3 to 11 years.
• Digital resources each term linking with national road safety campaigns that combine road safety messages with active travel promotion.
• Access to our library of digital resources, messaging, lesson ideas, resources and animations to empower you as a school to promote safe and active travel both for your students and their families.
• Support and ideas from our Road Safety Officers and Active Travel Team to set up and run initiatives for your school that promote and support active travel.
• Support and ideas from our officers to improve levels of active travel in your school community and to reduce car usage and parking outside the school gates.

As a Safe and Active School, we ask you to commit to:

• Completing our hands up data survey on a specific day in September
• Complete our core content road safety sessions in every year group
• Complete some of the active travel initiatives - our funding is linked to active travel so we cannot offer just road safety sessions for any school.
• Filling in the action plan sheet or online form to let us know your plans and to help us to track your progress towards a Safe and Active Schools Award.

Our aims and objectives

To improve children’s basic road safety awareness and develop knowledge of safe behaviours by:

• Recognising roads are for traffic; pavements are for people.
• Recognising features of their local roads and identify people that can help them to cross the road.
• Recognising safe and unsafe places to walk and to cross the road.
• Knowing that they must stop before the kerb and look and listen carefully before crossing.
• Recognising safe places to play.
• Understanding and following the principles of the Warwickshire Road Safety Code - Think, Stop, Look and Listen, Think, Cross Safely.
• Developing the knowledge and skills to identify the safest route to school.
• Knowing how to travel safely to and from school and beyond.
• Supporting and encouraging parents to influence and develop the safety awareness skills of their children.
• Encouraging pupils to walk and cycle where these are both appropriate and safe.
• Embedding a holistic approach working in partnership with the school, wider community and partner organisations.

Benefits for schools

• Access to age appropriate and timely education resources, either in person or digitally.
• Access to and support from Road Safety Education Officers, Safe and Active Travel Officers, and partner organisations, such as Warwickshire Police.
• Our programme has featured positively in several schools Ofsted reports.
• Our programme has been recognised as being effective and has been implemented in several Local Authorities across the country.