I joined the Junior Road Safety Officers outside Hill Avenue Primary School today where we launched the Safety Outside Schools (SOS) campaign.

One of the issues constituents contact me a lot about is parking outside schools. I know it can cause tension between residents and parents, and I’m really keen that children can get to and from school safely. I was thrilled to launch the campaign with Hill Avenue today. I think it’s a good initiative to make sure our children can get to and from school as safely as possible.

The age-old problem of parking outside schools came under the spotlight last month -; as the City of Wolverhampton Council invited residents and schools to help come up with a solution.

Its Vibrant and Sustainable City Scrutiny Panel was asked to consider what the council can do to alleviate inconsiderate parking around schools amid reports nationally that there are some 22,000 pedestrian casualties near schools every year.

This why today we launched this campaign at Hill Avenue Primary School, a new initiative aimed at reducing the dangers to children, parents and motorists outside schools that is caused by inappropriate parking.

Tristan Wedge (aged 10) who is the joint Chairperson of the Pupil Leadership Team said, “I think the Junior Road Safety Patrol is a good idea because this is causing havoc to our school community and people are putting pupils and themselves in danger.”

The initiative which has been developed by West Midlands Fire Service in partnership with the City of Wolverhampton Council is called ‘Safety Outside Schools (SOS)’. It sees school children take on the roles of junior road safety officers and focuses on parking and road safety among other issues and encourages schools to hold patrols to educate parents about inconsiderate parking.

Jo Gallagher- parent and Chair of the Parent Hub commented “the road safety initiative is a really good thing as children are at significant risk on our roads and need to be inspired by other road users to prevent accidents.”

Jodie Flavell (Hill Ave School PSHCE Leader and Pupil Leadership Team Coordinator) also commented, “Our children are keen to help ensure the safety of our children and community, as well as educating all involved about the reasons why we should park carefully- especially around a school.”

Mr Hateley, the school’s head teacher concluded by saying, “Raising the road safety awareness of our children and protecting them from the risks and dangers in our community is a crucial part of the curriculum in primary schools. We hope this road safety campaign lead by MP Pat McFadden, Jodie Flavell (PSHCE Leader) and the community police will raise further awareness of this important topic by empowering the children of Hill Avenue Academy to make an immediate impact in their own local community.”

Thank you to all of the school children, parents and teachers who embraced the launch of this new initiative today and I look forward to seeing how the initiative works for the school.