This week Year 4 have been visited by Mr Lai from the Safer Travel Team to rehearse safer pedestrian crossing skills. Mr Lai has been incredibly informative, even teaching the adults a thing or two about how to cross the road safely. We discussed the ways in which we can identify if there is a danger present - checking for drivers in cars, listening for engines or music playing and looking for lights. We discussed how electric vehicles make less obvious noise from their engines and so we have to be extra cautious of this type of vehicle. We also discussed the dangers of cyclists, motorcycles and other types of vehicle. Mr Lai taught us about tactile pavement and how this is used to identify a safer place to cross the road when there isn't a crossing such as a zebra or pelican crossing. We even discussed how blind and deaf people are considered at crossings with the use of tactile paving, spinning buttons and loud beeps, ensuring everyone can cross roads safely.  

The children have learnt how to identify a safety zone when assessing the road they wish to cross and consider areas of the roads we might need to be wary of such as parking bays and driveways. We have learnt and rehearsed four key phrases to help us in our road crossing - Stop, Look, Listen, Think! We used these phrases to help us make decisions when crossing our local roads. Mr Lai even taught us how to step back and indicate to drivers that we are not going to cross a road if we do not feel it is safe to do so. The children and staff, accompanied by Mr Lai, headed out to Almonds Lane to put these skills into practice. We used the tactile paving just outside the school as a crossing point - some of you might have even driven past us! We then headed down towards Headingley Close to use our skills on a more complicated road. This time we discussed how to cross safely when the road is a junction. We thought about all the directions traffic could come from and where our marker points for our safety zone should be this time.  

The children took the sessions very seriously, considering the safety implications that come with crossing roads. There was lots of insightful discussion and a range of inquisitive questions asked. Despite being sure they already knew how to cross the road safely, the children engaged with the sessions positively and came away feeling like they were worthwhile and had taught them something they hadn't considered before.