Councillor Peter Heggie from Livingston South Ward has been working with the Bellsquarry primary school parent council and principal teacher to develop a safer environment for the pupils at drop off and pick up time.
Councillor Heggie and a group of parents working with the head teacher Ms McMaster have established a focus group to look at ways to raise awareness of inconsiderate parking and the potential danger it poses to pupils.
The group have been working on the following initiatives:
- The JRSO ( junior road safety officers) pupils group have created a safe parking street map that has been distributed to all parents and guardians.
- Social media campaign has been launched through school Twitter and blog to raise awareness of the group and to ask for comment on the problems.
- Signage has been installed on the perimeter fence to create a strong visual.
- A questionnaire has been created for parents/guardians to look at traveling distance to school and methods of travel (this will also be emailed to parents/guardians and available on the school blog).
- A pledge has been created for parents/guardians to sign that they will adhere to a safe parking environment (launched today at the school Christmas fayre).
- High visibility stickers / bag accessories / arm bands / information booklets have been distributed to pupils at the school Christmas fayre today.
- Cllr Heggie has been at the school at pick up time on a weekly basis to speak to inconsiderate drivers to make them aware of the focus group and ask them to relocate to a safe and legal parking space immediately and in future.
Cllr Heggie is delighted with the positive response to this initiative and would like to see it rolled out across all West Lothian schools.
Councillor Peter Heggie (right), Ms McMaster head teacher at Bellsquarry primary school (middle), Mr Colin Hunter Bellsquarry primary school (left)
Councillor Peter Heggie states:
“I am committed to making a safer environment for the children of Bellsquarry Primary School and am delighted with what has been achieved so far. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Head Teacher, Ms McMaster, the parents and the pupils who have supported this initiative and helped to ensure that getting to and from school is safe for all pupils. I look forward to this being rolled out across West Lothian and welcome any interested parties to get in touch.”
