Pupils and school leaders at Long Lawford Primary School work with police, residents and councillors to tackle increased traffic and unsafe parking

Pupils and school leaders at Long Lawford Primary School have been working closely with police, residents and councillors to tackle increased traffic and unsafe parking.

New measures have been introduced in a bid to cut parking issues, improve safety and even children’s health.

These include a lengthened start and end time to the school day and changes to entry and exits to the site to help direct families safely around the school.

Parents are sent regular reminders to get more students walking to school where possible and lessons teaching road safety as part of the curriculum have been stepped up.

Children in the school’s Road Safety Crew have helped to put out our new parking buddies in Boyce Way, where the majority of issues have recently been reported.

Claire Stringer, Headteacher at Long Lawford Primary said: “We are proud to be part of this community project. We have enjoyed working with local police and councillors and are proud of what we have achieved so far.

"We look forward to continuing this work with our local community.”

The school has provided bike-ability lessons to children and they are planning to host their first sponsored walk this year.

Local councillors have also raised funds to provide a fenced barrier around the green space in Boyce Way, to address the issues reported and preserve green space there.

A local resident, who is working with the school on this project, has said that the new barriers have helped to calm some of the issues and that they hope the parking buddies, placed along pavements to support families with walking safely to and from school, will help

to calm things further.

Cllr Simon Ward said: “It’s been great to work in partnership with local police officers, the school and fellow ward councillors to try and tackle some of the issues around drop off and pick up times in Boyce Way/Greenwood Close with the measures that have been implemented.

"We hope that this will also encourage further thought around how people make their way to and from school. Ultimately safety is the number one priority.”