Slow down at St Michael's Primary

Jul 23 2008 by John Ballard, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

YOUNGSTERS at a Dumfries school have designed their own traffic signs to improve road safety and the environment.

More than 180 pupils at St Michael’s Primary competed to come up with signs that will be positioned in key areas around the school where traffic has been identified as a problem.

The project came about after St Michael’s teamed up with the police and housing maintenance and estate management firm Connaught. Designs for the competition covered everything from speeding cars to hedgehogs and turtles, although the works of seven-year-old Oskar Spelmeyer, Sara Carson, aged nine, Rosalind Burns, aged 10 and Dale McCubbin, aged 12, grabbed the attention of the Connaught judging panel.

As well as designing traffic signs, the school’s eco-committee enlisted the help of supermarket chain Lidl to set up a park and walk scheme where parents can park their cars in Lidl’s car park and walk the short distance to the school.

Parents have also been encouraged to take part in walking buses and Walk to School Week in a bid to give pupils a more healthy and environmentally friendly way of getting to school.

St Michael’s headteacher Dennise Sommerville said: “Traffic congestion and increasing pollution is a growing concern for the teachers, parents and community of St Michael’s.

“Thanks to the work of the school’s eco-committee, with the support of Connaught Partnerships Ltd and Dumfries and Galloway Police, the children have designed four new traffic signs which we hope will encourage drivers to slow down and drive more carefully when approaching the school.”