Sporting hi-vis jackets and armed with notebooks, these pupils are on a mission to stop parents parking illegally outside their school.
And anyone who doesn’t want to be a total embarrassment to their children had better stick to the rules.
Details of offending cars are read out over a Tannoy by the youngsters for all and sundry to hear.
The ‘naming and shaming’ policy has led to a dramatic reduction in parents blocking the road or stopping on the yellow zig-zags that forbid parking in front of Bewsey Lodge Primary School, in Warrington, Cheshire.
So it might just come to a school near you. The scheme was introduced in September following mounting concerns about road safety from pupils, teachers and parents.
Twice a week, two Year 5 pupils, who are aged nine or ten, are accompanied by a member of staff on the road outside school for around ten minutes before the end of classes at 3.15pm.
They take turns to don caps and jackets bearing the logo ‘Mini PCSO’ (police community support officer) donated by Warrington Council.
They note down the make, model and number plate of any offending vehicles, before announcing them over the Tannoy system in the headteacher’s office, which has speakers both inside the school building and in the playground. Pupils also tell parents: ‘You are making our roads unsafe, please move your car.’
Kelly Roberts, a higher learning teaching assistant who co-ordinates the scheme, said: ‘The parents are all waiting in the playground so it is the best opportunity to name and shame them. Hopefully the parent will be red-faced as everyone can hear the announcement. I think because the voice is coming from the children, not other parents or the headteacher, the message is getting through.
‘The children love it and there are much fewer people parking on the junctions or on the zig-zags outside the school.’
Joanne Davies, who has two children at the school, said: ‘Before we used to tell people to move but they just ignored us. Now they listen.’
Mother-of-five Leanne Williams said: ‘I think it’s a good idea. When cars are parked on the side of the road it makes it impossible to cross the road safely.’
Yellow zig-zags were painted outside the school in July after pupils handed a petition to the council asking for more road safety measures. The school, which has 270 pupils, will also receive a crossing patrol officer in January, after a year without one when the previous lollipop lady retired.
Meanwhile, the majority of child road casualties occur within 500m of a school, a survey has found.
From 2011 to 2013, 69 per cent of all child road casualties occurred close to a school. The figure equates to 31,470 child-related incidents, or 201 a week, compared to 13,931 away from schools.
The areas of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, in Lancashire, have the highest rates of child casualties close to schools, insurer Axa and the consultancy Road Safety Analysis found. London was not included in the survey.
