Early Stage 1 activities - Starting school safely
The first few weeks of school provide an excellent opportunity to establish safe routines and travel habits that can support students throughout their school years.
School safety walk: Getting to know your school
Take students on a guided walk around the school to help them become familiar with their new environment and identify places where they can learn, play and travel safely.
Encourage students to observe their surroundings, ask questions and talk about who can help them if they need assistance.
During the walk, safely explore from within the school gates:
- main entry and exit locations, including drop-off and pick-up areas
- pedestrian crossings and bus bays (if applicable)
- staff car parks and/or delivery and service areas
- classrooms, assembly and waiting areas
- playground and toilet locations
- school office and sick bay.
As you move around within the school, discuss why some areas are safe for students to access and why other areas require adult supervision. When viewing gates, crossings and car parks, reinforce that these are places where children need support from a trusted adult to stay safe.
Reinforce the key Kindergarten pedestrian road safety messages:
- Hold a grown-up's hand when you cross the road.
- Hold a grown-up's hand when you're on the footpath.
- Hold a grown-up's hand when you're in a car park.
Resources to support teaching and learning
Road safety education should be developmentally appropriate, relevant to students’ everyday experiences and reinforced over time. Quality road safety education helps children develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to make safer decisions as road users.
Early Stage 1 road safety teaching and learning content has been included in lessons 2-6 of Unit 1. These lessons reinforce the key road safety messages for pedestrians, passengers and riders.
This teaching and learning activity supports students' learning of the key road safety message ‘Always hold a grown-up’s hand when you cross the road, on the footpath and in the carpark’
This lesson plan supports student learning of the key road safety message ‘Always wear a helmet when you ride or skate.’
This editable PowerPoint supports schools to develop a social narrative to improve students’ skills and strategies for staying safe on their journey home from school.
A road safety education resource for teachers, students and families. It provides a variety of interactive learning activities for students from Kindergarten to Year 6.
Additional resources
A collection of resources to support transition to kindergarten and orientation programs.