Teachers from each school, partnered with their local Road Safety Education Officer to design road safety teaching and learning activities, tailored to the specific needs of their students and local community.

Each lesson, team taught by the classroom teacher and Road Safety Education Officer, demonstrated best practices in road safety education by:

• reflecting the local, regional road safety context of each school
• using a strengths-based approach and promoting positive road safety behaviours
• using interactive and engaging teaching strategies
• focussing on skill development by providing students with the opportunity to practice/demonstrate safe road user behaviours.

The teaching and learning activity focussed on the following key road safety messages:

1. Hold a grown-up’s hand when:

• you cross the road
• you’re on the footpath
• you’re in a car park.

2. Stop, look, listen, think, every time you cross the road.

Students engaged with the eBook "Who is out walking?" available on the Safety Town website. They shared personal road safety experiences, identifying who they typically accompany when out and about and the specific circumstances requiring handholding.

Afterwards, the students participated in an outdoor session aimed at applying their understanding and developing their skills. Working in pairs, they alternated roles as either the adult or the child. Each pair was presented with various scenarios where the child determined the need for handholding and respectfully asked, "May I hold your hand please?" Students also demonstrated their ability to stop, look, listen, and think, before crossing designated sections of the playground acting as roads.

“The practical side of the lesson was great because it allowed the students to experience both the adult and child role and physically doing this helped cement the learning from the lesson.” Gol Gol PS

Staff from both schools then participated in a comprehensive two-hour professional development session, facilitated by the Road Safety Education Officer.

This session delved into strategies for:

• implementing a whole-school approach to road safety education
• explored quality road safety teaching and learning resources
• effective parent and carer communication strategies.

The initiative was met with resounding success and was enthusiastically embraced by both schools as a model for delivering effective road safety education.

“Our presenter was energetic and supportive. He led an engaging lesson that made me interested in how to implement Road safety.” Pomona PS

Please contact the Road Safety Education team if your school is interested in a similar model of support.