Wednesday 29^th January was definitively a hectic day for all of our Junior Travel Ambassadors (JTAs). Not only were they all involved in the Junior Road Watch Scheme with the Police in Straight Road at 9.30am, but that had separate meetings afterwards with Havering’s Road Safety officer, Elaine Keeler.

First, Elaine met with the Year 6 JTAs (from last year) to present them with a gift as a thank you for all of their hard work during their time in Year 5, including their involvement with editing Taking Steps magazine. As you can see, the pupils were very pleased with their JTA paperweights, and they definitely deserved them after working so tirelessly in their roles as JTAs last year.

Next, Elaine met with our current crop of JTAs, spoke about their role in school and some of the things that may be able to achieve with the support of the rest of the school and local community. These pupils also received some gifts from Elaine (including pencil cases, pens, pencil sharpeners) to help them in their role. They too were very pleased with their ‘welcome gifts’, particularly their gold accredited JTA badges that they all said they will now wear with great pride. Keep up the good work!

Junior Road Watch returns to Straight Road

On Tuesday 26^th November last year, Hilldene Primary School became the first school in the whole of Havering to take part in the Junior Community Road Watch Scheme organised by the Metropolitan Police. This scheme gives primary school pupils the opportunity to take part in speed awareness programmes in their local community.

On Wednesday 29^th January 2020, members of the Metropolitan Police, as well as Local Community Police Officers and Havering’s Road Safety Officer, returned to Straight Road to carry out a second Junior Road Watch Scheme with our current Junior Travel Ambassadors (JTAs) in Year 5 and our previous JTAs from Year 6.

Once again, after any speeding motorists had been identified by the Police, they were initially stopped and spoken to by the officers. The officers then decided whether or not each motorist was suitable to speak to the children. At this point, they would call over the Road Safety Officer and 2 or 3 children to deliver a combined educational road safety message to the driver.

Similar questions were asked again by the children, including:

• Why were you speeding right next to our school?
• Do you know how many children go to the 2 schools on this road?
• Are you aware of the consequences of speeding?

On the last occasion, 5 motorists were stopped in under 20 minutes for speeding and had to face questions from our JTAs. This time, 6 motorists were caught for speeding, again in under 20 minutes, and were asked to answer questions relating to the dangers of exceeding 30mph in areas including local schools.

We are still the only school in Havering to organise any Junior Road Watch initiatives, but hopefully after the success of our pilot scheme, many other schools in the local area and Havering will start to become involved.

JTA - Thames Chase Trip

On Friday 28th June, our JTAs visited Thames Chase Visitors Centre in Upminster to celebrate the completion of their work on the latest Taking Steps magazine. Most of the afternoon was spent looking for clues around the area and completing a woodland trail. As you can see they all had a great time!

JTA Trip

On Friday 5th April, our JTAs, along with their counterparts from Hylands Primary School, visited The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford as part of their involvement in the latest Taking Steps magazine. During a fun packed day, the children learned lots of interesting facts about the site as well as visiting the Aquatic Centre and the Velodrome. And they still made it back to school in time for the disco...

JTAs - Seat Belt Safety

On Thursday 28th March the JTAs received another visit from Elaine Keeler, Havering’s Road Safety officer. This time she spoke to the children about how to use car seats safely when travelling with children under the height of 135cm. As you can see from the images below, it was a very hands on meeting and the children are hoping to lead an assembly in the next few weeks to inform many of our other children the ‘do’s and don’ts’ when using car seats on even the shortest journeys.