Aim
To learn about how everyone can be Road Safety Heroes.
Learning objectives
- To explore how everyone can be a Road Safety Hero and shout out for road safety.
- To discuss changes that may be needed to enable people to make safe and healthy journeys.
Programmes of study
PSHE
- To find out what being part of a community means, and about the varied organisations that support communities locally and nationally
- To recognise the role of voluntary, community and pressure groups, especially in relation to health and wellbeing
- To explore how people can take action to raise awareness in their communities.
Citizenship
- Research, discuss and debate topical issues, problems and events
- To consider social and moral dilemmas that pupils may come across in life
- To underline the importance of seeing an issue from different viewpoints.
Preparation
- Print out the ‘Road Safety Heroes – speaking up for road safety’ profiles with enough copies for each pupil/group of pupils to have one profile each. Decide how much information to share, depending on pupils’ age and abilities.
- Click on the links below to download the resources you need.
Road Safety Heroes – speaking up for road safety
Use these profiles to discuss how everyone can be a road safety hero
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Lesson outline
- Introduction and discussion
Introduce the idea of campaigning, explaining that a campaign is a set of activities to achieve a change. Ask pupils whether they know about any local or national campaigns – examples they may have heard of in the news include Greta Thunberg’s School Strike 4 Climate, Black Lives Matter and the Me Too movement. - Ask pupils why they think campaigning for road safety is important. Explain that more than 1.3 million people die on the world’s road every year and injuries from road crashes are the biggest killer of young people. Tell them that no one should be hurt on roads and everyone has the right to make safe and healthy journeys, wherever they go.
- Small group or pair activity
Distribute copies of the ‘Road Safety Heroes – speaking up for road safety’ profiles. Ask pupils to work in groups to read about the heroes and the different ways they have got their message across, e.g. through art, film, sport or dance. - Whole class discussion
Explain to pupils that for children to make safe and healthy journeys where they live, they need five
things: footpaths, cycle paths, safe places to cross, slow traffic and clean traffic. Talk about whether
roads near your school / in your community have these things and whether pupils can make safe and healthy journeys. - Ask pupils for ideas about how grown ups can help children be road safety heroes and help keep them safe near roads, and how they can tell grown ups about this. Ask the class to think about the most important issues near your school and use these as the basis for their action. Possible examples could include:
- Writing a letter to their parent/carer asking them to never use their phone when driving
- Creating an infographic to share on social media
- Drawing a picture showing the five things children need to keep them safe near roads
- Designing a road safety poster to be displayed in the school entrance
- Writing to a local MP asking for 20mph speed limits or cycle paths.
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Follow-on activity – design a social media image
Ask pupils to design an image to share on social media calling on other people to be road safety heroes. Share pupils’ designs on social media – please tag @brakecharity and use the hashtag #RoadSafetyWeek.