18th October 2024
Dear Parents and Carers of St George’s,
RE: Road safety and travel to and from school
Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to complete the Road Safety and Travel to School Survey we shared a couple of weeks ago.
We are currently working with Newcastle City Council to help improve road safety awareness and traffic calming measures on both Ottringham Close and St George’s Terrace. It’s really important that we gather your views and suggestions as to how we can improve things for the good of the children of St George’s and the wider community of Lemington.
The responses were overwhelmingly positive re: the use of the top gate as the main egress in and out of school with only one parent (out of 55 responses) who completed the survey asking for the bottom gate to be reinstated for drop off and collection times. As you know, the bottom gate can still be used, with prior permission from the school, for any member of the school community who has mobility issues.
We may need to reach out to you again as we continue to gather information about our shared concerns re: parking and driving around the school and to consider your suggestions as to how we can improve road safety.
School will continue to do the very best it can to help with this issue, but, the only members of our community who can really affect any change here, are the parents and carers who drive their children to school - the solution really is in the hands of the drivers. The best outcome for the children of St George’s would be for parents and carers who need to drive their cars to school to park away from the main gate and walk their children the last few minutes to school.
I do hope all of our parents and carers know that we are really working hard with all of the available services to improve St George’s further. Issues with parking around school at drop off and collection times are certainly not unique to St George’s. However, I do know we have a unique school community who want to work in partnership together for the good of the children.
Please see the table below which includes the concerns and suggested improvements shared in the survey.
Thank you again for your continued support – it really is very much appreciated.
Best wishes,
Mrs Anne Bullerwell
Executive Headteacher
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You said … |
We say… |
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Reopen the bottom gate.
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This was only suggested by one parent out of the 55 that responded so we feel the majority agree with using the top gate only for drop off and collection. |
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Speak to the parent directly if their driving and parking is an issue as opposed to a blanket email or message. |
Staff did try to speak to individual drivers and encourage them to park away from the school gate but staff were continually ignored and in some cases, verbally abused by drivers which included parents, taxi drivers and residents. Please remember, school staff have no legal powers beyond the gates and immediate vicinity of the school perimeter fence. |
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More pedestrian crossing. |
We absolutely agree and are working with Newcastle City Council on improving road safety measures on the streets surrounding the school. |
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Road safety in general should also be discussed as leading to high schools. |
We do regular assemblies and information re: road safety with all of the children at St George’s. |
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Whilst the new entrance to school is working generally well, there are some parents who are blocking the road directly opposite the school gate by double parking (on each side of road), this prevents cars passing. I know advice has been given to parents to call police where bad driving is seen but I think the school should operate some form of patrol with the help of the local authority to clamp down on bad driving. |
We absolutely agree and, again, we are working with Newcastle City Council and Northumbria Police on this very issue. We are regularly seeking and following the advice provided by Northumbria Police. |
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Resolving drop off and pick-up issues as the top gate gets very busy with cars. |
We agree. It would be really helpful if parents could park away from the school and walk the last few minutes to help with the traffic congestion. |
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Provide more parking. Or maybe a ‘drop off zone’ |
Completely agree and this would be ideal but we just don’t have the space. |
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Someone around to stop drivers parking on bends, in the middle of the road, blocking cars getting past. |
We have made several requests for Community Police support at the main school drop off point to challenge unsafe driving and parking. |
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Get the parents to not park on corners or footpaths when collecting children. Or letting them get out in the middle of the road. |
We are doing our best to get our community to work together to keep everyone safe in and around St George’s. |
