Nottinghamshire homebuilder helps Ashfield pupils stay safe on foot

The Nottingham-based housebuilder has given the school 35 of the bagsfor their pupils to wear whilst walking to and from school, in order to ensure they can be easily seen on the roads as the darker nights draw in.

Led by Brake, Road Safety Week takes place from 19th to 25th November and inspires thousands of schools, organisations and communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages during the week and beyond.

Craig Robertson, Headteacher at Dalestorth Primary School, said: “These bags are so useful for our children and for carrying sports kits. On these dark nights and mornings they will be much more visible to cars and will feel more safe.”

Findings from the Department for Transport, following the National Travel Survey, identified that 49% of children between the ages of five and 10-years-old walked to school in 2022.

The donation from the homebuilder, based close to the school at its development, The Hawthorns, was designed to encourage pupils to stay active whilst making certain they remained visible during the darker nights and mornings.

The theme for this year’s Road Safety Week campaign is ‘Let’s Talk About Speed’, which will start the conversation about why speeding is thought of as acceptable in some situations, what happens when people speed and why reducing speed saves lives.

As highlighted by Brake, five people die on roads every day, so making sure school children can safely walk to and from school is a priority for Barratt Homes.

Mark Cotes, Managing Director at Barratt Homes North Midlands, said: “Now the darker nights are here, we want to ensure local pupils are safe and seen on their route to and from school.

“Road Safety Week is a campaign we support each year as we endeavour to help pupils in their efforts to walk to school, and the hi-vis bags will hopefully allow the children at Dalestorth Primary School to do just that.”

Barratt Homes’ hi-vis bags will be particularly useful during Road Safety Week, whilst being certain to benefit the pupils in their future journeys to school throughout the winter months.