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St Augustine's School community have started a walking, riding and scooting school bus in Term 4. Every morning the group meet at 8:10 at Newey St Reserve and walk, ride or scoot to school together up Newey St under the supervision of at least one parent. The regular attendees have named themselves the Newey St Rollers and Strollers. The group cross 5 intersections on their journey.
To help with road safety education, each morning a different student is given the task of being group leader. At each intersection, their job is to watch for traffic and decide when the way is clear. They call 'CLEAR' to the group. The group will only cross once the adult chaperone calls 'AGREED'.
The inspiration for starting the Rollers and Strollers group came from the call out to families to increase utilisation of the Kooyong Rd and Newey St intersection where we have applied for a crossing guard. Parents who can't travel actively to school themselves, or can only do part of the journey due to other commitments find the group a convenient way to help their children participate in more active travel journeys. Most days there have around 8 students, but some days there have been 12+ students.
On one occassion we had so many students that we decided to split the group into 2 - each still with an adult. One group of rollers went ahead with one adult on their bike and one group of strollers walked behind with the other adult on foot.
The children are loving the opportunity to meet their friends away from school and travel together as a group. Along with all the fun, there are many opportunities to learn road safety along the way. The families have all enjoyed their participation so I’m sure the Newey St Rollers and Strollers will continue into 2023 regardless of the outcome of the crossing.
Below are a few snaps of the Rollers and Strollers over the past few weeks.
Newey St Rollers and Strollers at the last crossing point before the school gate
Strollers under the Newey St sign at one of the crossing points
Strollers heading up the last little hill to school
Rollers waiting for the ‘CLEAR’ and ‘AGREED’ call
This story is related to Start a Walking School Bus
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James (Your Move)
It is super to see the new Rollers & Strollers group in action (love that name 😍!). I also really like how you are (seeminglu!) keeping it simple, and also getting the kids taking responsibility for keeping it safe. You have earned 90 points for launching your WSB and 20 points for giving us so much inside information.
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