We have 8 JRSOs at South Farnborough who are responsible for promoting road safety in a fun way to our wider school community.
Our JRSOs are:
Year 6 - Ollie, Ashley and Esme
Year 5 - Ashton, Emma, Jessica, Sienna, Mia
Our school has chosen to be part of an exciting nationwide challenge to encourage more children and their families to walk to school. WOW – the year-round walk to school challenge is delivered by Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, to help as many children as possible experience the benefits of walking to school.
WOW is a pupil-led initiative where children self-report how they get to school every day. If they travel sustainably (walk, cycle or scoot) four times a week for a month, they get rewarded with a badge. It's that simple!
What are the benefits of walking to school? Walking to school helps children feel happier and healthier. They arrive refreshed, fit and ready to learn. More families walking means fewer cars on the road during the school run, helping to reduce congestion and pollution at the school gates.
What if you can’t walk to school? If you live too far away or don’t have time to walk the whole way to school, you can Park and Stride from the top of The Grove or King George V to help your child earn their WOW badge. Children dropped off by car at the front gate, more than once a week, will not be eligible for a badge.
What is a WOW Badge? There is a unique badge to earn every month if you walk, wheel, cycle or Park and Stride at least once a week. Each badge has been designed by a pupil from across the UK as part of the annual WOW Badge Design Competition. Pupils will start the year by completing a celebration of the Wonders of the World. From November, they will then Walk for the World, earning badges featuring wildlife they can help from climate change through sustainable travel. The badges are made in Cornwall from repurposed plastic material that was otherwise destined for landfill, including frudge trays, plastic plates and yoghurt pot off-cuts. For more information visit: livingstreets.org.uk/recycling In the UK, thousands of schools and around one million pupils are enjoying the benefits of walking to school with WOW. Will you join us?
If you have any questions about the programme, please contact Mrs Zoe Plummer, or for more information visit livingstreets.org.uk/WOW
Getting to school doesn’t need to be a stressful journey in a car; it can be much more fun to take your bike, walk, scoot or take a bus or train with your friends! It’s good for your health, the environment and is cheap and helps you focus more at school. My Journey is here to help make it easier to get to school by more active and sustainable means.The school run is a great opportunity to start you and your child’s day in a positive and energised way. By leaving the car at home or parking a short distance away from the school gate and walking the last 5-10 minutes to school, you will help to reduce congestion, improve air quality locally, make the school run safer and your child will be healthier, happier and ready to learn. This booklet shows you how you can make small and easy changes to your journey to school that can make a big difference.
Please click on the image or PDF below to read the booklet.
Please click on one of the pages below for more information
Following on from our letter drop to residents about the traffic and parking around our school, our JRSOs were part of a meeting with our neighbours, local councillors, governors and Mrs Byrne to see how we can improve things. The JRSOs had some good suggestions and we are looking forward to the next phase! Well done Seb, Amelia, Harry and Riley you were a credit to our school.
Starting a new school is a big step for parents as well as children. Not only is your child embarking on their first taste of junior school education, but they are also going to a new location which involves a new, unfamiliar journey. This leaflet is designed to lead you through the process of planning your new journey to school and, as much as is possible, keeping it active, safe and sustainable.
The following secondary schools have produced journey planners to aid students travelling to and from school. Please click on a PDF below for more information
Please check out the websites below for more information and resources.
My Journey Hampshire Your one stop destination for travel information and advice in the Hampshire area. https://myjourneyhampshire.com/
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Brake Zebras Brake Zebras is for children, families and teachers to find out more about road safety. Brake Zebras provides free tools, activities and knowledge to support your children as they try to find out more about road safety. http://brakezebras.org/ | |
Route Guard and Route Guardian Apps Aimed at children Year 6 and up who may just be starting to walk to school independently. Available on iOS and Android. | |
Sustrans A charity who work to improve walking and cycling for everyone | |
Think! Road safety resources for children | |
National Rail Enquiries Plan your train journey. There are 3 local train stations in Farnborough. Farnborough Main (in the town centre), Farnborough North and North Camp. | |
Stagecoach Buses Plan your bus journey. We are on the Blackwater Valley Route. | |
Rushmoor Borough Council Travel and Parking Information on public transport services around Rushmoor. | |
Cyclestreets.net Plan your cycle journey. Create your own cycle maps. |
In November 2019, Jean from Hampshire County Council came to our school to talk to us about The Clean Air Project. This is a project that is monitoring air pollution around schools and then thinking of ways we could stop it getting worse and affecting the area around the school!
As part of her visit, she helped us to put up some air pollution testing tubes around the school grounds so that we could see which place was the most polluted.
When she came back in December for her second visit she took the tubes down to be sent away for analysis and we put new tubes up so that we could have two sets of data to compare - November and December.
Jean came back for her third and final visit and we talked about the November results. The tube that was placed high up by the fence in the upper school playground displayed the most pollution closely followed by the tube near the staff car park. We were a bit surprised by the result but Jean said that the tube in the upper school playground may get a high result because it is close to a busy road and a car park even though there is the field there as well!
Jean took the December tubes down and sent them away for analysis.
She sent us the results which showed that pollution readings in December were less than in November with the tube that was placed opposite the front of the school showing the highest pollution results. Jean said that this was probably due to it being colder and more people driving their children up to the school to drop them off. She said that the results were lower in December compared to November – probably due to the weather conditions. She also said that the pollution levels in December were more as we expected with the highest level found at the front of school on the road and the lowest in the Upper School playground.
The project was really interesting and we really enjoyed learning about the air pollution around our school. We are thinking about ways that we can reduce the pollution and encourage more people to leave their cars at home, car share or park further away and walk the last bit in!
We think that more people should take opportunities to walk or cycle with their children to school - take the time to play games, look at nature as you are walking and try to find different routes! It could be fun and a chance to spend a bit more time together whilst keeping fit and healthy! If you can’t walk or cycle, maybe you could car share? If we can make an effort to cut down on using our cars then the air around our school will be much cleaner and healthier for us all!
After all, Did you know that the air in the car can be 3 times worse than outside? Something to think about!