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5-7 year old children - Keystage 1

Click here to download Keystage 1 as a PDF

Casualties in this age group are predominately pedestrians and so road safety activities are focussed on improving their pedestrian skills.

Children of this age need to:

LEARN

• Safe places to play, safe routes to get there. The rules for safe play.
• What are dangerous places and why these are dangerous.
• Who are the people who help to keep them safe.

PRACTICE

• The skills needed to keep themselves safe.
• The rules that help to keep them safe.
• Using their senses to help keep safe.

UNDERSTAND

• The meaning of the words STOP, LOOK, LISTEN.
• What is traffic.
• What are vehicles.
• The vocabulary of the road - kerb, pavement, road etc.

(ref.: Primary Schools - A major 3-year project by the Transport Research Laboratory for the Department of Transport to establish road safety education firmly within the school curriculum. Published: 15 June 1998.)

Traffic education is the concern of all carers of young people and with approximately 90 000 young people in the County it is important that others are involved in this process. The main objective of the team is to provide other adults with the information, support and training to teach children in their care the various aspects of safe use of the roads.

At home
Carers are the most important people in traffic education as they have infinite opportunities to explain what they do to safely cross roads.

For further information go to: http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/advice/parents.htm.

Posters and other road safety materials e.g. Road safety activity book 1 (5-7 years) are available free of charge from the Department for Transport at www.dft.gov.uk/think/education/early-years-and-primary/parents and http://shop.dft.gov.uk/THINKShop

The National Walk to School Week is held in May and if your school participates then it is an easy way to be involved with educating young pedestrians (see Special Events).

At school
Safe crossing strategies are explained in the pedestrian education programme Let's Decide - Walk Wise developed by the Transport Research Laboratory for the Department for Transport with the aims of:

• Increasing children’s knowledge and understanding of the traffic environment through practical experience.
• Improving their performance as pedestrians.

1. Safe Walking on the Pavement (indoor)
This can take place in school and is a practical session on pedestrian behaviour. The latest resource to support this part of the programme is ‘Street Feet’ and lesson plans are available.

STREET FEET A (returnable) interactive resource which include a 'roll out' road layout, traffic signs and illustrated vests so that the children can role play traffic and pedestrians…A great 'learning through play' road safety resource.

Outcomes from this activity could be:

• the kerb is where you stop before you cross the road
• keep away from the kerb i.e. stay on pavement
• always hold hands
• walk steadily
• do not run, play or dawdle
• recognise possible dangers i.e. driveways, obstructions, vehicles.

2. Discovery Trail (outdoor)
The Discovery Trail will familiarise the children with the area around their school making special reference to the road environment. The Road Safety Officer can produce a pictorial guide. This draws the children’s attention to safety features and safe approaches to the use of roads and pavements.

These trails will be tuned into the expected knowledge and ability level of the children using the trail. They can be supplied in various formats; PowerPoint is a popular format.

The Road Safety Officer can prepare a trail for the children to follow at a later date when weather, supervision levels and topics are suitable. Once prepared these trails can be incorporated into the normal school work, additional resources and consumables can be requested from the Road Safety Office.
Outcomes from this activity could be:

• know and understand the words used in connection with road safety
• distinguish between the road and the pavement
• identify various things on the road and on the pavement.

Curriculum links
The Discovery trail is an excellent way for keystage 1 children to be involved with some direct practical pedestrian education at the same time fulfilling curriculum work on local area studies. The schemes of work on the DfES site list:

Geography at key stage 1 (Year 1)
Unit 1: Around our school - the local area
Section 1: Where do I live? Where do other pupils live?
Section 2: Where is the school? How do I get to school?
Section 3: What can we see in the streets around our school?

3. Discussion Trail (outdoor)
This has a similar format to the Discovery trail and it emphasises children observing and discussing where it would be safe to walk and cross. Outcomes from this activity could be the importance of:

• visibility
• listening for traffic
• traffic direction and speed
• protected crossing places (e.g. pelican, zebra, subway, footbridge, pedestrian refuge (island), crossing controlled by school crossing patrol/police).

For further infomation go to: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/streets/jrso/crossing.asp

Curriculum links
Geography at key stage 1 (Year 1)
Unit 2: How can we make our local area safer?
Section 1: Is our school on a busy road?
Section 2: Is parking a problem?
Section 3: How is parking controlled?
Section 4: How could the area be made safer for pupils?

SE257 Aims to make children aware of the part colour and light plays in their lives - especially on the roads.

These outcomes could be reinforced through the Science curriculum e.g:

• Unit 1A – Ourselves
• Unit 1D – Light and Dark (see example)
• Unit 1E – Pushes and Pulls
• Unit 1F - Sound and hearing
• Unit 2E – Forces and movement and Citizenship:
• Section 1 – Who can help us in our community?
• Section 2 – How can we help to keep our locality and ourselves safe?

Topics for Young Children

A teacher's guide for six road safety related topics for Key Stage I. Topics include the senses, shapes, time, speed, weather and colour. The book also includes several photocopiable worksheets.

All school-based resources are provided free of charge to Suffolk schools, although some are offered on a returnable basis.

Posters for display and interactive use (safety education posters - infant) can be viewed following the link to the 'Shop with RoSPA' http://www.rospa.co.uk/index.htm   

When you have made your choice, or are interested in the traffic trails etc. please email the Road Safety Office at: suffolkroadsafe@et.suffolk cc.gov.uk with your requirements.