Schools & Colleges
STEPs Road Safety Training
STEPs (Safety Training and Education for Pedestrians) teaches pre-school and primary school age children how to cross the road safely.
How STEPS is delivered
During school time, the STEPs Coordinators and trained volunteers teach pre-school and primary school age children practical road safety skills at the roadside and through classroom-based activities. Please contact BCP Council road safety team if you are a pre-school or primary school based within the BCP area and would like some more information.
What children learn
- 1st STEP - choosing a safe place to cross the road
- 2nd STEP - crossing safely between parked cars
- 3rd STEP - crossing safely at a junction
Road safety is important
Nearly 40,000 children are killed or injured each year as a result of road accidents. Most of these accidents happen close to home, on journeys to and from school.
STEPs training helps children learn the skills they need to keep safe when crossing the road.
You can help
Practice road safety with your child.
How to get STEPS information to your school
STEPs training is currently being delivered to Primary Schools in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. If it's not available in your school, we're happy to send information about the scheme.
Please email road.safety@bcpcouncil.gov.uk with your details.
Dorset Road Safe provides general road safety presentations to schools throughout the County for children aged between 3 and 19.
The road safety presentations are flexible and can be designed around specific issues affecting your school or college.
We concentrate on the basics to ensure the important information from the Highway Code is absorbed.
For the young children 3 – 11 yrs
We make it clear to be safe, they need to be with a responsible adult and always holding hands. The importance to walk correctly on the pavement with an adult away from the traffic.
We point out being seen clearly while walking or riding, by wearing something bright, preferably a high viz jacket or garment. We demonstrate this in our classroom presentations how much clearer they stand out when stood next to someone in dark clothing.
We cover the Green Cross Code. Pointing out the safe and unsafe places to cross the road through demonstration and role play. We use street scene with traffic lights and a zebra crossing which we then use to show the children the safest way to cross a road. This involves all the children present and school staff who can reinforce the development and understanding of the basic road safety rules during school time.
For teenagers and young adults 11 – 19 yrs
We make more emphasis on independent travel and the transition of making safe decisions when out and about by themselves and/or with their friends.
We continue to point out the basic rules for crossing the road, riding a bicycle or scootering safely. This has more regarding knowing the rules and signs. Our presentations aid the participants to use their own knowledge to confirm and ask questions to help with their own understanding of the rules of the road.
All our courses are provided to schools, colleges, youth clubs and activity groups such as Scouts, Guides, Cadets are FREE of charge. They are age appropriate and with Key Stage learning outcomes. They are delivered by professional Road Safety Education staff certified with CIG Award in Education and Training.
The interactive presentation uses a mixture of PowerPoint and video material.
To find out more and to book your place, please email road-safety-education@dorset.pnn.police.uk
Youth Choices Quiz 12 – 16 yrs
This interactive workshop is aimed at teenagers structured to encompass youth choices with more emphasises on peer pressure and the risk elements youths face on the roads and includes elements from the Highway Code rules and Regulations.
It includes facts and figures of the roads, respect and responsibilities towards other road users, peer pressure, emotions and how they can affect our decisions, with solutions that can be put in place. It gives scenarios that pupils should be able to ‘See, Think and Speak Out’ for the correct safe choices to help them in situations they may find themselves.
To find out more and to book your place, please email road-safety-education@dorset.pnn.police.uk
Life Choices Workshop 16-19 yrs
This interactive workshop is aimed at young adults structured to offer an opportunity for young adults to reflect on the behaviours they have developed as a pedestrian, a passenger and a driver/rider or future driver/rider.
There are opportunities for participants to consider the skills that are necessary to be a safer and responsible road user. The participants are given the opportunity to discuss potential outcomes of risky behaviour verses safer choices. with more emphasises on peer pressure and the risk elements young adults face on the roads and includes elements from the Highway Code rules and Regulations.
All participants:
- can consider their own road safety choices, to reflect on safety rules and risky behaviour outcomes.
- can discuss the importance of speaking up in potentially dangerous situations.
- will have information to develop the confidence to speak up, know what to say to challenge people’s attitudes and behaviours.
The aim is to develop an appropriate level of awareness and knowledge that will enable students to become responsible road users however they use the road.
Students will have an opportunity to explore risks to themselves as pedestrians, passengers and drivers and how using modern technology influences those risks. They will be given some coping strategies that will enable them to decide how best to manage those risks as road users.
All our courses are provided to schools, colleges, youth clubs and activity groups such as Scouts, Guides, Cadets are FREE of charge. They are age appropriate and with Key Stage learning outcomes. They are delivered by professional Road Safety Education staff certified with CIG Award in Education and Training.
The interactive presentation uses a mixture of PowerPoint and video material.
To find out more and to book your place, please email road-safety-education@dorset.pnn.police.uk
Safe Drive, Stay Alive, Roadshow
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue deliver the Safe Drive Stay Alive Roadshow to schools and colleges across Dorset. The roadshow is designed to engage the audience with the effects of their decisions as drivers and passengers on the road.
The presentation is based around powerful personal testimonies, delivered by serving members of the emergency services, parents of young people who have lost their lives in a road traffic collision, those left with life changing injuries following a collision and even those who have caused death or injury as a driver. It has been designed to make the audience aware of the consequences of their choices and behaviours on the road. It leaves those attending aware of their personal vulnerability and accountability as new drivers and is designed to impact in a positive way upon their attitude towards the concept of driving.
Schools can opt for a live show delivered in their theatre or auditorium or opt to watch the digital version of the show, streamed through Vimeo. Both versions of the show cover the same themes and include a lesson plan and further resources. Written in alignment with British Values and a number of PSHE objectives in ‘Health and Wellbeing’ and ‘Relationships’, the lesson plan and resources are designed to leave young people with a positive view of driving itself, as well as a realistic understanding of the potential dangers.
The roadshow is available FREE to every school and college for students in year 12 or 13.
To find out more or to book a presentation, please contact roadsafety@dwfire.org.uk