Lewisham: Road safety projects

The Brief
To create a teachers’ resource based on six different areas of road safety, aimed at Lewisham’s Primary school pupils in Year 5. The pupils then pass on the road safety messages they have learned to Year 2 and 3 children through fun and engaging activities.

The Design
We produced and designed a four-lesson unit of work based around six areas of road safety. In the fourth and final lesson, the Year 5 pupils take what they have learned in the previous three lessons and use it to educate Year 2 and 3 children. The completed folder contains structured lesson plans for the teacher as well as all student and teacher resources.

The Feedback
We know that younger pupils really look up to older pupils. But the success with which this project educates both younger and older pupils about road safety gives us real pride – we are creating great work that saves lives.

Our relationship with Lewisham’s Road Safety and Sustainable Transport team continues to grow. As Liz Brooker, senior road safety officer, says:

B3 Creative really know their market and never fail to deliver impressive creative solutions. However short the brief, I know they’ll come back with something that exceeds my expectations.

We have now worked on over a dozen significant road safety projects together: magazines, posters, lesson plans, school assemblies, awareness campaigns and more (some detailed below). Many of these have been picked up by other local authorities.

Street Safe:
The Road Safety and Sustainable Transport team wanted to encourage 11- to 14-year-olds to think seriously about road safety. We suggested producing a bespoke magazine. The crucial part was making sure the magazine appealed to all Lewisham teens, regardless of ethnicity or social background. We came up with Street Safe, a pocket-sized magazine. It has a contemporary ‘street’ style and pulls no punches in explaining the dangers young teenagers face. We included interviews with sports stars and celebs, in-your-face facts about what causes such a high number of teenage deaths and lots of practical advice to help keep teens safe when they’re near roads. On seeing the finished magazine, Lewisham Council immediately commissioned a reprint that doubled the original print order. Seven other London Councils have now also ordered their own versions of the booklet – it’s a campaign that’s making a real, everyday difference to young Londoners’ lives.

A Head for the Road:
A resource to help outreach educational workers teach 15-17 year olds who do not feel engaged by school work. The project builds on young people’s interest in being able to drive and ride (motorbikes), to teach them about subjects such as road tax, MOT, insurance, the law, mopeds and much more.

Lesson plans:
A series of teachers’ resources that help communicate road safety to Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 pupils. All lessons are firmly embedded within the National Curriculum to ensure their usefulness to teachers, and made entertaining to ensure their effectiveness for the pupils. Stretching across English, Geography, Maths and PSHE, this suite of lesson plans embeds road safety behaviours at a crucial time in children’s lives.