‘Park and stride’ a hit with pupils

An Exmouth primary school is dealing with traffic problems outside its front gate by asking its pupils to keep their car-driving parents in line!

Marpool Primary has introduced the ‘park and stride’ initiative to stop careless parking in Moorfield Road at the beginning and end of the school day, writes Sean Keywood.

The school has introduced a ‘top 10’ set of rules for journeys to school to follow, and is rewarding pupils who obey them – either by walking or cycling to school, or by getting their parents to park their cars further away from the school and then walking in – with a special sticker.

Keen to pick up the reward – which also earns them an in-school ‘team point’ – the youngsters are rising to the challenge.

Headteacher Rachel Pattison said: “Traffic has always been a problem, and because we are expanding we really need to encourage people just to take that extra bit of effort to keep children safe.

“The children are encouraging their parents to be responsible. They like that it’s a top ten [which pupils have to follow in school] for their mum and dad.

“We have had a significant improvement.”

The scheme is particularly important for the school, as the Moorfield Road entrance has been without a lollipop person since Christmas.

Eight-year-old pupil Rebecca Perry said: “It’s really good and really fun. It makes it easier to scooter in to school.”