Pupils from 14 primary schools came together for an end-of-term event in celebration of Durham County Council’s Junior Road Safety Officer (JRSO) scheme.
The JRSO scheme is based on peer-to- peer education, with children educating fellow pupils on important road safety messages.
Durham’s road safety team works with 42 schools to recruit JRSOs, who issue road safety messages by maintaining a noticeboard, running termly competitions, speaking in assembly and organising campaigns.
The JRSOs also work closely with the road safety team to deliver a host of educational projects. Over the past year these have included road safety themed poetry workshops, storytelling sessions and creating a DVD about the JRSO scheme.
The JRSOs have also supported Slow to 20 for Safer Streets projects in their schools.
John Reed, Durham’s head of technical services, said: “The JRSOs do an excellent job and provide vital support to our road safety team, by helping to spread important road safety messages to their peers and families.”
At the end of term celebration at County Hall in Durham the JRSOs created displays and listened to presentations from three of the participating schools.
The JRSOs also watched the premiere of a drama created by students from King James I Academy in Bishop Auckland, developed with support from Durham’s road safety team, to raise awareness of the Slow to 20 for Safer Streets project.
The JRSOs who are leaving primary school were presented with a certificate and commemorative pen.
Councillor Brian Stephens, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and local partnerships, said: “This event was a fantastic celebration of all the hard work the JRSOs do throughout the school year.
“The drama performance by King James Academy is a dynamic way to get important speed awareness messages across to students and the wider community, and we wish them every success with the planned tour of schools.”
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