South Ayrshire Council News

Provost Winifred Sloan is pictured with the staff and pupils from the winning schools at the County

Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSO) in four South Ayrshire Council Primary Schools have been celebrating after winning prizes in a national road safety competition.

The JRSO scheme allows children to become directly involved in road safety matters. It enables them to highlight problems that affect them locally and raises awareness of road safety issues within their school and the wider community. By encouraging greater interest in road safety in schools this scheme aims to help primary school children to use roads in a safer way.

November 2007 marked the fifth anniversary of the introduction of JRSOs by Road Safety Scotland, who are part of the Scottish Government. As part of the anniversary celebrations JRSO’s across Scotland were invited to enter the ‘JRSO Fivewoofs’ competition. Children had to create a portfolio of stories, poems, artwork, reports, diagrams, photographs, multi media or surveys connected with their school or local area.

The competition was judged by a panel of road safety experts and out of the 41 entries received four primary schools in South Ayrshire won prizes: 

Innovation in Communication - Muirhead Community School, Troon
£50 book token.

Highly Commended Award - Kingcase Primary School, Prestwick
£25 book token.

Highly Commended Award - Troon Primary School
£25 book token.

Merit Certificate - St Ninians Primary School, Prestwick
£25 book token. 

South Ayrshire Council Provost Winifred Sloan presented prizes to the pupils at a special ceremony within the County Buildings in Ayr. After meeting the children Provost Sloan said: “I would like to congratulate all the children on their outstanding achievement in winning a prize for their school in a national competition. Their entries were innovative, colourful, interesting and had a crucial message that road safety is important.

“The Junior Road Safety Officers play a major role in their schools by raising awareness of local road safety issues. We must listen to the children’s’ views on these issues and work with them to reduce accidents and save lives.”

Before becoming a JRSO each child had to fill in an application form and give reasons why they thought that they would be suitable for the role. Most schools select two senior pupils who are appointed for one year and given responsibility within their school for maintaining a road safety notice board, running competitions, talking at assemblies and to individual classes on road safety issues. Each JRSO receives an information pack and various posters and leaflets for them to distribute as they carry out their duties and is fully supported by the local Council Road Safety Officer.

The JRSO scheme has a dedicated website which is constantly being updated with games and competitions. The site includes a ‘Staff Room’ area with information for teachers and a ‘Members Area' specifically designed for the JRSO’s.

There are a number of documents on the site that can be downloaded, which give information on setting up and running a local JRSO scheme.

Anyone who would like further information about the scheme should log on to
www.jrso.com contact a JRSO within their school or a South Ayrshire Council Road Safety Officer on telephone number 01292 616371.