Is your child starting a new school in September and planning to walk or cycle independently? We have some tips that can help your child gain independence, safely.
- Plan your child’s route, perhaps have a look at online maps and walk the route with your child.
- To instill confidence in your child about walking to school, walk the route with them several times beforehand – use the summer holiday as a chance to do this once or twice a week. Point out landmarks, notable houses, memorable businesses, and other unforgettable features. In doing this, your child starts to know the route off by heart but also knows how to correct themselves if they’re wrong.
- Find safe places to cross, see how your child crosses the road without your lead. For example, do they use pedestrian crossings, cross where visibility is good? Look for things like street lighting in the winter months.
- Often the quickest route to school is not the safest. Their journey time walking to school may well be 5 or 10 minutes longer as the safest route has safe spots and controlled crossing points, thus, giving you piece of mind knowing that your child will be safer crossing roads.
- Create an action plan, in case they have a problem. What would they do? Do they have access to a mobile phone? Do they have numbers saved of people they might need to contact? Can they memorise a key number?
- Think about their clothing. Light, bright clothing is safer, look for reflective strips on clothing, especially winter coats, that are often dark colours. Or get reflective bands or stickers to add to outerwear or coats.
Walking or cycling to school independently has many benefits for your child. It is healthy, fun, good for their confidence and can strengthen relationships with their peers. We wish all parents and children the best of luck with their school transition!
