Safe school travel
There are a variety of transport options for children to commute to and from our school. Encouraging more children to walk or ride to school will help to reduce congestion and increase safety around our school. It is also one of the most time efficient ways for children to receive the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
Children should be directed by parents to use the school crossing when approaching and leaving the school.
Before and after school
- School staff are not responsible for children onsite outside of school hours. There is skeleton staff supervision from 8:45am. Children are not arrive to before then. Children are expected to be off site by 3:10pm.
- School starts promptly at 9am and finishes at 3pm. Please ensure that your child is arriving on time and remains at school until 3pm as a general rule so that they do not miss out on key happenings in their learning each day. Anyone arriving/leaving outside of these times is required to be signed in and out of the front office by a family member before the child is collected from their learning community. A note is to be provided to the learning coach at the beginning of the day in the instance that a child is required to leave early so that they can support the child to gather their belongings and be ready for collection at the appropriate time.
- The front doors are kept locked at all times to support the safety of some of our younger children. We welcome families and children in to the school through the bottom gates and the top gates off the carpark before and after school. These gates are open from 8:45-9:10am and from 2:45-3:15pm. Families are asked to respect this process, as it not only supports our children and their safety, it also enables the efficiency of the front office staff. When families ignore this request, we can have office staff having to get up to open the door up to 56 times within a 40 minute period.
Carpark Procedures
Thank you for working with us to address the congestion and flow of traffic through the carpark during peak times. With an increased number of staff on active duty in the carpark educating families and enforcing expectations along with the presence of AFP and rangers, we are now experiencing far less congestion.
Driver Responsibility:
- Both pick up/set down spaces will be marked with cones and drivers will pull in at the entrance of the coned area if and when they are able to see their child.
- Organise an agreed pick up point with your child and discuss this regularly until your child consistently remembers. Children waiting out the front will be directed to sit on the brick walls ready for collection
- Follow the signage and expectations of the carpark, ensuring you turn left out of the carpark upon exiting
- Keep the traffic flowing. If you approach and cannot see your child waiting, keep driving
- Bee kind at all times!
Staff responsibility:
- Actively monitor disabled parking spots
- Actively monitor carpark and move cars on that are stationary or illegally parked
- Actively supervise the children waiting out the front of the school
- Support drivers to move through the pick up/set down lanes which will be marked by banners and cones
- Connect with the community
Child's responsibility:
- Move promptly from the learning neighbourhood to the pick up point agreed with family
- Be seated on the brick wall if being picked up at the pick up/set down lanes
- Watch out for family vehicle arriving. When car pulls in the pick up lane, walk to the head of the line ready to hop in the car and head off
Parking and traffic management guidelines
Managing traffic and road safety at schools is a matter for everyone in the community. Children are more at risk in road environments around schools because they are smaller and less visible to drivers. Their behaviour can be less predictable than adults and they may have errors of judgement when dealing with traffic.
School environments are often congested during the peak times, because roads and carparks aren’t built to meet the high demand and struggle to cope over a short timeframe. The school community can help to reduce congestion and improve safety for children by walking or riding to school. If you need to drive, consider part way drop off or collection points or follow these traffic management guidelines to ensure children remain safe.
More information is available on the Transport Canberra website, including a range of educational resources for school communities to promote active and safe behaviours around schools.
- Please drive slowly and be patient and courteous to others when visiting the school, including school staff.
- Motorists should always park legally. There is parking available on the streets and carparks around the school.
- Illegal parking reduces visibility of children and creates a potential safety risk. Police, Parking Operations and a Licence Plate Recognition vehicle undertake periodic patrols in school environments to enforce safe behaviours.
- Motorists should never park in the pick-up and set down zone within the school carpark. Please only use this area to drop off or collect children.
- Motorists should never double park to collect children, it creates an unnecessary safety risk to children and reduces traffic flow.
- Always drive very slowly through the carpark (10km/h) and be alert for children.
- Stopping or driving on the verge is dangerous for children, who shouldn’t be required to navigate cars in these areas.
Useful tips and resources
- Walking and riding to school is a safe, fun and healthy form of travel and is encouraged and supported by the school.
- Arrange an alternative meeting point with your child/ren to avoid the congestion within the school carpark, which might be a five to ten-minute walk from the school.
- If you plan to use the pick-up zone after school, arrive after 3pm when the children are ready to be collected.
- Carpooling, public transport and active travel are all encouraged forms of transport.
Safe Parking Behaviours
Unsafe driving and parking behaviours increase the potential road safety risk for children around schools. Failing to follow simple road rules like parking on verges, in no stopping zones, in bus stops, near children’s crossings, on footpaths or across driveways increases the risk to other road users.
It is also important to remember that members of our school community require access to the disabled parking spaces to allow safe access. Please only use the disabled parking spaces at the school if you have a disability parking permit. The fine for parking in a disabled space without a permit is now $615.
Creating a safe environment around our schools requires a collaborative approach for the whole school community.
Part way is okay
Traffic congestion is a common issue around most schools during the morning and afternoon peak periods. Roads aren’t designed to cope with the sudden increase in traffic volumes for 15-20 minute periods and there is no traffic engineering solution to resolve this problem over such a short period.
If you need to drive, a simple way to reduce the congestion around our school is to use part way drop off or collection points. Part way points can significantly reduce the burden on the school car park and the local road network.
A great example near our school are the carparks at the adjacent sports grounds. There are ample car parking spaces available and you are only a short stroll from the school. This will help to reduce traffic exiting and entering the school, creating a safer environment for everyone.
Illegal driving practices
By following these suggestions, parents will create a safer environment for children and avoid incurring fines which include:
- Parking on the verge (fines from $123)
- Parking on footpaths (fines from $123)
- Stopping in a No Stopping zone (fines from $276)
- Parking in a No Parking zone (fines from $123)
- Stopping on a pedestrian or children’s crossing (fines from $405)
- Parking in a Bus Zone (fines from $162)
- Parking in a mobility (disabled) space (fines from $615)