Kerbcraft is a national scheme, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.  It aims to teach Year one and two pupil’s vital pedestrian skills, to aid the reduction of Child Pedestrian accidents.  It is carried out at the roadside by a member of the Road Safety Team and trained volunteers.  Kerbcraft was developed by a team of Psychologists at StrathclydeUniversity who designed the programme to teach 5-7 year olds three vital skills: Choosing safe places and routes; crossing safely at Parked cars and crossing safely at junctions.  Parents however are reminded that an adult should always accompany children of this age when walking near or crossing roads.

1)    Choosing safe places and routes to cross the road – Children are helped to recognize the dangers and hazards and identify alternative crossing places. 

2)    Crossing safely at parked cars – Children are taught how to use a safe strategy for crossing near parked cars- when avoiding them is impossible. 

3)    Crossing safely at Junctions – Children are introduced to the problems of simple and complex junctions, and are taught a strategy for looking in all directions. 

Each skill is practiced at several different locations over a period of 4 weeks, in total 12 sessions should be completed by the children.

Parent volunteers and/or classroom assistants act as trainers for the scheme, working with very small groups of children and helping them to develop their observational skills and decision-making processes. To volunteer please e-mail: roadsafety@monmouthshire.gov.uk

Child Pedestrian Training

Child pedestrian training is a 5/6 week programme based on the fundamentals of Kerbcraft for schools who feel they do not need the full kerbcraft programme.  For more information or to talk to our co-ordinator about this programme, please email roadsafety@monmouthshire.gov.uk

Active Travel/Road U7s Workshops

‘The under 7 road safety programme is a new workshop based programme aimed at Year 1s and Year 2s. It provides vital road safety knowledge and information in a stimulating way.  Whilst being enjoyable for the children it also gets road safety messages across in a way that they will remember.

Our workshops are also tailored to the different academic terms:  Autumn/winter – be bright be seen, Spring – Seatbelt Safety, Summer – Cool Kids wear lids.  By focusing on road safety issues the children are dealing with at the time of our visits, we really get the message across and the children put in to practice what they have learnt, providing them with vital skills to take with them throughout their academic lives and beyond.’

Scoot2school

We are committed to promoting active travel and will now be offering scooter safe sessions to year 1 and 2 across Monmouthshire.  The 45 minute session will concentrate on:

·         Scooter maintenance and safety

·         How to scoot safely

·         How to share the pavement/path with other users

·         Being safe at the road side

For more information, please contact roadsafety@Monmouthshire.gov.uk