Fountain school against parents’ taxis

“Your parents’ taxis are part of the problem!” In the middle of September Kerstin, wrote a clear letter to the parents of her about 170 pupils. Reason for this: Métis increasingly saw the safety vest of the children just before the beginning of the school immediately before school endangered. The “Traffic Tamer” project was launched in 2008 by Angela Baker-Price. She is a primary school teacher, which introduced and further developed the program as a pilot school.

 

The program is aimed at all primary school students from the 1st to 4th grade. The aim is to enable children to travel safely and tame the “dragon cars” (parent cars). This would reduce the high traffic volume in schools. Children and parents are actively involved. The program is now also supported by the Ministry of Transport. Meanwhile, the problem is solved here by means of a program called “Traffic Tamer”, which a colleague of “Métis”. “It was held, in the fight for parking even on the sidewalks, used or parked,” remembers the headmaster. Other parents had even stopped in the middle of the street. A query in all classes showed: Nearly half of all students were taken to school by car, which is actually in the middle of the town.

 

Two days later, Métis again wrote to the parents and introduced the project “Traffic Tamer”. The “dragon cars” of the parents were to be paraded. And with benefits for children and parents: “If you accompany your child on foot to school, this will be good for you and your child,” the school principal wrote. “You will learn what your child is doing. They get to know other parents and school children on the way. “In addition, the child would also become better acquainted with a part of his place of residence and could make new or firmer social contacts with other schoolchildren on the way to school.”It is more alert to go to school and better concentrate on the lesson.” But it is particularly important: “Your child learns to move safely on the road, assess danger and take care of himself. This is important for the child’s development.”

 

The program was part of the classroom lessons in all classes and with the prospect of being able to collect daily spells for class spells when the behavior was changed; Métis and her colleagues quickly convinced the children of their plan. From then on the children were given a spell every morning at the beginning of the lesson when they had come to school on foot or by bicycle, albeit not always from home, but at least ten minutes ‘walk from their parents’ home.

 

There is another star every morning for those who have worn their safety yellow vest on their way to school and for those who come to school. Finally, the students also gather a star for their class, which can read a school way story in the morning that may have been written by father or mother, grandfather or mother. First, Oskar Zak collects the spells of his classmates. 17 of the 20 students present today are on foot or by bicycle, 15 of them with vest and eleven accompanied. Two children have also written and read a story. Make a total of 45 more spells for the class. Particularly attentively, the children now follow the story of Jules father, who had come too late to school because he had found a frog in the middle of the road and had surely brought it to the other side of the road.

 

For each spell, Oskar paints a star box on the large sheet that sticks to the front of the teacher’s wardrobe. The third year is already close to their next target. Each time a goal is reached, the children may choose something as a reward, for example a prolonged break or, as Kirchhoff’s second graders have just wanted, their kindergarten once again. In some classes already the 1000-charms brand can be cracked, the headmistress informed the parents. They now have the dragon car sticker when they give the headmistress the promise that they are driving attentively, keep speed limits, stop at crosswalks, drive slowly near children, do not park on footpaths or cycle paths, and not with them the mobile phone. And of course, for all parents with reflective stickers there is also a magic spell for the class.

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