Primary school gate fiasco

[Walkies5678]

Attached is a map of where I live showing 3 ways to enter my child’s primary school. The yellow route is (some of) my walking route from my house, along a side road, across the main road and then into the closest gate. Since October the gate on this route has been closed for both pick up and drop off (has been closed for pick up for 2+ years) Initially because of acorns on the path, then ice, now poly tunnels being put up for outdoor play (no idea what the poly tunnels have to do with the gate) They’ve also said they want everyone to come through the main entrance (blue) so they can see who is coming onto the school site. Orange cross is where a teacher stands at a classroom door, Red Cross is where the caretaker stands, both of which can see the gate. I absolutely hate walking my children along the blue route. The village is on the route from a small town to a bigger town, the main road very busy at that time in the morning and I feel children are being put at unnecessary risk by being made to walk this extra length. The main entrance is also the vehicle entrance for staff/deliveries/builders, and there are often vehicles arriving at drop off. I have been complaining quite consistently since it was closed hence all the excuses but today the head told me it was now permanently closed for the poly tunnels, she is really flappy and doesn’t handle confrontation well at all, before I could ask any questions she said that one of the governors is happy to discuss it with me. They have already discussed the issue at a previous governors meeting and concluded to keep it shut (this was around December time, because of ice). He’s going to phone me next week apparently but I just want to know where I can go from here really, they are being absolutely ridiculous about it. The chances of a child being snatched on school property swarming with parents and teachers is pretty much nil yet it seems to be their main focus and road safety doesn’t come into it. The caretaker cannot be bothered to walk down and open and close the gate is what I actually believe is the issue, nor could he be bothered to sweep the acorns off the path or grit it. He’s also on the governors board so I feel it was easy to get it to go his way as no one on the governors board would actually give a toss either way. Where can I go with this if there’s no progress from my phone call with the governor that’s offered to speak to me on the phone?

Fiasco? This feels like a minor inconvenience at best.

I imagine you’re right that the governors don’t care though, because this really isn’t a governor issue. They aren’t involved in day to day operations. The head sounds a bit wet passing it on to a governor tbh.

Is there a pavement on the road? If so I cannot see why walking along the pavement next to a main road is putting children at risk. If there is no pavement the yes you have a case.

Does the blue route main road have a pavement? How many metres is it from the junction with the yellow route? Is the land you have been cutting across common land? Is there any planning application in for any of the land? You appear quite personally critical of the people involved - flappy, couldn’t be bothered etc. To your knowledge, have there been any accidents or incidents associated with either route, or connected with unauthorised access to the school site?

Lol okay fiasco is maybe a bit strong.
Yes there is a pavement but I have three children under 5 so have a double pushchair, other parents also use pushchairs and you can’t fit two side by side so someone has to butt right up to the edge of the path and one in the hedge when you’re going past in opposite directions.

Its the safety aspect for the school.... everyone comes in one gate. Easier to monitor who is entering the school site.

5-10 metres, I could cross the junction diagonally into the gate if I wanted to, although obvs I don’t with children and pushchairs in tow.
Where the yellow route crosses into the trees is the school gate onto the school site.
I am critical of them because I don’t think they’re doing what’s best for the safety of the children. I think the head is just going along with the caretaker.

While I attended this primary school a child did get knocked over by a bus on the blue route and I saw on the local fb page that another child was struck by a car again on the blue route 2ish years ago. My knowledge has a 20 year gap however so unsure if there was anything else in between those two incidents.

They are probably working towards a morexstreamlined approach to entry on to the school site to comply with Martyn's Law next year.

Our group of schools has been told to rationalise the number of entries/exits and close ones that can't be monitored effectively and consistently.

If this is the case then they are working in line with expectations.

Even if they aren't, the entrance you want open looks like a discretionary gate,cin which case, it's an operational decision and there'll be nothing you can do.

Reducing the number of entrances, reduces the potential for someone to illegally access the site and would be regarded as safeguarding.

Sorry but I agree it makes sense from the school’s perspective to have less entry points so they can properly monitor them. They presumably have a limited number of staff and can’t allocate all their time to standing at multiple entry points.

And a playground swarming with parents is not necessarily a safe place… when there are lots of people around no-one is paying attention and everyone thinks everything is someone else’s business. Our school has had to send multiple reminders that parents need to drop their child to the classroom door, not just release them into the playground and leave before seeing that they are in the building.

I think the school have handled it badly though and muddied the waters with acorns/ ice etc. They should have made a proper decision, communicated it clearly and stuck to it.

I do acknowledge that a double buggy and another child is really hard work though, and understand why this would be easier for you, but I think you need to accept defeat and try not to be too annoyed about it for your own sanity.

Firstly, lots of sympathy - when my DC were that age our walk to school was blighted by a busy road & poor driving. I found it really stressful as there’s no margin for error.

You could talk to your local councillors about this - and other candidates if you are having local elections. Explain that while there used to be a safe route for children to avoid the main route, the school have now blocked this so there is going to be more children on the main road. Possibly they can help with the school, but they can also talk to your Council’s transport department as there may be things that your transport department can do (eg 20mph limits or widening the pavement). Facts like the pavement not having space for 2 buggies are worth mentioning as that is so obviously a poor road design for school access.

I would also explain the delivery issue.

I can’t guarantee it will help (it depends on how effective your councillor is & also on how responsive your transport department is) but is possible to get change this way & it’s worth a try.

It may also be worth looking to see if you have any local road safety / cycling / walking groups or campaigns as they might be looking at this.

You can find this out from the CrashMap website.

The best thing would probably be railings along the pavement to stop children accidentally stepping into the road. Talk to your local councillors about the possibilities.

As long as there is a pavement along the main road, this is a very normal route to walk to school. It is obviously concerning that 2 children have been hit, but context is needed as to how- whether they were trying to cross etc.

Schools have such a lot of pressure in terms of safeguarding so having less entry points to school is much easier to police who comes on to site- there may have been incidents at school with adults not permitted to enter the site trying to collect children from that gate- but they won't inform you of this in detail as it isn't for you to know.

I can see it is annoying but school obviously have their reasons. Contact the council regarding railings on the side of pavement and also safe crossing points if this is an issue.

Appreciate all the replies, thank you

Exactly. The more gates and entrances there are then the more gates and entrances that need to be locked/unlocked at different times of the day, morning, lunchtime possibly and home time. Everytime someone unlocks a gate there is a chance that either the open gate won’t be manned, or that someone will forget to lock it again. In either case the gate / entrance is open to someone unauthorised using it, or to a child escaping through it.

Sorry OP, inconvenient it might be, but your inconvenience is someone else’s safety.

If the school have taken this decision for safeguarding, or other good reason, then I don’t think you can do anything about it, tbh.

This is very relevant - if that route is genuinely dangerous they shouldn't shut the other gate.

The place to go after speaking to the governor is your council's councillor in charge of transport, and the local councillors for the ward the school is in.

If you want to pursue it, I'd ask the governor you are speaking to for a copy of the risk assessment for the decision, and for how they balanced the different risks to children's safety - ie the risk of having more than one entrance open that is harder to monitor with the risk of increased foot traffic on a pavement that can't accommodate it near a road where there have been recorded incidents.

Not saying you'll be successful but at least you'll be sure they took the various factors into account.

Can I also point out OP that going by your map you are choosing to cross that main road in a very dangerous place,ie the junction of two roads, whereas if you crossed on the blue route you could either cross where the main toad is clear ( not sure if there is any sort of crossing) or at the junction of the school entrance/ main road which probably has some sort of crossing or zig zag lines on the road to make crossing less hazardous.

My DD’s school had multiple entrances but not one for the past few years, safeguarding apparently. One gate (also vehicle gate is easier to monitor

My inconvenience is someone else’s safety? It’s my own child’s safety I’m concerned about, not my inconvenience.

Also to your other comment about the unsafe crossing, there is only a path on the right hand side of the yellow route and further up the blue route before the school there are some shops with parking on the left hand side (which makes the area even busier with vehicles) so we’d have to cross a road three times walking on the left side of the blue route. We do walk all the way around the corner on the right to get away from the junction a bit before crossing but I didn’t think to draw it like that on the map. There are lots of people that walk to school from this side road and everyone takes the same route.

This is definitely a non issue. There is a pavement and it’s an incredibly short walk to school. DT’s had to get the Tube every day - they survived

It's much safer for everyone to have a fully supervised school entrance.

You won’t get anywhere with the school, it’s their decision and they are clearly happy with it and complying with the guidance on safeguarding.

Much better is to talk to the council about road safety - can they reduce the speed limit, widen the pavement, put up railings etc.

There’s a website you can use for accent data (I think crash map?) and you can point out it’s now the only entrance to school so there’s increased use by children etc.