Our aim

Empower children and young people in NSW public schools to be safe road users now and into the future.

What do we do?

The Road Safety Education team provide quality road safety education support and professional learning to teachers in NSW public schools P-12.

Our Road Safety Education Officers are located around the state:

• tailor service delivery to meet school and student needs. Register your interest online.
• facilitate professional learning workshops for primary and secondary teachers (including special education) about best practice road safety education as part of the PDHPE K-10 syllabus and Stage 6 Life Ready and Stage 6 Lifeskills courses
• support the teaching of key road safety messages for pedestrians, passengers, wheel users and future drivers
• build the capacity of teachers to develop localised quality teaching and learning materials
• assist schools to develop resources that promote a culture of safe road use in the school community through a whole-school approach
• support principals to address and manage road safety issues in and around schools
• provide advice to principals and schools about the implementation of the Road Safety Education, Driver Education and Training Policy and duty of care obligations.
• Read this article about Perthville Public School as just one example of what we do.

The team:

• doesn’t deliver presentations to students. Instead, we work with teachers to design, develop and deliver their own quality learning experiences to best meet the needs of their students.
• does recognise teachers as the expert educators of their students, and so encourages them to not engage stand-alone, one-off externally delivered events/guest speakers or programs.

Instead, we advise teachers to:

• critically review services offered by external road safety providers
• develop and deliver their own pre and post-event teaching and learning activities, if they choose to engage the external provider.

Download

• Road safety education in NSW public schools flyer (PDF)
• Road safety education in NSW public schools flyer - for external agencies (PDF)

Our policy

The Road Safety Education, Driver Education and Training Policy provides the framework for the planning and teaching of road safety in NSW public schools. More advice is provided in the Guidelines for effective implementation of road safety.

The NSW Wellbeing Framework for schools is a statement of what is valued as excellence in student wellbeing in NSW public schools. It supports schools to create a planned approach to wellbeing using evidence-based strategies that are strengths-based, preventative and focus on early intervention. This includes strengthening students’ cognitive, physical, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing domains of development.

Physical wellbeing is associated with the extent to which we feel physically safe and healthy. It includes physical activity, nutrition, physical safety (such as road safety) and security, and preventative health care. Physical wellbeing enables positive health outcomes.

Whole school approach to road safety education

A whole-school approach to road safety education is where schools, parents, carers and communities work together to create a safe supportive environment for students to learn, understand, practise and apply road safety knowledge and skills.

The Road Safety Education Program uses this approach when supporting NSW government schools K-12 to:

• improve quality teaching of the curriculum
• create and maintain a safe supportive culture, environment, and policy
• engage and liaise with parents, carers and the school community.

Curriculum

Effective road safety teaching and learning is:

• localised, student-centred, skills-focused and engaging
• strengths-based with educative purpose
• aligned with PDHPE K-10 and Stage 6 PDHPE Life Skills syllabuses, and Stage 6 Life Ready course learning outcomes
• taught in each stage of learning

Policy, environment and culture

Schools create and sustain a safe environment on-site and in the school zone by using:

• the department's Road Safety Education Policy
• risk management tools
• duty of care processes
• safe road user procedures
• local stakeholders

Parents, carers and community partnerships

The whole school community:

• shares responsibility for keeping children safe
• reinforces safe road use
• acts safely in the road environment
• engages in decision making about safe travel.

Road safety education support for schools from the other education sectors

Association of Independent Schools

Catholics Schools NSW

Kids and Traffic the Early Childhood Road Safety Education Program