Volunteers needed for safe school travel programme in Wanaka

Wanaka primary school children will be able to walk to school more safely this term, thanks to a trial which will see volunteers supervise two busy crossing points in Mt Iron and Scurr Heights.

Wanaka Primary School and Holy Family School have been working with Queenstown Lakes District Council since 2010 to develop and implement travel plans which will encourage more students to walk or cycle to school. Kirsty Barr, the Council’s School Travel Plan Coordinator, said the idea of supervised crossings came from discussions with parents.

To start with, the volunteers will be on duty on Mondays and Tuesdays from 21 October, looking after the crossings on Anderson Rd by Mataraki Pl and Kings Drive by the Mt Iron roundabout.

Ms Barr said the Police and QLDC were partnering to train the volunteers, and if more people were prepared to help, the scheme could be extended to cover extra days. “This is a trial for Term 4 so we hope that families living in Mt Iron will support it,” she said. “We would love to be able to have enough volunteers to supervise the crossings five days a week and to make it permanent.”

Ms Barr said that volunteering would involve giving about 30 minutes a day and people could offer to help on the days that suited them.

“Mt Iron is a perfect distance is a perfect walking distance from the school so we hope that when parents know that the crossing points will be monitored, they will encourage their children to walk to school regularly.”

Anyone interested in joining the roster of volunteers can contact Kirsty Barr through the QLDC Service Centre in Wanaka, 03 443 0024 or email services@qldc.govt.nz

ENDS

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