How walk to school road safety skill tests work
Walking bus children are able to take road safety skill tests formally in school three times per year. Tests are available at bronze, silver and gold level and are delivered by parents or staff using a set of flashcards provided by this charity.
At any time of year they may take an online version of the tests and use the experience of this as a mock test to help prepare for the formal test.
Children that pass the test in school receive a certificate and textile badge similar top those issued by the Scouts and Guides.
Each test level has a separate set of questions and a series of scenarios on flashcards involving Jack, the walking bus road safety character.
The bronze and silver tests can be completed by any aged primary school child, however the gold test can only be completed by children in years 5 and 6, the final two years of primary school.
These children must have passed the first two badge levels first in previous terms. On passing the gold level, in addition to the certificate and badge, they also receive a blue walking bus tabard with Crew written on the back. This provides a new injection of street cred for the child as they grow older.
The gold test involves more complex questions and the children are also asked to construct a safe route to a school with the help of route cards in the flashcard set. They are tested on behaviour and conduct as well as road safety skills, in an "on the street" assessment.
Key points for using the flashcards
After the launch of your walking bus your Project Officer will send out the road safety flashcard pack to your school office. We suggest they remain stored in the school office until needed three times per year. This pack includes one set of flash cards and some Arrive Alive booklets which feature the highway code.
The KM Charity Team registered charity sets specific weeks within the school year when walking bus children can take the test formally using the flashcards.
Your Project Officer will let you know when the designated weeks are to carry out the tests. The dates are also published on this website and we will often remind you in newsletters.
A few weeks before the test dates you can distribute the Arrive Alive road safety booklets to the children so they can read-up on road safety. We can only provide each school with a limited number of these free books so children may need to share, or they can look at the online version which can be accessed through our website.
We have an internet version of the tests for children to use as mocks.
When it is time for testing you can decide who will carry it out. In some schools the head teacher is involved, however this may depend on how many children you have on your scheme. The Community Warden, dinner ladies, walking bus parents and school governors all are involved at schools around the county. If a child is not successful in their test they can re-take it a few weeks later at a time of your choosing. This gives the child a further opportunity to revise.
Once the children have completed their tests you must forward the successful test papers on to the charity.
The charity will send you the required number of certificates, badges and, if applicable, the blue crew tabards.
Please arrange for the badges and certificates to be presented to the children in assembly.
The badges are fabric so can be sewn on to the children's tabards. These should be positioned immediately under the logos on the left side of the tabard.
Clicking the link will navigate you to this charity's old website. The old site will be switched off once the road safety skill tests have been improved and can be moved to this new website.