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As in other countries, there are many ways of getting to school. The primary method of coming to school for primary children is walking. Most city children attend neighborhood primries. Quite a number of crossing guards help the children. They are called Lolipop Ladies in England. These Lollipop ladies commonly man the major crossings. We are not sure just when that began. We do not see large numbers of yellow school busses as in America. Children arriving early play in the school play yard. One modern approach for primary children is the Walking Bus. One teacher seeing a New Zealand Walking Bus writes, "An old idea. I used to run a walking bus from where I lived to the school in the UK between 1981 and 1989. Each day I walked to school and children would join me and quite soon I'd a little band of which I escorted.school. It had meeting points after a while as mums would let their children join the processions. The thing was I didn't know I was doing ground breaking things!" We also notice a walking bus in Serbia. Another English reader writes in 2009, "Our local primary school has a walking bus. The children's haversacks are carried in a supermarket trolly." Many children use metropolitan transit to come to school. Metropolitan transports in many cities do have school runs. Ths is commonly the case for secondary school students. While yellow school busses are much less common than in America, we do see quite a number of smaller busses. Many private schools have small mini-busses.
As in other countries, there are many ways of getting to school. The primary method of coming to school for primary children is walking. This is possible in a highly urbanized country like Britain. And walking to school is possible when school sizes are limited as they are in Britain. Most city and village primary children attend neighborhood primaries. And most live within walking distance of their schools. Commonly parents accompany the younger children waking to school, especially if they do not have younger siblings. Secondary schools are a little different, but here the problem is commonly solved by arranging for school runs with the local transit authority.
One modern approach for primary children is the Walking Bus. One teacher seeing a New Zealand Walking Bus writes, "An old idea. I used to run a walking bus from where I lived to the school in the UK between 1981 and 1989. Each day I walked to school and children would join me and quite soon I'd a little band of which I escorted.school. It had meeting points after a while as mums would let their children join the processions. The thing was I didn't know I was doing ground breaking things!" We also notice a walking bus in Serbia. Another English reader writes in 2009, "Our local primary school has a walking bus. The children's haversacks are carried in a supermarket trolly."
Quite a number of crossing guards help the children. They are called Lolipop Ladies in England. This of course had to change when a number of mostly retired gentelmen men joined the lafies. They would be alled lollipop man. They then began called Lolipop Wardens, although Lolipipop Ladies in the popular lingo, rather like Meter Maids in Anerica.
Of course the children would find out names. Then it would be mr. .... a.d for a lady she would be called mrs......
Often they lived in the neighbourhood and you already knew them. A reader mentiond a Mr. Cowell who had a fruit shop and he was a special constable. I liked him for there was nothing he didn't know. Adults did not like him all that much." These Lollipop ladies commonly manned the major crossings. We are not sure just when that began, but a British readerr tells us the 1950s. This corresponds to the imagery we have found so far. The 1950s is also when British road traffic began to increase. Not all the crossing guards are women, but the first ones were mostly women, expalining the name. Many are retirees that are at home and have the time to take on the task. The stop signs they hold looks like a big lollypop. Notice the black bar across the circle. This was for the warden to write down the license plate of any motorist behaving badly. The wardens were armed with a stick of chalk for this purpose. They made friends with the children so they had no fear of crossing with them. Of course this was jusdt for major road crossings. The British do not seemn yo have safty patrols using the older children as crossing gurds. They are a friendly face to and from school and often the children become quite attached to them. A British reader advisding us on this subject reports, "My friends and I in the 1950s crossed the road where there was no Lolypop Warden and walked to school down a track.
One way to help keep kids safe when walking to school is to wear bright collared clothing. We do not see this commonly in England. Quite a number of schools have unforms, including most private schools and secondary schools. Primary schools vary. Some have uniforms as well. But none of the unifrms are cghosen with safety in mind. Grey and black feature prominently. This is a real issue in Britain because of its northerly location. This is far to the north of the United Stare, except Aaska. This means that during the school year, it gets darker much earlier in England than in America. So this is a real concern. We notice one school, the Trottiscliffe Primary School in Maidstone, Kent, adopting relective items. And Kent is in the in the south of England. As you go further nort it gets darker earlir and earlier. The reflective items do not seem to have caught on. We do not see children wearing reflective are other protective clothing.
Bicycles are another way of coming to school. As far as we can tell, it is not all that common. Some children do bike to school. It may have vbeen more common before World War II. The number was probably limited before the War because many working-class children did not have bikes. And at any rare the schools were not very far away. After the War as incomes began to increase so did car-ownership and city traffic. It was one think to bike to school when there were not all that much traffic outside cebtral London and the oher major cities. Given the traffic in England today, it is just not safe for childen to bike to school, especally primary children.
We do not see large numbers of yellow school busses as in America. Many children use metropolitant transit to come to school. Metropolitan transports in many cities do have school runs. Ths is commonly the case for secondary school students. Secondary schools are larger and have wider catchment areas. Private schools face the same problem. This means some students live quite a sustance from the schools. While yellow school bussess are much less common than in America, we do see quite a number of smaller busses. Many private schools have small mini-busses.
Children arriving early play in the school play yard.
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