Please sign the petition in support of maintaining our School Crossing Patrol

02 April 2025 

Seeking your support to maintain the School Crossing Patrol changes at St. Francis' Primary School, Nursery Unit, and Bunscoil Naomh Proinsias.

To whom it may concern, 

I am writing to inform you about an important change regarding our School Crossing Patrol service and seeking your help. 

John, our dedicated School Crossing Patrol Officer, will be leaving us shortly (25^th April is his last day) to take up a new job opportunity. John has been an invaluable member of our school community, ensuring the safety of our children as they travel to and from school each day. We are grateful for his service and wish him all the best in his new role. 

Unfortunately, we have been informed by the Education Authority (EA) that they will not be providing a replacement for John once he leaves.  

We are no ordinary primary school – we are a four-class intake with an additional 3 nursery classes. That’s a school of 31 classes.  Between our nursery and foundation stage children alone we have the numbers that constitute a full primary school (264 children under the age of 6.)  The complete number of children on our school site is 794 with 16 preschoolers accessing an independent Naiscoil on site.  That is 810 children under the age of 11. It is incredulous to expect 810 children to make it to school safely every morning without the support of a School Crossing Patrol. 

In addition, the changing profile of pupil need in primary also constitutes a need for School Crossing Patrol support.  We have a total of 170 children on the SEN register and, of those, 45 children have the highest  recognised  level of need and have a “Statement of Educational Need”, with an additional 7 pending. All of these children have one to one, intensive in-class support.   A policy document should be used as a guide for best fit, but our school, the size and subsequently the level of need is not a normal fit.  We constantly treat children differently to ensure they are treated fairly.  We do not think the decision making process employed by the EA is fair to our pupils and school.

To ensure the 800+ pupils have safe passage within our school site we employ, at school cost, additional supervision (10) to manage the children throughout the playground areas at these key times.  It is our informed and lived experience that we cannot do without our School Crossing Patrol – just because the policy document says no! 

Tragically, our school community has endured the loss of a child who was struck while crossing a road he traversed daily.  Our school community lovingly remembers Lee, and we have a small memorial garden at the entrance doors to the school. One memorial garden is one too many in a school.

The Education Authority Stance:

In our recent communications with the EA we have been told that no one can step into this post even on a temporary basis.  Ordinarily, when a post becomes vacant, an assessment must be carried out to ensure the site still meets the requirements for a school crossing patrol to be in place.   Due to the light-controlled crossing outside the school, the EA's School Crossing Patrol Scheme, (Point 3.2) precludes the operation of a School Crossing Patrol (SCP) at such locations and we have been told that the assessment is not therefore needed.  No School Crossing Patrol going forward.  Without this provision, it's not a question of if, but when, a child will be seriously injured or killed.

As you can imagine I have vigorously raised our concerns. The EA has noted our safety concerns regarding the volume of both traffic and pupils, and the fact that this road is the main thoroughfare for industrial lorries, and the absence of traffic calming measures on Francis Street. 

We have raised concerns about cars breaking red lights at the crossing. The response from EA is that the role of a SCP is not to address broader road safety issues such as parking and speeding. These matters fall under the responsibility of the Department for Infrastructure and the PSNI for enforcement. 

Call to Action: 

I am therefore calling for all with influence to see the flaw in this proposal and assist us in at least having the EA complete the assessment, and then make an informed decision.  They will come to the same conclusion as the complete school community – WE NEED OUR SCHOOL CROSSING PATROL. 

We are committed to working together as a community to address this challenge to ensure the safety of our pupils.  

Thank you for taking time to consider our letter and we sincerely ask you to visit us at the key times in the day and, or, support us in our efforts to maintain a School Crossing Patrol presence at our school.

Yours sincerely, 

Orla O’Dowd 

Principal 
St. Francis' Primary School, Nursery Unit and Bunscoil Naomh Proinsias