The Barrow MP is joining forces with pupils at Ormsgill Nursery and Primary School as part of a campaign for slower speed limits around the school.
The school has set up the campaign as part of the Bright Stars Project, and is working with large companies such as Rolls Royce on a range of community projects to enhance the children’s learning experience.
The year five class decided to set up a campaign to petition local councils to introduce a 20mph speed limit on the streets around the school. The petition has a target of 300 sign-ups and has so far collected 266 signatures.
Barrow MP Simon Fell became involved in the campaign when he was made aware of it by year 5 class teacher Jessica Corless.
“This is a fantastic campaign,” said the MP.
“Seeing the children in year five at Ormsgill Nursery and Primary engaged in community work and being so enthusiastic to make a difference in their community is just great.
“I’m working together with the school to make the roads around it safer. I’ve written to every resident in the immediate vicinity of the school, asking for their permission to stick one of my 20’s Plenty stickers to their wheelie bins.
“Together with the kids at the school, we’re sticking these on to bins which will serve as a reminder to motorists that 20mph is plenty where people are.
“I’m also lending my full support to the children’s’ petition, and I’m joining with them in calling on Cumbria County Council to introduce a 20mph speed limit around the school, along with other road safety measures such as speed indicator signs.”
Huge privilege for the school
Headteacher, Mr Cull, said: “It has been a privilege for us to be involved in the Bright Stars project this year. Giving the opportunity for our children to work alongside such a prestigious business such as Rolls Royce is hugely exciting.
“Our year five class have learnt about different roles and developed their ability to work creatively and collaboratively on a shared project. This has given the children a taste of the world of work and helped them to develop skills they will need in their future careers. They really have risen to the challenge and we are immensely proud of them all.
“What has been most exciting this year is to see the children take charge of a campaign that is important to them. They very quickly identified road safety and speed limits as an area of concern and something they wanted to tackle.
“The class have seen first-hand how a campaign takes shape and the best way to engage the community with an issue such as this. It is fantastic for the children to see the support of our MP, our local council and the wider community in helping them to make Ormsgill a safer place to grow up.”
The petition can be found online here: Reduce the speed limit of Ormsgill to 20mph | 38 Degrees
