Junior Safety Officer Scheme
The Junior Safety Officer Scheme (JSOS) has been operating in the London Borough of Richmond since 2003 and is organised by the Safety Education Team. Twenty-nine primary schools now enjoy membership of the scheme and the newly appointed JSOs met in October for the Junior Safety Seminar. The aim of the scheme is to increase safety awareness amongst pupils and encourage them to accept responsibility for keeping each other safe.
How the scheme works
In July, each primary school in the Borough of Richmond is invited to join the scheme and appoint two or three Junior Safety Officers from Year 5 (and on occasions Year 6). The Junior Safety Officers will serve for a period of one academic year, during which time they will work in close partnership with the Borough’s Safety Education Team to promote safety initiatives and cascade safety messages in their school.
How to be a JSO
Pupils applying for the post of Junior Safety Officer will be asked to tell their teacher why they would like the job and why they feel they would be a good JSO. Very often the class vote to elect the candidates.
At the beginning of the autumn term all the new JSOs will be invited to a Junior Safety Seminar where they will meet their Support Officer and members of the Safety Education Team. The JSOs will be given a special information pack and timetable of what their duties will be for the year.
The JSOs will be asked to promote various safety campaigns, maintain a junior safety notice board, take assemblies and organise competitions promoting safety.
A competition to design a Safety Education Christmas card brought a winning entry from Aleksandra Aleksejavaite from Holy Trinity CE Primary School.
The Safety Education Christmas card, designed by Aleksandra Aleksejavaite, Holy Trinity CE Primary School
The duties of a JSO are to:
- Promote pedestrian and cyclist safety
- Raise awareness of personal safety, by identifying dangers
- Raise awareness on water safety in the home, near rivers, open water or at the seaside
- Inform the children of fire safety precautions and what to do in the case of fire
- Identify dangers and causes of accidents in the home
- Provide a link between the council's Safety Education Team and the pupils.
JSOs of the Year
Every year, the JSOs compete with each other to become a “Junior Safety Officer of the Year”. The Junior Safety Officers who have worked especially hard to put over their safety messages and have maintained an impressive notice board, are presented with a certificate and prize. In 2007-2008 the winners were from Holy Trinity Primary School and Lowther Primary School.
More information about Junior Safety Officer Scheme
For further information about the Junior Safety Officer Scheme please contact Heather Pitney.
Telephone: 020 8487 5133
Email: h.pitney@richmond.gov.uk