‘It's not a question of if, but when, a child will be seriously injured or killed’ says Lurgan primary school principal as crossing patrol job is axed from busy road

With more than 800 pupils at St Francis’ PS, in Lurgan the main exit/entrance onto Francis Street in mornings and afternoons is a nightmare for families delivering or collecting their children.

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School principal Orla O’Dowd is spearheading a campaign, backed by parents, to retain the school crossing patrol man and praised John as an ‘invaluable’ part of the school community.

She revealed that the school has more than 800 pupils under 11 and around a third under 7 plus around 170 pupils with Special Educational Needs.

Charlene Curran, who has children at the school, explained that it’s an ‘extremely busy’ road. Many motorists use that road to head to or from the M1 and it’s even more busy since the partial closure of William Street.

Charlene said: "The school gate is very close to the traffic lights and we would see wee groups of kids just running up.”

"John, some mornings, will have to actually stand out himself, even if the light is red because of the number of cars breaking the red light,” she said. "Those kids are darting out. It’s just an inevitability that something is going to happen here,” she said.

Charlene also revealed that in 2019 there was a public discussion on the speed of traffic along Francis Street with the Education Authority, Roads Service and elected representatives.

The upshot of that, said Charlene, was there would be no traffic calming measures. “They recognised this is a main arterial route into Lurgan. On the one hand, the EA is recognising that it’s a main arterial route and on the other hand the EA is able to say with such ease that there’ll be no replacement of a patrol man because there’s a traffic light system which parents just can’t believe. It’s absolutely crazy.”

Charlene said: "I’m absolutely astounded at that and the fact that there’s no assessment being done,” said Charlene.

"My question to them is, if there’s a child killed at that crossing, and it could happen as we all see if every morning, who is liable for that? Is it going to be the person who created this policy in the Education Authority?”

Charlene said the school had been using its own resources to put people on the gates to protect children running out. “Our club Clan na Gael extend the use of their car park for parents collecting children from school. We are having to do our own management as parents and as a school to make sure these kids are safe,” she said.

"Using cost-cutting measures and masking them when it’s a child protection issue. That’s just not acceptable. If the EA is looking 700 odd families out in front of those gates and on that road they are going the right way about it,” she said.

Statement from St Francis’ PS Principal

Ms O’Dowd has written to the Education Authority, MLAs at Stormont, local politicians and others involved in this issue.

"We are no ordinary primary school,” she said adding that more than 800 children attending the school including 264 children under the age of 6 and 16 pre-schoolers accessing an independent Naiscoil on site. Also there are 170 children with Special Educational Needs including 45 with the highest recognised level of need.

"It is incredulous to expect 810 children to make it to school safely every morning without the support of a School Crossing Patrol,” said Ms O’Dowd. "We do not think the decision making process employed by the EA is fair to our pupils and school.”

“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,” she said.

The school believes that without a school crossing patrol person ‘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.

"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."

Statement from the Education Authority

A spokesperson for the Education Authority (EA) said: “The safety of all children is a key priority for the EA. Following the resignation of a School Crossing Patrol Officer at St Francis' Primary School in Lurgan, a request for the site to be reassessed was received.

“As set out in the Road Safety GB Guidelines best practice it is not necessary for SCPs to work on light-controlled crossings as they are, by definition, safer crossing facilities.

“As this school has a light-controlled crossing outside of the school, no reassessment of this site has taken place, however, if the school's Board of Governors is not satisfied with the decision and considers the procedure was not administered correctly, they can request that the decision is reviewed.”