A VALE middle school has launched a plea for help to find a new school crossing patrol officer and end a desperate search for a new recruit which began in June 2018.
School chiefs at St Egwins CE Middle School on Worcester Road have been searching for a new member of staff for more than 15 months and spoke to the Observer in a bid to secure a solution.
Headteacher Nick Pullan and deputy headteacher Steve Plane have been donning the high-visability jackets every morning and afternoon to ensure students cross the busy road safely since the departure of the former member of staff last year.
But despite local pleas for someone to fill the void, advertisements with Worcestershire County Council and sites such as WM Jobs, the role is still unfilled.
The Worcester Road school is one of three in the local area in need of a school crossing patrol officer with vacancies also at Inkberrow First School and at St Mary’s RC Primary School in Broadway and across the county there is a shortage of such people.
Speaking to the Observer, Mr Pullan said there had been a number of near misses on the busy road which leads to Tesco, B and M Bargains and the Worcester Road retail park further down from the school.
“Hopefully having the headteacher out there in a high-visability jacket gets the message across to motorists about the need to adhere to the 30mph speed limit along the road,” he said.
“We’ve been in discussions with the County Council as the bus bay is not marked as one so we would like that sorted to stop people parking there. That would help us.”
The headteacher praised local residents for doing all they could to ensure pupils could cross the road safely but said a crossing patrol was vital on one of the town’s main roads.
“It’s a dangerous place to be, our school has expanded in recent years and either myself or my deputy need to be out there,” Mr Pullan said.
“We have other matters to attend to at the start and the end of the school day when we are dealing with this but I will never sit in a meeting rather than stand out there because the safety of my pupils comes first.”
While the job is being advertised, Mr Pullan also raised the prospect of a local resident volunteering to help the school tackle the issue.
“We would love someone to volunteer, maybe there is someone out there who has the time to help us,” he added.
Visit www.wmjobs.co.uk/job/27407/school-crossing-patrol or call the school on 01386 446924 for more.
