©InfoThis assembly kit is for educational use and provides all teachers need to plan a school assembly about road safety. It can also be used more broadly in any educational setting with young people, particularly informally or as part of citizenship education.
Summary
Age group
Aims
Performance
Add-ons
Follow-ups
Road crashes are a worsening global disaster destroying lives and livelihoods – particularly in developing countries where road building and significant growth in traffic volumes means that millions of people face road dangers that they have never experienced before.
Children in the UK are at risk too – as students begin to enjoy greater independence from their parents and start to travel to and from school on their own, their chances of being involved in or witnessing a road accident grow. To prepare for this, they can be encouraged to use a few easy-to-learn techniques to keep themselves safe – and to give them the confidence to help if an accident does happen.
This assembly kit has a drama performance demonstrating the five first aid principles that young people and adults can use to help at a road accident. It includes add-ons for your assembly performance, plus follow-up activities to use after the assembly giving both a UK and international perspective to road safety issues.
To listen to a young person's account of a road accident, click on the link on the right. You can also download the transcript of this audio file.
This assembly kit is suitable for children aged seven to 14 years.
- To help children understand the dangers posed by roads and traffic
- To help children understand what first aid is and how it applies to real situations
- To help children develop basic first aid skills to use at the scene of a road accident
- To support children in becoming more independent and understanding how they must take responsibility for themselves and others
- To help children become more active citizens by being alert to what is happening around them and being able to respond appropriately
- To give children an understanding of why road safety is a growing problem across the world, particularly in developing countries
The performance is based on a drama in which a young person is hit by a scooter. Students will see helpful and unhelpful behaviour which you can use as a basis to talk about road safety and basic first aid.
You’ll need to cast the following roles:
- Narrator
- Jasmine – 14-year-old girl
- Nathan – 10-year-old boy
- Kayleigh – 14-year-old girl
- Sarah – 14-year-old girl
- Scooter rider – young man
- Male bystander
- Man
- Woman
For background information about road safety, take a look at the ten-minute briefing for teachers.
Narrator
This is Jasmine who is 14 years old. She has been asked to keep an eye on her younger brother, Nathan, as they walk to school. This is Nathan. He’s ten and he’s only started walking to school recently.
Jasmine
Nathan, we’re going to be late. Kayleigh and Sarah will be waiting for me at the end of the road.
Nathan
Ok, ok, I’m coming.
[They walk the length of the stage to meet Jasmine’s two friends]
Kayleigh
Hi Jasmine, hurry up will you?
Jasmine
Sorry girls, I had to wait for Nathan.
[The girls chatter as the four make their way to school. They come to a busy main road and stand along the kerb.]
Narrator
The four come to a busy main road lined with lots of parked cars. There is a pedestrian crossing a little way up the road.
[Jasmine starts to walk towards the crossing, and Nathan follows her.]
Sarah
Oi, where are you going?
Jasmine
To cross the road. There’s a crossing up there. Come on, Nathan.
Kayleigh
But that’s miles away. I’m going to cross here.
Sarah
Yeah, me too.
[Jasmine shrugs and begins to walk towards the pedestrian crossing with her little brother. Kayleigh’s message alert beeps on her phone. She takes her phone out of her pocket to look at it and steps out into the road. The characters freeze in their positions.]
Narrator
[You can use sound effects here when the characters freeze. Drop the lights while Kayleigh lies in the road. Or just let the narrator narrate the events while the characters reposition themselves.]
There’s a squeal of brakes, a thump, and then the silence is broken by Sarah screaming. Jasmine turns around, horrified. Kayleigh is lying in the road, unconscious. She has been hit by a scooter, which is lying on its side near the middle of the road.
[The scooter rider is sitting up in the road, staring at Kayleigh in disbelief. His right arm is bleeding badly. Kayleigh is lying in the road and she’s got a cut below her knee which is bleeding. She’s dropped her bag beside her]
Sarah
Oh no! Oh no! Kayleigh! Help!
Jasmine
Nathan, stay here! Don’t move!
[Jasmine runs back to Sarah, who is standing at the kerb and sobbing loudly. Sarah starts to rush between the parked cars towards her friend.]
Sarah
We’ve got to help her!
Jasmine
No, stay where you are! There are too many cars!
Narrator
A couple of cars have stopped, but there is still a lot of traffic. Jasmine stands on the pavement and begins to wave her arms and shout to stop the traffic. Gradually, cars on both sides of the road stop and put on their hazard lights. Jasmine uses the Green Cross Code – Stop, Look Listen! – before stepping into the road.
Scooter rider
She just stepped in front of me. She was looking at her phone.
Narrator
A number of passers by have stopped to see what is going on. Most are staring, shocked, at the child in the road. One man looks at the scene and walks away without saying anything. Two adults – a man and a woman – leave their cars and approach Jasmine as she leans over Kayleigh. The young girl is bleeding from a leg wound and is not moving.
Male adult
Oh my goodness. Is she dead?
Female adult
Shhh! Don’t say that. [To Jasmine] I’ll phone for an ambulance. Don’t worry.
Male adult
I don’t know what to do. We need help. Help! Help!
Jasmine
I know what to do. We did first aid at school. Kayleigh, can you hear me?
Narrator
As the woman talks to the emergency services on her mobile, Jasmine kneels down in front of Kayleigh. She places one hand on her forehead and two finger tips under the chin and tilts the head back.
Sarah
What are you doing to her? Leave her alone!
Jasmine
She can’t breathe! I’m letting her breathe properly. You have to tilt her head back and lift her chin to open her airway. She’ll be ok, I think. The ambulance will be here soon.
Scooter rider
Oh no. I just didn’t see her. I didn’t see her.
Jasmine
This cut on her leg is really bad. I need to wipe it with something. It’s bleeding so much. Oh, I remember, I’m meant to raise her leg up to stop the bleeding. Ok, I’ll use her bag.
[She lifts the leg up by the ankle, and places Kayleigh’s foot on her bag.]
Adult female
What good will that do? Here – use a tissue.
Jasmine
Thanks, but a tissue won’t help. If I keep her leg up, the bleeding will slow down. We need to put some pressure on the cut as well. I need something to tie round it to help slow the bleeding. I know, my T-shirt!
[She gets her gym T-shirt out of her bag and ties it round the wound. She turns to the scooter rider.]
Are you all right?
Scooter driver
I think so. I’ve hurt my arm. It’s bleeding.
Jasmine
[She raises his arm above the level of the heart.]
You need to keep your arm lifted so that your wound is higher than the level of your heart and put some pressure over it, using your own hand. There, hold it like that.
Sarah
Is she going to be ok, Jasmine?
Narrator
Jasmine looks at Sarah. When the accident happened, all she could think of was helping the injured people. Now that she has done that, the shock begins to sink in and she wants to cry. She hugs Sarah. A siren can be heard, getting louder and louder until the blue lights of an ambulance appear. Help is here.
End of drama
Narrator
Let’s look back at what happened.
> Why did Jasmine stop Sarah from going over to Kayleigh after she’s been hit?
There was still a lot of traffic and Sarah could’ve been hit as well.
> What did she do before going over to Kayleigh?
She waved at the traffic to stop it. You should only go over to an injured person if it is safe for you.
> Why did she lift Kayleigh’s chin?
She did it to make sure Kayleigh’s airway was open by tilting her head back and lifting her chin.
> What does Jasmine do about the leg injury?
She lifted it up by resting it on Kayleigh’s bag. This will slow down the bleeding.
> And the scooter driver’s arm injury?
Again, she got the man to lift his arm above the level of his heart to slow the bleeding.
Were you impressed with what Jasmine did to help? Would you have done anything differently? Did she follow the five first aid principles?
1. Stop! You can help.
2. Stay calm and keep safe.
3. Keep the casualty breathing (tilt head back and lift chin to open the airway).
4. Stop the bleeding (apply pressure and raise the wound).
5. Call 999.
Would you have known what to do?
End of performance
Pick one or several of the add-ons to incorporate into the performance. They’ll give your assembly extra impact.
Sound effects add-on
You could record the various sound effects in the performance – background traffic noise, screeching brakes, mobile phone message alert, ambulance siren, etc., and play them through the sound system to add to the drama.
Music add-on
Get students to set the five first aid principles to music to make them really memorable.
1. Stop! You can help.
2. Stay calm and keep safe.
3. Keep the casualty breathing (tilt head back and lift chin to open the airway).
4. Stop the bleeding (apply pressure and raise the wound).
5. Call 999.
In groups, ask them to write a song or a rap incorporating the five principles, with actions if necessary.
Round off your assembly performance with the song or rap.
Speaker add-on
This assembly kit provides teachers with enough first aid and road safety information to use without outside input. However, external speakers can add extra interest for students. Think about inviting a policeman, ambulance driver or local Red Cross first aid volunteer to speak about road safety and first aid.
Extend the assembly to include a talk from a speaker with the opportunity for students to ask questions.
Contact your local British Red Cross branch for information about school speakers. Visit www.redcross.org.uk/nearyou to find your local branch. You can also call the first aid helpline on 0870 170 9222 for more details.
These follow-up activities can be used after the assembly to explore some of the issues in more depth. You might use these directly after the assembly, or as a way to come back to the topic later in the term.
Global road safety follow-up
Shift the focus from the UK to road accidents in developing countries. To explore why people in these countries might be at greater risk from road death and injury, use the four photos provided with this kit. The ten-minute briefing at www.redcross.org.uk/roadsafetytmb will give you the background you need for this discussion.
Ask students to look at each image and list adjectives that come to mind. Ideas might include dangerous, fast, bustling, frightening, colourful.
Get students to think about crossing the roads in the pictures. What tactics do they think children use to cross the road? Do they think the drivers are aware of other vehicles? What about pedestrians – are they looking out for them? Ask students to put the four pictures in order of which road they think would be safer to cross.
Talk about how to use education to make the roads in the pictures safer. What would students want to teach the drivers? And what would they teach the pedestrians? Think about different perceptions of speed and the relative vulnerabilities of being in a car versus being a pedestrian. What could the children do to make themselves safer? Talk about bright, reflective clothing, safe crossing groups, telling parents and other adults about the dangers and fears faced when going to school to raise awareness.
Discuss the effect that a new, fast road might have on a community, particularly for children. What if the road went through the middle of a village or divided people’s homes from their work or school? Talk about the dangers it would add to daily routines and how people might cope with it. Encourage students to imagine they are parents. What messages would they want to give to children?
Talk about what it might mean if one person in a family died or was injured in a road accident. What if that person was the main wage earner? What extra strains would there be on the family? Think about what would happen in the UK – what are the differences?
Route planner follow-up
Revise the Green Cross Code – Stop, Look, Listen! Ask how many students use this code. Do they use it every day or only sometimes?
Now ask students how many of them know their route to school. They can draw a rough map of their journey whether they travel by foot, bike, bus or car. Get some maps of your area to help them.
Ask the students to highlight any dangerous spots on the route. This could be a busy junction, a street lined with parked cars, or a road that features a blind bend or steep hill.
From these drawings, select a few examples to discuss with the class. Why is a certain feature dangerous? What steps can be taken to make it less so? Get students to make notes on their maps of ways to cope with the dangerous spots on their route.
Discussion follow-up
Do students think learning about road safety is important? How do students feel about a road safety campaign being sponsored by a car manufacturer?
Is it hypocritical when so many accidents are caused by cars? Should we cut down on the number of cars on the road? Is that realistic? Do car manufacturers have a responsibility to educate people about how to stay safe on the roads? Discuss students’ ideas.
Preparedness follow-up
Switch the focus from responding to an accident to preventing and reducing the damage if an accident happens.
Elicit some ideas about how this can be done.
- improve visibility – wear reflective stickers or bright clothes
- cyclists or skateboarders should wear protective clothing – helmets, knee and elbow pads
- reduce distractions – don’t use a mobile phone or headphones when crossing the road
- wear a seatbelt in the car or on a bus, if available
- keep a first aid kit in the family car.
Divide the class into two groups and create two posters depicting street scenes. One is a safe street scene and the other is not safe. Get students to find images in magazines to cut out and put on the poster as a collage. Find pictures of people wearing reflective clothing for the safe poster, and photos of people on their mobile phones for the unsafe poster, for instance.
This assembly kit is part of the humanitarian education programme produced by the British Red Cross. It was produced in April 2007. Teachers and other educators are free to use it, copy it and circulate it for their work. Please always include this notice and the contact details below.
For more information contact:
Schools and community education
British Red Cross
44 Moorfields
London EC2Y 9AL
Email: reducation@redcross.org.uk
This resource and other free educational materials are available at redcross.org.uk/education.
As part of its ongoing commitment to road safety and its aim to reduce road accidents and deaths to zero, Toyota is working with the British Red Cross to equip young people aged between 9 and 13 with roadside first aid training. The aim is to minimise the frequency of road accidents, and when they do happen, lessen their impact.