Pupils at a primary school near Helston are designing posters calling for drivers to slow down after a number of near misses on the road outside their school.

Falmouth & Helston Neighbourhood Policing Team worked with Lowertown Community Group and Trannack School to address local concerns about speeding as part of Neighbourhood Policing Week.

Lowertown Community Group member Michelle Le Lacheur contacted Falmouth & Helston Neighbourhood Policing Team about the issue of speeding in the area following reports of near misses outside Trannack School.

Police Community Support Officer for Falmouth & Helston, Julia Berry, visited the school on Wednesday, January 24 with Michelle Le Laucheur, to deliver a road safety assembly to the pupils about how to stay safe on the roads and encourage them to take part in a competition, run by the school and community group, to design a speed awareness poster.

The design of the winning poster will be used to create road signs to deter drivers from speeding outside the school.

Michelle said: “Lowertown Community Group are keen to encourage slower speeds on the roads surrounding Trannack School.

“We have invited their pupils to enter a competition to design a speed awareness poster that we can have made into signage, to be displayed in the surrounding area. We are very grateful to be able to launch this community-led competition with the help of PCSO Julia Berry and look forward to seeing all of the fabulous entries.”

Adam Boyes, Head of Trannack School, said: “The safety of everyone crossing the road outside Trannack is of great importance to us, whether that be the children, their parents, staff, or visitors. Any measure that can be taken to ensure people drive carefully past our school is extremely welcome. Thank you to the Lowertown Community Group and Devon & Cornwall Police for the effort they are making to improve our safety.”

The children have one week to design their posters, before PCSO Berry and Michelle return to the school to announce the winner of the competition on Friday, February 2.

PCSO Berry said: “It was great to be invited to attend Trannack School to deliver the road safety assembly. The children were wonderful and interacted with the assembly, asking and answering questions. I look forward to going back to the school next week to see all of the wonderful designs with Michelle and to judge the competition.”

Following the community’s concerns regarding speeding in and around Trannack School, Devon & Cornwall Police are in the process of arranging a Speed Detection Officer from Devon & Cornwall Safety Camera Partnership to patrol the area.

PCSO Berry will also attend the next Lowertown Community Group meeting to give advice and help set up a Community Speed Watch group.

Neighbourhood Policing Week is a national event which ran from January 22 – January 26, 2024. The week of action recognised the work that Neighbourhood Policing Teams do every day across the country to actively protect their communities from criminal activities.

While PCSO Berry’s visit to Trannack School has fallen in Neighbourhood Policing Week, Neighbourhood Teams across the force are always there to support their communities in any way they can.

To keep up to date with the latest news and information from your local policing team, sign up to Devon & Cornwall Alert here https://alerts.dc.police.uk/.

Additionally, the Neighbourhood Policing Teams post regular updates on our local police Facebook pages and on X.

To report concerns or non-urgent crimes, visit our website https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/ro/report/ or call 101. If you would like to report crimes anonymously please visit https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-anonymously. For all emergencies call 999.