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Road Safety and Travel Awareness Student Council

Collage submitted by Stephanie Wright for a Student Council competition

Is your school signed up yet?

The Student Council is only a year old, but it has already established itself as a force for good, helping make travel safe, sustainable and fun for young people, a vulnerable group in terms of road safety.



Did you know..?

So what are we doing about it?

Kingston’s Road Safety team have formed a Student Council of Year 10 and 12 pupils from schools across the borough that get together regularly to come up with new and exciting ways to spread the message of road safety and greener travel to their fellow students.

And it’s an important job:  teenagers are more likely than any other age group to be involved in a traffic accident.  

Young people in Kingston need to know the facts about road safety, whether they are walkers, cyclists or learning to drive and we’re certain that student council representatives are the best people for getting the message out there!


How does it work?

Each school appoints two representatives ('reps') from either Year 10 or Year 12 to the Student Council. They attend full Student Council meetings, usually held once a term in the Council chambers at the Guildhall, to report on progress and share ideas with representatives from other schools.

In between, they take the lead in getting the rest of their school interested in travel and safety issues by distributing information, displaying posters, running competitions and putting into practice other good ideas that they come up with, supported by the Road Safety and Travel Awareness unit at Kingston Borough Council.


Follow the questions below to find out more:

  1. What does a Student Council representative have to do?
  2. Why should I get involved?
  3. Is my school signed up?
  4. What will the Student Council be doing this year?
  5. I want to be on the Student Council.  How can I get involved?


What does a Student Council representative have to do?

The job of a student Council representative is an exciting and varied one, with reps getting involved in all kinds of fun projects to promote road safety and environmentally friendly travel over the course of their year in office.  

Here are some of the sorts of things you’ll be doing if you’re lucky enough to become a rep for your school:

  1. Circulating information and ideas to your school community.
  2. Maintaining your school's notice board and displaying posters and leaflets around the school.
  3. Promoting competitions and collecting competition entries.
  4. Providing feedback about local travel issues.
  5. Motivating your school and increasing the level of interest in local road safety and travel awareness campaigns.

Most importantly, each rep is a vital link between the council’s Road Safety & Travel Awareness Team and their fellow school pupils.  All representatives will have strong communication skills and be confident in reporting back to their fellow pupils on the issues discussed in meetings.

Here are some of the projects the Student Council worked on last year:

  1. Designing an eye-catching flyer for 'Bikeability Level 3' cycle training, as a result of a popular competition.
  2. Creating a local radio advert highlighting the potential dangers of mobile phone use whilst crossing roads. This advert was played by Radio Jackie four times a day for two weeks, and attracted both local and national interest.
  3. Arranging and organising cycle maintenance lessons in schools, which proved very popular among school students.
  4. Producing both Cyclists’ and Drivers’ Highway Code test sheets for use at local events.
  5. Designing a dedicated road safety Christmas card, again the result of a student competition. One thousand copies of the winning design were produced.
  6. Arranging a large postal competition to target around a thousand young drivers, working with First Car magazine and attracting useful press coverage.

Why should I get involved?

Becoming a Student Council rep is hard work but very rewarding.

  1. You will be crucial in helping to keep your fellow pupils safe by spreading the message of road safety and get them involved in campaigns.  
  2. There is the chance to be really creative, coming up with new ideas for promoting more environmentally friendly travel among students and then putting them into practice.
  3. You will get to meet plenty of pupils from other schools and learn about the travel issues facing Kingston.
  4. The Student Council is a fantastic opportunity to work closely with the council's Road Safety & Travel Awareness team.

Is my school signed up to the Student Council?

If your school is on the list below, they are signed up and have representatives attending Student Council meetings.


If your school isn't here, speak to your form tutor or email us at Kingston Council and we'll speak to your school for you.  rsta@rbk.kingston.gov.uk

What will the Student Council be doing this year?

The Road Safety & Travel Awareness team are brimming with ideas for the new year but it will be up to student reps to decision which projects get the go ahead.  Here are just a few possibilities:

I want to be on the Student Council.  How can I get involved?

If you're keen to become a rep for your school, that's great news. Send us an email today rsta@rbk.kingston.gov.uk or telephone us:  020 8547 5865 and we'll let you know if reps have been selected for your school yet.  If they have, we'll put you in touch with them so you can help out with campaigns.  

You can also send us your comments and ideas for things that you'd like to see the Student Council do. If you have a strong opinion on anything to do with travel in the borough and students, tell us - there may be a chance to express your concern more widely on the web, in a newsletter or even in your local newspaper.

Road Safety & Travel Awareness (RSTA)

Directorate of Environmental Services
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
Guildhall 2
High Street
Kingston upon Thames
KT1 1EU

Tel: 020 8547 5865
Email: rsta@rbk.kingston.gov.uk