Zoe's plea for help after school loses lollipop lady (From Malvern Gazette)

Zoe's plea for help after school loses lollipop lady

8:14am Friday 8th March 2013 in News

THE postbag atthe Malvern Gazette is always bulging but one particular letter stood out more than most.

Five-year-old St Matthias Primary School pupil Zoe Day was so concerned that her school had not had a lollipop lady since the start of January that she put pen to paper and wrote her first letter to her local paper looking for help.

Claire Davies, headteacher atthe school in Cromwell Road, Malvern, explained that no one had been in place to see children safely across the road since their previous lollipop lady retired.

“Wehadtotellthe children thattheyneedtobe really sensible crossing the road because it getsquitebusy,” she said. “Obviously we wantto keepour childrensafeand we werehoping tohave someone appointedquitequickly.”

She said Zoe had been learning letter-writing and decided she wanted to write to the Gazette to try and solve the problem.

“It’s great to see that somebody so young has got the motivation to try and come up with a solution,”

she said. “We have been looking at independence and coming up with your own ideas this term and this is a fantastic example.”

The Gazette contacted Worcestershire County Council on Zoe’s behalf and was told that pupils should not be waiting much longer for a new lollipop lady.

Tina Green, school crossing patrol co-ordinator, said: “We are in the process of recruiting a new school crossing patrol officer and are in the final stages ofthat procedure which includes the CRB [Criminal Records Bureau] check.

“The school has been made aware of the process and we hope to have someone in post very soon.”