1. Brake supports the Decade of Action for
SPEED
ASSEMBLY
Speed assembly:
Brake’s Speed assembly discusses road safety, with a particular emphasis on the dangers of speeding – something that puts kids’ lives at risk every single day. One in four deadly crashes in the UK involves someone who was driving too fast.
The assembly supports Brake’s poster competition, where children aged 4–11 have the chance to design a powerful road safety poster to raise awareness about the dangers of speeding drivers. Winning designs will be made into giant banners, to be displayed outside schools or in the local community.
The assembly is designed to inspire pupils and deepen their knowledge about why fast traffic is dangerous and puts lives at risk. See the accompanying notes for educators for further information.
Aim: Discuss traffic and your children’s concerns about traffic. Discuss why fast traffic is so dangerous. Consider what can be done to slow traffic down. Talk about Brake’s road safety poster competition, and how children can enter.
Resources needed: None
Organised by
Sponsored by
Supported by
Brake supports the Decade of Action for
Road Safety

2. Warm-up activity: road safety anagrams
Today we are thinking about road safety and how we can make our streets safer.
First let’s see who’s awake this morning! Here are some jumbled-up words, or ‘anagrams’, about road safety. Who can unscramble the letters and tell me what the word is?
WORD 1: TRAFFIC

3. Warm-up activity: road safety anagrams
WORD 2: SPEED

4. Warm-up activity: road safety anagrams
WORD 3: DANGER

5. Warm-up activity: road safety anagrams
WORD 4: SLOW

6. Show the slide to the children and talk about the roads and traffic it depicts. What is traffic? Where is traffic found? Why do we need to be very careful near traffic?
This will lead on to the message that traffic can be dangerous – on quiet roads as well as busy ones.
Has anyone ever been scared around traffic? Pick a few children out to tell the school what happened to them.
Fast traffic
Traffic is especially dangerous when it goes fast.
Because cars, vans and lorries are big and heavy, it takes time for them to stop.
The faster someone is driving, the longer it takes them to stop in an emergency.

7. Noisy! Fast traffic What are some bad things about fast traffic?
It is dangerous – five children are killed or very badly hurt every single day in the UK. [click red circle]
It is scary – fast traffic zooming past us, or nearly being hit by a car, can be very frightening. [click blue circle]
It is noisy. [click yellow circle] [play sound effect]
It causes pollution and global warming, and makes the air dirty so it’s harder for plants, animals and people to breathe. [click grey circle]
It might put us off walking or riding our bicycles. [click green circle]
Fast traffic is dangerous, frightening, noisy and polluting. It makes our roads unwelcoming, and puts people off walking, cycling, scooting and skating.
If you feel that it is appropriate for your school / children, you can discuss some of the children in the slide who were killed because a driver was driving too fast to stop.
Tyrese Hannah was only eight years old. He was killed by a speeding driver while he was out walking his dog, Odi.
Aaron Turner was crossing the road outside his school to buy a can of coke when he was killed by a speeding driver. He was just 12 years old.
Kristine Errington was also 12 years old, when she was killed by a driver who lost control of his car because he was driving too fast.

8. Going fast isn’t always the best thing to do
Going fast isn’t always the best thing to do. Sometimes it’s better to go slowly and carefully and get where you’re going in one piece!
Read the Tortoise and the Hare story [or substitute your own story here, if you have something that you prefer]
Once upon a time, there was a hare who bragged and boasted about how fast he could run.
“Look at me!” he said, as he zipped and zoomed from place to place. “I’m the fastest! No-one can go faster than me. Step aside, slow-coaches – you’re in my way!”
The other animals were very tired of having to jump quickly aside as the hare raced past. The pleasant, winding paths through the woods and over the hills weren’t at all relaxing when the hare went speeding through them.
The animal who suffered most was the poor old Tortoise. He liked to take his time as he travelled along, chatting to his friends and nibbling on the sweet green leaves that grew along the path.
But Hare laughed at him for his peaceful pace. “Out of all the slow-coaches, you’re the absolute worst!”
Finally Tortoise got tired of the teasing. “I will beat you in a race,” he said. Hare laughed even harder: “I’d like to see you try.”
On the morning of the race, all the animals in the woods gathered round to watch. The Fox said she would act as referee. “On your marks, get set, GO!” she said.
Tortoise set off at a steady trot, while the Hare screeched away, leaving the spectators coughing in a cloud of dust.
Hare rocketed along until he reached a big oak tree on the edge of the wood, where he stopped to look back. There was no sign at all of Tortoise.
Hare yawned and stretched and laughed a little. “What an idiot Tortoise is, travelling so slowly everywhere. How does he expect to win when he’s so slow, and I’m the fastest animal in the wood? Why, I bet I could lie down here, have a little snooze, and STILL beat that slow-coach.”
With that, Hare stretched himself out in a sunny spot by the side of the path and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, the Tortoise kept trotting along – slowly and steadily and with great determination. He tiptoed past the snoring Hare, never, ever stopping until he came to the finish line.
The other animals who had gathered to see the winner were thrilled that it was the Tortoise and not the boastful Hare. They cheered their friend so loudly that the noise woke up the Hare, who sprang to his feet in alarm and confusion.
Hare began to zoom towards the finish line again, but it was far too late. The Tortoise had won.
Rushing and racing everywhere
Makes other people tear their hair.
Don’t speed along and chase for space,
‘Cos slow and steady wins the race.

9. What slows traffic down?
What are some things that can make traffic go slower, so that roads around our schools and homes can be safer?
slow speed limits for drivers
signs showing that children are crossing
pedestrian crossings
traffic lights
speed bumps
lollipop man or woman
speed cameras
making cars and lorries that have computers that can make the vehicles stick to speed limits

10. We can help people to understand why driving fast is dangerous, and why it’s good to slow down. We can:
Ask people who drive to please drive more slowly and look out for children.
Ask our Mums and Dads if we can walk / cycle / scoot / take the bus to school so there aren’t as many cars on the roads.
Write a story about why we are worried about fast traffic near our school.
Make a poster about Speed (either as part of a classroom lesson, or take the entry template home – see next slide)

11. More about Brake’s road safety poster competition
Children aged 4 to 11 can enter Brake’s national poster competition about Speed.
[You can create the posters in your classroom (perhaps also using our road safety whiteboard lessons for KS1 and KS2 to discuss the topic in more detail); or, if you don’t have time to create the posters as a classroom project, you can print out the entry template for children to take home.]
All you have to do is to design a road safety poster about speed. The prizes include vouchers and book tokens; a school visit from Brake’s mascot Zak the Zebra; and your design will be made into a big banner to be displayed near your school.
Posters should explain to adults why driving fast is bad. We’d like to see bold, bright, imaginative designs, perhaps including some facts about speeding, or simple statements about slowing down and staying safe on our roads.
Teachers: The closing date is 4pm on Friday 30 June Please make sure you allow enough time to collect everyone’s posters and submit them to Brake! Please make sure that each poster is clearly labelled with the child’s name, age and school. For full details, see the back of the entry form.

12. Brake supports the Decade of Action for
SPEED
ASSEMBLY
Time for reflection
Let us all close our eyes. Think about the roads that you cross every day. Roads are dangerous places, especially if people drive too fast. How do you do keep yourself safe? How could you help other people be safer around roads?
Organised by
Sponsored by
Supported by
Brake supports the Decade of Action for
Road Safety