PUPILS at South Marston were named this year’s winners of the Swindon Junior Good Citizen Scheme after joining more than 2,000 kids two thousand children in the programme last month.

The multi-agency partnership scheme is designed to educate children about situations which can end up causing injuries or accidents, and encourages them to respond appropriately to emergency situations and highlights the contribution that they can make to creating safer communities by being good citizens.

Last week South Marston was handed the trophy for being the winning school, while each participating pupil received a certificate from PCSO Mandi Coles, who has been heavily involved in the programme since 2003.

“It’s been really successful once again this year,” she said.

“This is the most number of children we have had come along in one year, so the groups have been slightly bigger than usual. But at the end of each day, I sit down with all the children and ask them if they’ve learnt anything and every single one of them puts their hand up.

“They fill out a before and after questionnaire, which is really useful to find out what has been most beneficial.”

The scheme ran at the Punjabi Community Centre in Gorse Hill and has been taking place successfully for more than 25 years alongside partnership agencies including Swindon Borough Council.

During the two-week period, nearly 2,050 Year 6 pupils from 46 different primary schools took part, accompanied by teachers and helpers.

Each day, the children were put in to groups and spent around 15 minutes learning about staying safe online, healthy relationships, railway safety, K9 awareness (being safe around dogs), fire safety, personal safety, and road safety. There was also a tent for the children to take part in activities and word searches.