Burntisland pupils' lessons in safety

And pupils at the school have been learning valuable lessons about staying safe in many different places and situations as part of a school-wide project which has seen them design a range of eyecatching signs which will be put on display around the town.

Following on from the school’s safety week recently, during which they were visited by a number of different experts in their safety fields, the pupils were invited by local firm Burntisland Fabrications – BiFab – to design posters on the subject of safety

Julie Anderson, head teacher at the school, said: “We have a very good relationship with BiFab.

‘‘They contacted us as part of a health and safety event they were having, asking us to take part in a competition to design a number of signs about safety in Burntisland.

“By taking part in this we were given money towards the cost of making the signs and the children really go into it, with around 600 posters created by our pupils.

“They chose three winners who each received wonderful art sets, and Fife Council made the signs which we have given to the community.

“Burntisland Community Council has also been closely involved in this and has given its support for the sign project which is being widely welcomed by the wider Burntisland community.”

The safety signs cover everything from not feeding seagulls to staying safe on the internet, with recycling, road safety and staying safe around electricity also included in the imaginative and colourful designs.

Ms Anderson added: “The children from P1-7 were all involved, and they have come up with some great ideas .

‘‘They have been really enthusiastic about this project, as well as learning a lot about the issues in the process.”

Benjamin Barron from Burntisland Community Council, said: “We were concerned about the amount of litter on the town’s Links, and that’s how we became involved in the project.

“The school told us about the plans to design the signs for the town and we thought it was a great idea.

‘We gave it our support.

“We have already been out and put out some of the signs about dog fouling.

‘‘Over the next few weeks we will be going around and putting up the rest of them in the town’s parks and streets.

“They look great.Hopefully they will encourage residents and visitors to listen to the safety messages.”

The school’s project has been widely welcomed by the community, including BiFab and the Community Council.

William Powell, general manager of BiFab, said: “With assistance from our clients we donate a sum of money each month to a local charity/group as long as we don’t have an LTI on site (Lost Time Incident – nobody being injured and taking time off work).

“The primary school was chosen and a donation of £600 given towards this project. We also took the opportunity of inviting the school to design safety posters for our workshops and offices, with the competition winners given additional prizes.

“We used the posters at our three sites in Burntisland, Methil and Arnish in Stornoway and gave our blessing to the school to distribute the safety posters around the town as we believe that every little helps.

“If we can reduce the risks of injury or accidents with the help of the school then everyone’s a winner.”

Alex MacDonald, chairman of Burntisland Community Council, added: “This is all the school’s own hard work and their initiative, which we are very pleased with.

“We will be helping to distribute and put up the signs over the next week or so. If any local shops, businesses or home owners would like to have a sign for their property, they can contact me on (01592) 873314.