How is your daughter travelling to and from school?

How is your daughter travelling to and from school?

Did you know that if every family just in the Secondary School drives their daughter to school next week, and they all stop directly outside the Jacaranda Gates for just 20 seconds, it will only take us about three hours for all the girls to be dropped off at school?!?

We definitely need a more cunning plan than this! So, what can you do to try and make transport arrangements work best for everyone in the school (and our city more generally)?


Public Transport

We all have a responsibility to keep everyone in the wider community as safe as possible. If your daughter is travelling on public transport, please talk to her about the important role she will play in this by following these important guidelines on public transport:

  • Stay home if you are sick
  • Cough or sneeze into your elbow
  • Allow as much distance from adults as possible
  • Spread out along platform, stops and wharves
  • Do not crowd lifts or escalators
  • Check capacity of your service before boarding
  • Wash or sanitize your hands as soon as you arrive at school

Please note that Transport NSW has indicated that school children and those who require assistance, such as those with disability, will be given priority access to services.

 

Distinctive green dots will be used on trains, buses and ferries to show passengers the safest places to sit and stand.

Information about these arrangements is continually being updated on the Transport NSW website here. 

 

 

Driving

In a nutshell, anything you can do to help us minimise the number of cars in both Forbes Street and Bourke Street this term is going to make a difference!

  • Can you organise with those who live near you to carpool with two or three other students? One full car is much better than 4 cars all with one student in them!
  • Is your daughter old enough for you to safely drop her nearby so that she can then walk the last 5-10 mins to school?

Most importantly, we need ALL DRIVERS to use the FULL LENGTH of the drop off zones in Forbes Street and Bourke Street so that more students can be dropped off at the same time – a short walk up the Forbes St hill for the girls is definitely not the end of the known universe!

It is also pivotal that all drivers follow the road safety rules in both the morning and afternoons. We really need your co-operation with this to ensure safe pedestrian movement and reasonable traffic flow:

  • Never stop on Pedestrian Crossings or in the ‘No Stopping’ areas surrounding the crossings.
  • Never do U-turns or overtake over double lines in Forbes Street.
  • Please do not double park.
  • Please do not use the Horizons turning circle to turn around. This is their private property and they have asked specifically for us to emphasise this again with our parents.

It is going to take us all a little while to get use to the new travel arrangements, so please be patient and take extra care if you are driving. And if you daughter does arrive a little late as Sydney starts to iron out these transport teething problems, please reassure her that there is no need to worry! She will just need to sign in at the General Office or Primary Office when she arrives … but we understand that this is going to happen until we all get a little more used to the new arrangements.

Thank you so much for your patience and cooperation in advance – I am confident that we can work this out together with a little planning and organising … and some patience and a smile!

Holly Gyton
Deputy Head of School