Boost for life-skillscentre usedby schools

STAFF at a centre which aims to teach schoolchildren from across South Yorkshire the “life skills” they need to stay safe have been given 30,000 to extend their work.

The Lifewise Centre, which is based at the Magna attraction in Templeborough, between Rotherham and Sheffield, is used by thousands of primary school children every year.

It was set up by South Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue and the 30,000 funding has been made available by South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership.

The money will be used to buy a range of equipment, including two interactive safety car simulators, four sets of beer goggles to represent the effects of drink driving and a number of mannequins to use across the road safety set.

Lifewise development manager, Louisa Bennett, said: “It’s fantastic that this funding has been awarded to Lifewise and I am grateful to the Safer Roads Partnership for their support.

“Over 15,000 year six pupils, along with a whole range of other people from across the county visited Lifewise in 2009.

“The new equipment that we will be able to purchase means that we can make visitors’ experiences at Lifewise even more realistic and help to improve their road safety awareness at the same time.

The Lifewise Centre includes a street scene which is similar to a set used in a television soap opera, and allows staff to set up different scenarios to test youngsters’ ability to spot danger.

In includes a life-size pelican crossing, a shop, railway, park, pub and house.

South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership spokesman Ian Ashmore said: “Lifewise is an excellent initiative and the realistic scenarios provide an ideal environment to promote road safety messages designed to be passed on to the public.”

The partnership is a body made up of members from all four South Yorkshire councils, the Highways Agency, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, South Yorkshire Police and the National Health Service.