SPEED was the essence of a safety awareness campaign run by pupils at Frome Valley School in Crossways.

With help from Police Community Support Officer Vickie Hedges, they learned about road safety and designed posters aimed at encouraging motorists to reduce their speed when driving.

The whole school designed brightly coloured posters carrying punchy messages after learning about the importance of road safety and the dangers posed to pedestrians and other motorists by vehicles going too fast.

The school’s involvement was part of a pilot scheme being run by Dorset Police aimed at helping reduce the number of cars speeding through villages with roads unsuitable for fast driving.

If a community contacts the police with concerns, its members will be trained in the use of radar guns so they can gauge the speeds at which people drive through their village. The police hope that the sight of residents clocking their speeds will prompt motorists to slow down.

PCSO Hedges explained: “We decided to ask the children of Frome Valley School for help with the project and they agreed.

“They held an assembly on the issue and talked about the dangers of speeding and then the children decided that they wanted to design the posters, not in school time, but as homework, which I thought was just fantastic.”

Beth Trim from Year Three won the competition with an attention-grabbing, poster with a rural theme.

Callum Bain from Year One and Emily Carpenter from Year Two were the runners-up.

Their prize included goodie bags, a certificate and the chance to go out with a police road patrol dressed in high-visibility jackets and using laser guns.

Beth Trim said: “It was really good fun when we went out to check the speed of the cars. We wore police coats and police hats. I also won a really good goodie bag and was given a certificate.”

PSCO Hedges said: “We hope that the children will have learned something from the project and that they will go home and pass the message on to their family and friends.”

Frome Valley head teacher Helen Boyce said: “It is great that the children have got so involved with this campaign. The posters are lovely and I was very pleased with the number of entries.

“They put so much effort into it and wanted to do the posters at home because there was no time to do them in the classroom.”

She added: “The school is an important part of the community and if these posters get people to slow down, then that will be fantastic.”