Skye's road safety character will help keep children safe
This fantastic new road safety character has been designed by 11 year old Skye Saliba to help children right across Gateshead to be safer on their journey to school.
Skye won a competition launched by us to create a new character to add to its 'Be Cool' campaign to promote road safety. The character will be one of a team available to Gateshead schools to loan to use to remind everyone to be safe and considerate on the way to school.
Skye was formally announced as the winner by the Mayor of Gateshead, Councillor Dot Burnett.
The mayor visited Skye's school, Falla Park Primary in Felling, alongside Eve Jones from our transport team.
Skye said: "I wanted to be creative and design a character who was a bit different. I was really pleased seeing my design printed, it looked great."
Councillor Burnett, who attended Falla Park herself, said: "The council has been working really hard on road safety for schools, and our Be Cool campaign is vital to help keep children safe.
"We had some fantastic entries for this competition, but Skye's drawing really stood out. It was a real pleasure to meet Skye, we had a good chat and I heard all about her design.
"Her character was so distinctive, so much an individual, and we're really pleased with how the final design has turned out."
Alongside Skye being announced as the winning artist for the road safety character competition, the Year Six children at Falla Park also got a short demonstration on the importance of the green cross code.
Eve Jones, Project Support Officer said "Learning how to be safe when travelling is a vital part of children's education and it's great to see pupils understanding this through the designs we judged.
"We hope that all road users will see these characters and be reminded that everyone should be considerate and safe when travelling, particularly near schools."
Vanessa Carr, head teacher of Falla Park Primary said: "Skye has a real talent for art and put lots of thought and effort into her character design. She was very keen to show her character's individuality. Everyone at Falla Park is very proud of Skye."
This fantastic new road safety character has been designed by 11 year old Skye Saliba to help children right across Gateshead to be safer on their journey to school.
Skye won a competition launched by us to create a new character to add to its 'Be Cool' campaign to promote road safety. The character will be one of a team available to Gateshead schools to loan to use to remind everyone to be safe and considerate on the way to school.
Skye was formally announced as the winner by the Mayor of Gateshead, Councillor Dot Burnett.
The mayor visited Skye's school, Falla Park Primary in Felling, alongside Eve Jones from our transport team.
Skye said: "I wanted to be creative and design a character who was a bit different. I was really pleased seeing my design printed, it looked great."
Councillor Burnett, who attended Falla Park herself, said: "The council has been working really hard on road safety for schools, and our Be Cool campaign is vital to help keep children safe.
"We had some fantastic entries for this competition, but Skye's drawing really stood out. It was a real pleasure to meet Skye, we had a good chat and I heard all about her design.
"Her character was so distinctive, so much an individual, and we're really pleased with how the final design has turned out."
Alongside Skye being announced as the winning artist for the road safety character competition, the Year Six children at Falla Park also got a short demonstration on the importance of the green cross code.
Eve Jones, Project Support Officer said "Learning how to be safe when travelling is a vital part of children's education and it's great to see pupils understanding this through the designs we judged.
"We hope that all road users will see these characters and be reminded that everyone should be considerate and safe when travelling, particularly near schools."
Vanessa Carr, head teacher of Falla Park Primary said: "Skye has a real talent for art and put lots of thought and effort into her character design. She was very keen to show her character's individuality. Everyone at Falla Park is very proud of Skye."
