LOLLYPOP ladies and men are wanted by Wigan Council.

The council is looking to fill 14 vacancies and will be working closely with schools to identify people who would like to play an active role in their community for a couple of hours in the day.

The role will allow workers to support a school and bond with children and parents who walk to school day in and day out.

Cllr Jenny Bullen, cabinet member for children and young people at the council, said: “In a perfect world we would have every school covered but realistically there is not enough staff for every school, we have to have a priority risk rating for each school.

“These ratings are based on a number of risk factors - for example, speed, visibility, the number of unaccompanied children going to school and the number of parked cars nearby.

“We will be working in partnership with schools in the recruitment process and we encourage people in the local community to come forward and apply.”

Wigan’s school crossing service is managed in line with the National School Crossing Patrol Guidelines, including the criteria for assessing SCP crossing points.

When making school crossing patrol decisions, consideration is also given to the road layout, including width of road and pavement, engineering measures that are already in place such as traffic calming or pedestrian crossings and whether there have been any pedestrian accidents reported within a three year timeframe up to the date of the census being undertaken.

The council’s road safety teams also offer road safety education lessons to schools and always look to engage whenever possible on how they can educate children better on the possible dangers.

The job requires someone for approximately 8.15am till 9am in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, from around 2.45pm till 3.45pm when school finishes, in term time only.

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Cllr Bullen added: “If you know of anyone who is looking for a job who would be great engaging with children then a school crossing patrol could be the perfect job for them.

“But regardless of the recruitment drive, we want to remind drivers, parents, carers and school children to be mindful and extra vigilant when driving and walking in the vicinity of schools.”

Anyone wishing to apply or wanting to find out more information on the vacancies, they can ring 07968855932 or visit www.greater.jobs.