Children in danger at school hit by traffic chaos

THE traffic is so bad at a school in Melbourne’s east parents turn up an hour before the final bell to secure a prized parking spot.

Lesley Grimley and son Chris outside Wonga Park Primary, where a surge in enrolments has created a traffic problem. Picture: Stuart Milligan

MANNINGHAM Council is in urgent talks with the State Government over traffic chaos at Wonga Park Primary School amid fears of an accident waiting to happen.

Parents fear for their children’s safety at the semi-rural school, where numbers have swelled by 40 students this year.

The lack of side streets for parking, and few route options, have forced the school’s 260 families to do dangerous U-turns.

Most parents access the school via Dudley Rd – turning off Jumping Creek Rd – and have to do a U-turn to get out again.

School principal Julie Crawford said about 80 per cent of students were dropped off at school each morning.

“Most of our students are driven because of the nature of our catchment area – we’re not like a lot of other schools where a lot of kids can walk,” she said.

Mrs Crawford said the problem was exacerbated by a lot of new students being the first child in the family at school, with parents more likely to want to park the car and walk in with them.

The problem is worse in the afternoons, when parents arrive to pick up their children. In the morning they tend to arrive half an hour before school starts.

“We have parents who are getting to school at 2.30pm to pick their kids up at 3.30pm, just so they can park,” Mrs Crawford said.

“We just want traffic to be flowing as easily as it can be.”

Manningham Council is negotiating with the Department of Education and Training to lease land behind the school to create a drive-through zone.

Ms Crawford said a walking track behind the school – a gravel path used as a running course – could be adapted for a parking and pick-up zone.

“It’s only a walking track, a gravel track, so it might not be the required width. It would be good but would require some work,” she said.