Road Safety Week School Visit Programme

Wednesday 6th May 2026

Our School Visit Programme is now full for 2026.

What are the Road Safety Week School Visits?

Beca, New Zealand's largest independent advisory, design and engineering consultancy, continues to proudly support Brake, the road safety charity as a co-headline sponsor of Road Safety Week alongside NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA).

Each year, NZTA, Beca and Brake take road safety messages into New Zealand primary schools by carrying out a fun, interactive activity with tamariki that teaches them how to be safe when moving around roadworks in their communities.

What happens during a visit?

During the one-hour visit, Beca and NZTA representatives hold a storytime session for students aged 6-7 years, reading the children's book My Mum is Queen of the Road / Ko tōku Māmā te Kuini o te Rori, written by award-winning New Zealand author Jennifer Beck and illustrated by Lisa Allen.

The story centres on a traffic management worker and how she helps to keep her whānau, workmates, and community safe, while highlighting that everybody’s job is important.

Through reading the book and asking children questions about their own experiences it reinforces the Road Safety Week message that we can all Be a Road Safety Hero and play our part.

The visits are supported by a local roading contractor who brings traffic management equipment so the children can get hands-on with the vehicles and equipment they see at roadworks sites. Conversations with the traffic management staff put into practice the safety learnings from the classroom session.

What do schools need to do?

Primary schools need to have the following in order to participate:

• One or two (maximum) classes of children aged 6-7 years (Year 2-3).

• An indoor learning area with a TV screen.

• An outdoor area, accessible for vehicles, where a contractor can set up equipment for children to safely move around.

• Availability to participate on the morning of Wednesday 6th May 2026.

• Teachers/adults who can attend the session and supervise students. School staff are responsible for students' behaviour at all times.

• Photo permission from parents/carers for students participating.

What do the visitors provide?

• Enthusiastic and knowledgable representatives from Beca, NZTA and contractor partners to facilitate the session.

• Equipment for activities that take place during the session (excluding the TV screen mentioned above).

• A book pack containing a copy of My Mum is Queen of the Road will be gifted to each school visited.

• A risk assessment for the activities, for you to incorporate into your school risk assessments. If you are doing any additional activities, you will need to conduct your own risk assessment for those.

If your school is interested in a visit and meets the above requirements, we'd love to hear from you!

Our School Visit Programme is now full for 2026.