Backseat Boss is a fun educational initiative for primary school aged children. It’s designed to help them understand safer driving habits and feel confident speaking up about them—both now as passengers and in future as drivers.
When Ansdell Primary School in Lancashire delivered Backseat Boss as part of their Road Safety Week activities, it demonstrated just how much impact the programme can have. Zoe White, their Headteacher, tells us more.
Making key safety messages stick
A key part of Backseat Boss is breaking down safer driving into simple, memorable actions through the BOSS acronym:
Buckle up
Off your phone
Steer with both hands
Stop at a red light
This approach proved effective in helping pupils at Ansdell retain the key messages. Zoe White says:
“The children remembered the BOSS acronym and the programme helped the children to look out for safe driving habits and to encourage these in their families.”
From classroom to car
Another key aim of Backseat Boss is creating a ripple effect, where children take their learning home and influence behaviour beyond school. This had a good fit for Ansdell as they really value their engagement with their parents.
“Parent engagement is massively important at Ansdell and we seek parents’ views all the time on how they feel things are going. We also take part in as many community events as possible.”
The ripple effect at Ansdell was clear. Headteacher Zoe White notes:
“I liked the fact that it educated children on this and gave them the confidence to talk to their parents. I have had several parents tell me that their child has reminded them to keep both hands on the steering wheel.”
Supporting wider education and wellbeing goals
The interactive nature of the programme aligns with Ansdell’s ethos of placing exploration and discovery at the heart of their curriculum, so their children develop a sense of curiosity and a life-long love of learning.
Backseat Boss also aligns with schools’ wider responsibilities around health, wellbeing and preparing pupils for real-world situations.
By introducing road safety in a simple, engaging way, it helps schools cover important PSHE and RSHE topics, while contributing to broader efforts to improve safety on the roads.
Ease of use
Backseat Boss is designed to make it easy for busy teachers to deliver a session without time-consuming preparation.
Each pack contains all the materials you’ll need:
- An easy-to-follow lesson plan that will guide you through your session
- An engaging presentation
- A ready-to-go script to help you lead the session with confidence
- Fun activities and games to keep the children engaged and get them moving
- Optional extras for added fun: Steering wheel and sunglasses cutouts
- Certificates to reward children for completing the session
“It was very easy to use the resources, including the mnemonic.”
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“I’d encourage other schools to use it as the children engaged well, remembering the key things to look for, and I got positive parent feedback.”
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