A 40-kilometre school zone signage was finally installed outside Orana Catholic Primary School, all thanks to a year-five student who wrote to the City of Canning in 2018.
The former student, Liliana Flynn, wrote the letter to the Canning council with the hope of improving students’ safety when crossing Querrin Avenue.
Councillor Yaso Ponnuthurai, who received the letter, said this was not implemented before given that there is still no direct access from the school to Vahland Avenue.
“There is a steel fence along the length of the perimeter of the school that abuts Vahland Avenue,” she said.
“There is no scope within the school and speed zone criteria to include Vahland Avenue in the school zone.
“But I was persistent in progressing and convincing the Canning council senior management and later the school also managed to get in touch with Main Roads WA.
“This shows that by working together, we can achieve good results for our community and safety.”
Acting principal Emma Bell said the school encouraged students to have a voice that brings positive change in the community.
“There has been ongoing issues of speeding around the school,” she said.
“Its been something that has been topical for many years, and we have families that are now quite emotional because they have been wanting this for a long time.
“We supported Liliana with her decision to write to council and we then met with councillor Ponnuthurai who supported us in bringing about change.
“This week we are noticing that cars are slowing down and once an electronic board is installed, it will be more obvious.”
It is understood that an electronic board will be placed on site in the next two to three weeks to alert motorist circulating the area.
