Home

School Road Crossing Assistant

Do you want to become a School Road Crossing Assistant? Here is some information to help point you in the right direction:

Job Description - Print Page

Bookmark or recommend this article:

School road crossing assistants help children and adults to cross the road safely on their way to and from school. They:

• check the flow of traffic when they see someone approaching who wants to cross the road
• step into the middle of the road when the opportunity is right and hold up their stop sign for approaching drivers to see
• signal to the children and adults on the pavement when the traffic has stopped that they should now cross the road
• step back onto the pavement when the pedestrians have crossed safely
• in some cases, switch on the flashing amber lights if a crossing point has them and switch them off again at the end of the duty
• report any incidents and any problems, concerns or faults with their crossing site.

Crossing assistants work every weekday during school term time. Hours of work vary between crossing sites. They may work for up to one hour in the morning and between 30 minutes and an hour each afternoon. Some also work at lunchtimes. School road crossing assistants work outdoors in all weather conditions.

Salaries for crossing assistants range from at least £2,125 a year for those working ten hours a week, to at least £3,831 a year for the more highly paid assistants working 15 hours a week.

A school road crossing assistant should:

• be community minded
• have a pleasant, approachable manner
• be reliable and responsible
• have patience
• be alert at all times
• get on well with children and adults
• have excellent timekeeping.

School road crossing assistants work for local authorities throughout the UK. Although there are currently around 30,000, there is a shortage of crossing assistants.

The minimum age on entry is usually 18. There are no particular entry qualifications. Successful applicants must meet medical and eyesight requirements, and must undergo a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. This work is open to people of a very wide age range. Some employers have an upper age limit of between 68 and 80.

New crossing assistants are trained by their supervisors. Most training takes place at the crossing site at which the assistant is to work.

School road crossing assistants in some areas may become supervisors, responsible for the work and training of a number of assistants.

More Useful Resources - School Road Crossing Assistant:

Do you know of a useful and relevant website that would be helpful to our users? Tell us about it by emailing