Day in the life of…..a School Crossing Patrol

Jenny Hooke and Linda Hunter might be the only School Crossing Patrol at their respective schools, but they are certainly not alone in their jobs. Not only are there 110 School Crossing Patrols across the county, but they each see hundreds of children and their families safely across the road every day.

Jenny works at All Saints Primary in Sapcote and took on the role in 1977 when her son Chris was 7 years old.  She remembers thinking that she’d stay in the job until Chris left the school, but as Jenny says, “Chris left the school 21 years ago and I am still there!”. Linda, on the other hand has been ‘Lollipop Lady’ at St Paul’s C of E Primary School, Woodhouse Eaves for the last ten years.

Their first shift of the day starts at around 8:30am and finishes not long after the school bell. Linda combines her job with working as a kitchen assistant at the school from 10:30 – 1:15. It’s back on patrol for both of them at twenty to three, and the day finishes at around four o’clock.

As for the downside, people might think that drivers get impatient with School Crossing Patrols. Not so, says Jenny, “I hardly ever have any trouble from drivers, it’s very rare in fact most drivers are really courteous.”  

Linda sums up the job nicely, “I love being a lollipop lady. The bad weather doesn’t bother me at all. If we do have any snow it’s great to see the kids having fun on their way to school!” The children and parents really do make the job worth while. “The kids have been known to bring me flowers…and sometimes cakes which they have made” says Linda.

Jenny doesn’t mind the uniform now, but remembers a day when she was not quite so enamoured by it. “In those days it was that thick white plastic, I’ll never forget the first morning I had to wear it, we didn’t have women’s hats then either, so I had to have a man’s hat and every time the wind blew I had to race down the street after it!”.

Jenny says she is very proud to be a well known face in Sapcote, and is immensely proud of the job she is doing.