Katua Kura School Patrol
School road patrols and bus monitors are an important and effective safety programme in our schools.
About School Patrols
Signs out. Check. Clear. Ki waho. Me titiro. Kua wātea.
Every year about 4000 kids across our region serve as patrollers and wardens. They operate school crossings, kea crossings, and act as bus wardens. These senior primary school students are trained by a Police school community officer. Teachers or parents supervise them, but they have to be reliable and responsible.
It's a long standing tradition, which started in the 1930's. And New Zealand is one of the few countries still using children to help school kids stay safe on our roads!
It's also one of the safest and most recognisible road safety initiatives we have. And a rite of passage for many students, whose parents will have also been 'on patrol'!
Cross now! Me whakawhiti!
School Traffic Safety Teams videos
These fun videos from Waka Kotahi NZTA show introduce the school road patrol and bus monitors and show how they work.
- School pedestrian crossing video in Te Reo Māoriopen_in_new, 3 min 06
- 1. Introduction (below) 2 min 20
- 2. Pedestrian crossingsopen_in_new, 4 min 18
- 3. Kea Crossingsopen_in_new, 2 min 16
- 4. School wardens,open_in_new 3 min 15
- 5. Bus wardensopen_in_new, 2 min 26
- 6. Supervisors, open_in_new2 min 26
- 7. Setting upopen_in_new, 4 min 44
Supporting resources and links
Waka Kotahi NZTA, NZ Police and your local council are the main partners in the school patrol programme. Below are links to their resources.
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Waka Kotahi Te Katua Kura open_in_new
The School Patrol commands and pedestrian crossing training video spoken in te reo Māori.
Provided by Waka Kotahi NZTA. -
Waka Kotahi School Traffic Safety Team Manual open_in_new
The School Traffic Safety Team Manual is the guide for New Zealand schools operating school patrols, school wardens or bus wardens. Includes videos for students.
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NZ Police Road safety resources open_in_new
The NZ Police education portal includes resources for various age levels, as well as information on school patrols.
2025 School Traffic Safety Team - recognition vouchers
To all Wellington Region schools with School Traffic Safety teams
October 2025
Tēnā koutou,
We know that your school traffic safety teams (road patrollers and bus wardens) work hard all year to keep school communities safe. Over 4000 tamariki across the rohe participate, operating school crossings and keeping kids safe on buses. They are trained by NZ Police school community officers and serve their community in one of the longest standing road safety traditions in Aotearoa.
Together with your local council and NZ Police, we want to acknowledge the hard work your students do and the valuable contribution this makes to creating a safe journey to school for their peers. While this may look a little different this year, we hope that your students know how much we appreciate their hard work, and the big responsibility they take on each morning and afternoon.
All schools will receive:
- One certificate of recognition including vouchers from our sponsors – please print one only per student
- A PDF with four vouchers for Zealandia – these are limited to 500 across the region. If you would like to print and hand out more, please contact us so we don’t hand out too many!
- A copy of the Rules for these vouchers, which you can also find here.
We are very grateful to the following sponsors, without whom this wouldn’t be possible:
Please contact us, your NZ Police School Community Officer, or your local council school Road Safety or Sustainable Transport coordinator, if you have any questions.