Schoolkids’ advocacy makes Tailem Bend train playground safer
The Coorong council has built a new fence around the popular play space at the request of local primary school students.
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Tailem Bend’s schoolchildren can feel a bit safer at the town’s playground now that a new fence has been built on their behalf.
Four years ago, the Coorong council approached the primary school to ask its students: what would they like to see done around the town?
Their number-one answer was a better hospital, which the council couldn’t promise.
Number two was a new fence – particularly between the back of the playground and the railway line, where trains regularly whooshed past at more than 100 kilometres per hour.
It was important that young citizens learned early on that they had the right to approach governments about things they wanted done in their communities, Coorong Mayor Paul Simmons said.
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School principal Travis Schenke said he was proud that the students had advocated for the project, and glad it had come to fruition.
As well as keeping kids safe, the fence will help protect Tailem Bend’s vintage steam locomotive, which will remain in place for the long term as a planned upgrade of Railway Terrace proceeds in years to come, pending a budget review early next year.
The school’s students were invited to come and have a play last Wednesday to celebrate the project’s competion, and to enjoy a sausage sizzle courtesy of the Lions Club of Tailem Bend.
