Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Around the School
Where can you park?
There is limited parking around the school. About 500 students arrive at school at about the same time every day. You can park both North (Adair Street) and South (Hycrest Drive) of the school. There is also parking available on Sperling itself. Parking on the school side of each of these streets is not permitted or restricted. There is no stopping or parking alongside the orange traffic cones. Please check the signs. There is a NO STOPPING area in front of both staff parking lots.
At 8:40 AM there is a lot of parking available close to the school. By 8:50, it’s full. By coming 10 minutes early you will save yourself all sorts of stress. If your child is old enough, please consider dropping your child off safely at the Walking Sidewalk program.
What is the Walking Sidewalk Program?
Parent volunteers help children out of their car or across the road along Adair Street (the North side of the school).
Ideally we like to have two people each morning:
- One safety person helps to direct the cars – by waving them along – to keep moving past the no stopping zone (where the cones are along Adair Street) and into the drop off zone. This safety person will also stop traffic at the unmarked traffic crossing on Adair Street for students and families to cross.
- The other safety person helps children out of the cars as the parents pull up (after the cones) alongside the drop off zone on the school side of the Adair Street. The driver is not to exit the vehicle and the student should disembark on the sidewalk side of the car.
These two things really help to smooth the traffic flow along the street and ensure that our children get to school safely.
If you are just dropping your child off I encourage you to plan your route so that you pull up on the school side of Adair Street and one of the parents can help you by opening the car and helping your child out. It’s much safer than having them cross the road, and we’re there to do it! If you would like to volunteer, please contact us:
If you are interested in other volunteer positions, please sign-up on the PAC Volunteering sign-up page.
Don’t backup around the school. Here’s what you don’t see behind you.
- Be courteous to other parents and the school’s neighbours (you will be seeing them again and again).
- No driving or parking in either of the teacher’s parking lots.
- Obey parking signs and Burnaby by-laws (no parking in front of fire hydrants).
- Please don’t drive into and drop off your child in the staff parking lots.
A “Note” on Safety
Due to ongoing congestion and parking issues around the school, the Traffic Safety Team has started handing out notes (2013) reminding drivers not to park, drop off/pick up children (unless directed by a volunteer) or stop in the no stopping zones along Adair Street. In previous years a blind eye had been turned to parents waiting to pick up children in the no stopping zone after the cones on the south side of Adair Street. We are now asking parents to use the 5 minute parking area along the field (which used to be no stopping) instead. We need to keep the no stopping zones clear in order to keep traffic flowing and allow clear sight lines so drivers and children can see each other when children are crossing the street.