SCHOOLCHILDREN have been celebrating making a film about road safety which is to be shown to all primary schools in the county.

The youngsters from five primaries got their thinking caps on to come up with ideas on how to ease traffic congestion and create safer ways to get to school.

They made drawings and cut pictures out of magazines, wrote a song and got to grips with the task of making an animation. They were helped by Calico Creative, a Burnley-based digital media charity, and the BBC.

Three primary schools in Burnley - Heasandford, Cherry Fold and Worsthorne - as well as St Oswald's RC Primary in Accrington and Hyndburn Park, took part.

Nick Allen, performing arts manager and Year Three teacher at Heasandford Primary, said: "Our children thoroughly enjoyed making the storyboards and doing the voice-overs for the the film. It was really exciting for them and a great creative way to learn new skills.

"And it was very rewarding for them to see the finished product."

The ten-minute film, called Stuck In A Jam, mixes animation, a song, children talking on camera, and behind-the-scenes footage.

Vivien Clayton, safer transport advisor at Lancashire County Council, who co-ordinated the project, said: "Traffic congestion is a problem around many schools. We want to encourage families to walk their children to school, or use cycles and scooters, rather than using the car.

"We hope more parents will volunteer to lead a walking bus, where they arrange pick-up points with other families and then all the group hold hands in a line to get to school."

The council wants to reduce the possibility of accidents involving children getting to and from school, and tackle other traffic issues as well.

Mrs Clayton added: "Safety is a real issue for children crossing roads to get to school, and for residents, it can be very annoying when their driveways blocked and the roads are clogged up. Children can be late for school too when there's so much traffic on the roads."

She added: "It's been a great way to get children thinking about road safety and ultimately, of course, we want parents to get their child to school by any other means than the car.

A celebration of the launch at Heasandford Primary saw the other four schools involved in the project go along to watch the film, sing songs, and talk about the issues in an interview-style question and answer session with Vivien Clayton. Parents were invited along too.

The Stuck In A Jam film can seen at www.vimeo.com/130314475 and will be shown to all schools in the council at the start of the academic year in September.