Education, Ferndown | Posted on May 12th, 2026 | return to news

Ferndown Middle School fights to save Lollipop lady

Lollipop lady Sarah Middleton’s role finishes at the end of term, but the headteacher Grant Hopkins is fighting for the job to be retained.

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Ferndown Middle School is in danger of losing its Lollipop lady Sarah Middleton, whose role will finish at the end of the summer term.

However, headteacher Grant Hopkins is leading the fight for her retention. He argues that, despite two zebra crossings being installed on the road, danger remains.

He added that the weight of traffic along the road, with many high, 4×4 vehicles and aggressive driving behaviour puts his pupils at risk.

Dorset Council terminated the contracts of several of its ‘school crossing patrol officers’ and replaced them with zebra crossings.

Grant said: “Sarah does an incredible job and everyone was aghast when we learned that she would not be with us from September.

“I have stood on the road with her in the morning and watched her at work, and also seen the dangers.

“There is a great deal of traffic and despite there being two zebra crossings, some cars just will not stop.

“We see more 4×4 vehicles and this means drivers are less likely to be able to see children right in front of them.

“Cars sometimes back-up over the crossing and it requires someone like Sarah to enable safe crossing.

“She really does provide a great service, she gives advice to drivers and she is enormously popular.

“The crossing is used by our children and those at the first school and I am fully behind the campaign to keep her. We really don’t know why she is being relieved of her duties.”

Middleton, 53, who has been the school lollipop lady for 18 months, said: “My two children used to go to the school but there is much more traffic now than there used to be so it needs to be manned.

“I receive a lot of abuse from drivers, some of whom just don’t want to stop – the zebra crossings don’t stop them.

“It really can get very dangerous and when you have small children on scooters you can easily see how an accident could happen.”

Cllr Cathy Lugg, whose granddaughter Sophia, age six, goes to the First School and granddaughter Aubrey, age 10, goes to Middle School, uses the crossing. She said: “The crossing patrol needs to stay – it is the principle of having someone to patrol the road.

“I may be the local councillor, but I use the crossing – without the patrol it becomes very dangerous.”

Tracey Whitcher, whose father David Whitaker was the relief lollipop man and worked at the school, said: “It is much worse now than when my father did it.

“We’ve lived here for 30 years and having the zebra crossing on the road doesn’t really work because drivers just don’t see it.”