PARENTS and teachers are "excited" to welcome the arrival of Reading's first "School Street."

The scheme will allow closures of traffic outside Park Lane Primary School for up to 45 minutes twice a day during term time.

This will be in place outside the Tilehurst school from early next year between 8.30am - 9am and 2.55pm - 3.35pm.

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Residents will be able to come and go, while deliveries, taxi pick ups and drop offs and other visits to homes will also be allowed.

Junior head of school Rebecca Brown said: "We are excited to begin to work out the logistics of the trial.

"We hope working together with the residents, parents, council and the local community to make the village safer for everyone will be a positive experience for all involved."

She added that parents have already been volunteering to be marshals to help the school with the project, which is set to be in place by the end of January 2021.

"We are working with Reading Borough Council (RBC) on training for the marshals and ensuring parents are aware of local park and stride options when picking up and dropping off," Ms Brown said.

"We are keen to ensure that closure of Downing Road does not move the traffic problem to a different street and to make sure that the impact of this project is a positive one."

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Speaking about being the very first school in the town to introduce such a project, Ms Brown said: "We are really excited!

"The children are currently designing residents' permits as part of a competition to ensure residents can easily enter and leave the street with as little disruption to their daily lives.

"As a school we are looking forward to the trial starting and seeing how things go!

"We are looking forward to a safer environment for all involved."