Their worries date from what they describe as two 'near misses,' including one where an off-duty police officer and her child were nearly swept off their feet by a passing car.
At the time parent Lee Hopkins wrote a detailed letter to East Sussex County Council, (ESCC.) After being dissatisfied with the response, he has now written a second time 'to formally raise serious concerns regarding the persistent and unaddressed road safety issues at Catsfield CEP School.'
Mr Hopkins would like to see more rigorous measures, such as traffic calming or, ideally, a pedestrian crossing.
Head teacher John Barnes echoed his plea for safety, saying: "We are aware of the concerns raised about this section of road and are grateful for having a school-sponsored crossing patrol,assigned by ESCC.
"This operates in the morning and we are actively promoting the afternoon vacancy. Road safety is part of our PHSE curriculum so that we can teach our children about this important subject. We are grateful to all our families for working with the school to ensure their children's safety and believe it is the responsibility of all in our community to make sure the roads are being used safely."
ESCC Chief Executive Becky Shaw replied to Mr Hopkins. She noted his concerns had formerly received replies from both Rupert Clubb (director of communities, economy and transport) and the Road Safety Team Manager Kelly Burr.
She assured him the council takes health and safety concerns seriously and said school warning signs have been cleaned and road marking improvements near the school implemented. She went on: "Colleagues continue to work closely with the school and monitor the school crossing patrol."
She explained care must be taken to target resources to schemes of greatest benefit. And she went on: "There is a process to determine which scheme should be funded through ESCC's Integrated Transport Programme. Requests for a 20mph zone and pedestrian crossing improvements were assessed by the Road Safety Team but did not achieve the benchmark score to take them forward now.
And she said under the Road Traffic Act 1984 and the Transport Act 2000 there is no statutory obligation for the County Council to provide a crossing patrol outside any school. "The provision of a crossing patrol does not remove parents' or carers' responsibility for their child's safety when traveling to and from school."
She confirmed a risk assessment was carried out this year. "I can assure you our school crossing patrol supervisors maintain regular contact with the crossing patrol, visit regularly and observe it once a term.
She explained ESCC is in regular contact with Catsfield School and notes their preference is for the crossing patrol to continue rather than pedestrian crossing being installed. "Regrettably the patrol we recruited last September to cover afternoon collection has recently resigned and we are working with the school to arrange a recruitment drive."
Susan King
Senior Reporter
Sussex Express
Mobile 07976 800 195