Proud schoolchildren say '˜Our lollipop man is the best in the country'

And the lollipop man himself - school crossing patrol officer John Gooderham - is delighted.

He regularly sees children at Billingshurst Primary School safely across the road.

And now he’s been immortalised in the book - entitled “Cross Now Please” - which the youngsters helped to put together.

‘Cross Now Please’ is a phrase used by John to signal it is safe for the children to cross the road.

Abi Smith - one of the school’s parent governors and Mr Gooderham’s daughter - wrote the story and a competition was set up so that each class could be in with a chance to illustrate the book.

The winning picture from each class is used in the book, including the reception class who have illustrated the front and back cover.

Head teacher Helen Williamson said: “The book is fabulous and the whole school enjoyed creating illustrations for it because they all love our school crossing patrol, John.

“They especially like his daily chant, ‘Cross now, please’, which is the name of the book; children are very good at impersonating him which reinforces the safety message.

“All the pictures for the book are beautiful and the children really enjoyed producing it.”

John himself said: “The children are wonderful and so polite and friendly.

“I really like the responsibility of seeing them safely across the road and there are over 600 children at Billingshurst Primary School so a lot of children relying on me to see them safely across.

“I think that is the most satisfying aspect of being a lollipop man.”

The book will be on sale at the school and is also available to buy by emailing the PTA at [email protected]. The book costs £3 plus £1 p&p.

All monies raised from the sale of the book go back to the school.