Communication • Reassurance • Safety Assistance • Continuity • Safeguarding
Having an adult in charge of the children’s safety during the route often makes parents more comfortable in using the bus service and sending their children to that specific school.
We know that you can put cameras on a bus – but the fact still remains that it is solely the driver in charge of the vehicle and the passengers and the road must be their priority.
Case Study 1:
Bullying is a serious issue which can occur both in and outside of school.
In 2006 an 11-year-old boy who took a dedicated school bus to school, took his own life after repeated bullying from both his peers and the driver himself. His father, Paul Vodden is now campaigning for more measures like adult chaperones to make school buses safer.
His second report published in 2015 highlighted how the majority of school bus drivers receive no training with regards to handling behaviour or bullying issues or even working with children. What’s more, of the 91 drivers surveyed, 93.4% said they were often distracted by children’s behaviour on the bus. 90.2% of drivers said it would be beneficial to have another adult on the bus with them.
To find out more visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/
Case Study 2:
A 2010 study based on 11,000 pupils travelling on school buses was published as a bulletin of the World Health Organisation. The study, aimed at observing pupil behaviour in order to identify hazards and improve school bus safety, found that it was “unrealistic to expect the bus driver to enforce seatbelt use and address misconduct while concentrating on driving safely”.
- Communication
- Reassurance
- Safety
- Assistance
- Continuity
- Safeguarding
To find out more visit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
