AIBU to be concerned about young children on council-provided school bus with no adult supervision?

But they don't You have to deal with realities not what " should be"

Because all children have the right to free access to education. Its cheaper than having more schools.

It’s normal in rural areas for just a bus driver. The head teacher should be told about any bad behaviour as they’re usually very quick to deal with it. Sometimes teachers would use it for their commute for a few days if they lived on the route if there had been bad behaviour and that seemed to settle things down.

It sounds like the boy was teasing her really, I'm sure he could have poured his juice over her if he intended to, where is she going to go? But not a nice experience. If he goes to the same school tell the teachers and if you put her on the bus tell the driver and have a word with the boy yourself, 'it's not funny to be mean to little girls'. But of course these days you would be in trouble for saying anything to him. I don't know what authority a chaperone would have to tell off or discipline a child on a bus either.

Are there bigger kids getting on the bus with her that she could pall up with? From our rural lane there were always a few of us of different ages who got the same bus and looked after each other, but that was a regular bus and conductors were allowed to shout at the kids or even put them off the bus for being naughty in those days.

Why is it free? I know it’s the distance but I still don’t see why it’s not chargeable. Most people live where they do by choice so wouldn’t transport costs be part and parcel of living rurally? Also it might cover the cost of a chaperone which I think is necessary for children at that young age.

Have you asked the driver if she can have a reserved seat at or near the front, as she is so young? I know our driver would try to accommodate that, but if yours won't I would escalate to the school or transport provider - either the Local Authority or bus company. (Our bus is run by a small local company, who I know have been very helpful when I've contacted them about things left behind on the bus.)

Is it just a minibus, rather than a big bus or coach?

It is very normal here too for children to travel with just the driver on rural transport, although we moved here when the children were 10+ and they travelled together, so it was less daunting for my children.

Your 5year old might be the show off older child one day

I don’t know -he pretended to this - older kids are usually protective of younger kids ime - were his friends pushing him to do it or was he being an idiot and showing off - I think I’d wait and see how things go - there’s nothing impressive about bullying a 5year old so hopefully he’s got the message .

Bus chaperones are quite common though, it’s not a new or impractical idea.
My DCs always had one on the primary school bus. There’s still a chaperone on the bus now.

OP if your DD can name this person tell the school about it. Bullies should have their bus rights revoked.

She me of my kids went to a school where you could elect for private bus transportation. These school buses took from kindergarten (5yo) to leaving (18yo), and ranged from full size coach to minibus depending on where you lived and how many on that route. There was only ever the driver, never another adult except for a few instances where teachers cars had broken down/been in accident and they lived along a route and were given special permission to join a bus until car was fixed. I never heard of any issues.

If your DD doesn’t know the name you wait with her where the kids get off bus and ask her to point them out and then you ask the the child their name and/or follow them in etc.

This is just silly. You know the driver can't easily deal with any problems that arise amongst the passengers, so if a child becomes ill or assaults another it's going to be a major problem. The potential costs arising out of an accident or a child whose serious illness has gone unnoticed would be way above the costs of an escort.

As for "take them yourself" - how do parents do that for schools over statutory walking distance if they don't or can't drive and there is no public transport, or if they have other children to take elsewhere, or if they have to get to work to keep a roof over the family's head?

You get DD to identify the child, if she has the first name the school should know who it is by which bus they are on.

Then you make it the schools issues to stop the bullying and you keep all of it in writing. The school can speak to the child and their parents.

It’s unlikely the first time this pupil has bullied.

This was secondary but they used to sell drugs at the back of the top deck on my old school bus.

My eldest had a full on fight with a bully (defending her younger sister) and nothing was done about it when i complained.

This was council funded country bus taking village kids to small town secondary.

There’s no way i would allow this for my 5 year old. I wouldn’t allow my 7 year old. I think you might have to take her yourself. There should definitely be a chaperone on the bus.

Ask the school for the older pupils to think about peer supervisors on the bus/
Complain to the council (who dont have any money)
Find out the school the boy goes to and tell them about the incident. I dont think any school will be impressed with a boy bullying a 5 year old girl.

I wouldn't put a 5 or 6 year old on a bus with a bunch of unsupervised older kids.

Some kids are little shits.

Mine get on the bus once they go to secondary at 11 and that's bad enough!

God, mine too. It was awful.

We used to have full scale fights break out. No one ever did a thing.

It’s very low priority compared to SEN provision.
I would simply report the boy to the headteacher so they can have a word with the boy & his parents.

Lots of kids travel to school by bus here and I've never heard of a chaperone. The buses take both primary and secondary school children.

I drove school buses for a bit, in the late 00s. Just me and up to 50 kids. They were supposed to wear seat belts, and up to age 14 it's the driver's responsibility. I had to walk up and down the aisle to visually check before driving. Then, once I was driving, check in the mirror to see if anyone had stood up - if you could see their heads in the mirror you knew they weren't strapped in. It was a rotten job.

In the 90s I went to school on a school bus myself (lived rurally, very few kids were driven to school by parents at that time, and those who were got teased mercilessly for it) it was only 11 miles but it took 45 minutes and all sorts of things happened.

I have never seen /heard of an escorting adult on a school bus (although I often wished there was when I had to drive one!) Basically, it would be a beyond shit job, with minimal pay, don't think many people sane enough to do it, would want to?

At the village school that my DS went to (many moons ago) the bus bringing children from the next village didn't have a chaperone on. However, I know that at some point after he left Primary, a Chaperone was introduced, but it was a TA from the school who just happened to live in the village that the bus served. So I'm not sure what the cost of that would have been (but the TA definitely could drive and had a car, so it wasn't just done as a convenient way for them to get to work!)
I know there had been concerns about certain pupils on the bus back in DS's day so I'm guessing this was why the school sorted this arrangement.

Or deal with issues by identifying the bully and talking to the school to ensure the child and their parents are warned that they will lose their bus place.

My teenage dd was physically assaulted on the bus. Just the driver ..
His punishment was he wasn't allowed on it the next day. 1 day.
Absolute shambles...