MOBILE FOR A 5 YEAR OLD - over anxious parent

[henryscatoscar]

HI, in september our son (hes 5) might need to use the school bus to drop him off near his child minders, she will pick him up from the bus stop. my wife is super worried about this in case childminder is delayed. we've seen Ibaby phone reviews and similar on the web. Anyone used one or similar? for the ibaby phone specifically I couldn't see anywhere that sold it. The feature of just pushing one button in an emergency and it dialing out seemed good. Many thanks

Blimey there's no way that would happen here - the teachers won't let the kids out of their sight unless they can see someone waiting and they have to know who it is too.

You would need to ask your LA for their risk assessment of transport which they provide to ensure the DC are picked up safely (and are then in their care) and dropped off safely (into care of appropriate and known adult).

(This obviously changes with age of passenger, but for KS1 the LA provided services should not be leaving them unattended at the roadside in the afternoon nor leaving them to make their own way to school from the place they are dropped off in the morning).

The entitlement is home-school-home. I don't know whether LAs have to accept different start/end points.

Big that can't be right? I'd complain
I'm also in Fife - obviously a smaller primary - I don't have a child on the 'bus' but know people who do! -and who were nervous about putting them on the bus - but not once they started using it

It is a minibus, same regular driver, they know which children they are supposed to get and wait for them right outside the school doors...pick up and drop off at arranged stops and the parents wait at the stop to put them on and get them off...

The drop off is OK, obviously its the up to the individual parent if they want to wait at the stop to collect their child or ifthey feel their chi.d is responsible enough to walk the 100 yards from the stop home. I choose to be there. It's more the school end that is a bit vague. I've spoken to the school and there is just not the money/staff to supervise the children from the bus to the classroom and watch them before school, and then after school again there is just no way the teacher can go with each pupil to various seperate buses whilst also being in the classroom to look after the kids being collected etc. The depute heads are at the bus stop and try to mzke sure all kids get on the correct bus, but with hundreds of kids ( yes really hundreds) its a huge task. In general though it works, and DD is responsible so I'm OK with it. I just occasionally have a what if moment

unlucky you can probably guess the primary, NE fife, huge school.

Sorry for the thread hijack OP. Like I said earlier, I understand why you might want a phone and don't think its unreasonable to get one of those 1stfones

Big - guessing it begins with a C somewhere that begins with a C! I'm not that far away - so my DD1 is on a big school bus to High school - as are about 800 other children - not your local one - the other...
To set your mind at rest a little ....
They usually have the same driver, within a few weeks they are pretty good at recognising 'their' children - eg DD1's driver could reunite her with her mobile because he found it where she normally sits... guess they wouldn't realise if they were one missing though!
If they were left at school think the school would soon realise - and if they got on the wrong bus and ended up the only child left I doubt the driver would dump them somewhere!

Think I'd still complain though ...surely they can set up a better system at least for the P1s and 2s...send them out together in groups p1s for bus A, P1s for bus B etc

OP really does depend on the bus set up....but still I'd be reluctant to get them a phone at 5

For the love of god, it's a school bus they are planning on using not public transport. Where I live is surrounded by farms, there was a farm bus that went round them all and collected the kids to take them to school every day.

OP had a look at the 1st Phone link and it looks pretty good. I don't think there is an issue with you guys getting your son one like this.

If you're worried then the phone sounds like a good idea. I'm sure the childminder will make sure she's early to collect your son anyway. Presume you are in the UK. We used to live elsewhere in the EU and children as young as 5 were left to get themselves to and from school either by tram, bike or walking. It freaked me out but was the norm there. The children were very independent.