Who is repsonsible for school bus children?

[JessyRose]

My daughter is due to start school in September of this year, she is quite young for her age and has speech and language issues along with showing signs of anxeity. All of which have had involved with various health professionals, mainly my health visitor.

My problem is when we have come to prepare a care plan with the school we have stumbled across an issue over her travelling on the school bus. Within her care plan myself and the health visitor felt that a hand over between the bus driver to a memebr of staff would be best to ensure my daughter safety. However apparently there is a "grey" area when it comes to the bus driver (The bus carries 60 pupils and there is only the bus driver on board) dropping the children off and a member of staff been on morning playground duty, the bus apparenly often comes early at 8.40 and the teacher on duty apparently doesn't go out until 8.45 and apparently is sometimes delayed due to "talking" to parents. I feel that at the age of 4 my daughter is far to young to be dropped off alone besides a busy school drop off road and then left in a playground for any amount of time without any CRB checked adult to supervise her or the rest of the under 12's from the bus. The head appeared to be understanding to my concerns and said she would try to come up with a solution but that she would have to discuss the issue with the Local Authority to decide who is legally responsible for the safety of the pupils during the drop off period, so at present she is unable to say to the request of a handover.

I am deeply disappointed with the whole situation that in this day and age that common sense doesn't triumph that this is the safetly of a 4 year old girl and other young children and there are 5 minutes in ensuring that the worry and risk is rectified; either the bus should wait until there is a teacher present or the school should ensure that a member of staff goes out to meet her of the school bus. I thought the profession of looking after children would be a more caring one rather than doing only what one must or only what one gets paid for right down do the line.

Ahhhh well after that rant, does anyone know who is legally responsible for the safety of children once they are dropped off via a school bus?

Yes teachers get paid more and do less, it's a shame that teachers these days do not put in as much effort and care as they teachers once did. It is my opinion and I am entitled to it, just as you are entitled to yours.

She didn't say she had a job.

We do less?
WTF sort of a TA are you not to know how the demands of the job and the paperwork and planning and assessments and the rest have changed?
Do less?
What sort of a parent are you to hive off responsibility for your 4 year old onto others?

I am surprised there is no member of staff on the bus (our school bus has a stagecoach person on it, for far less than 60 children).

No 4 year old should get off the bus and not be met buy an adult. I imagine a Y6 may take her under their wing, but that is not good enough.

The head has said she will look into it, so don't panic yet.

How do you figure they do less?

Because they won't start work early to look after your child before the school start time that means they do less? I thought you said you had worked in a school?

Most schools have staff meetings at the start of the day, so for staff to be available earlier to watch your child they would have to start the meeting earlier, meaning staff would need to get into school earlier to get everything else done that needs doing. To do that they would need to leave home and their own families earlier. But thats fine as long as you are sorted hey!

'Went into for the money' are you serious?

You definitely have a point re the bus and staffing. However I think you are being very unfair to decide therefore that all teachers are uncaring and just in it for the money! I think you must be confusing teaching with investment banking! Teachers do many things outside of their paid duties. I would personally concentrate on working with school to find a solution. Tbh I personally wouldn't,t be happy with my 4 year old going on unaccompanied school transport. It seems to me that the bus should probably be reserved for older children if there is no supervision. how many reception children travel on the bus? Does the bus drop off at other schools? is there no other school that would be easier for you to access? If you are totally reliant on the bus you may well have problems to collect her if she is ill. I think your chances of getting local authority or school to supervise increase if there are lots mod other parents who feel the same way as you do.

Here we go! I can't have my way so all teachers are lazy shits who don't give a toss about children.

Do less?
I'm working 55 hours a week!!!
Teachers might give a bit if the expectations on paperwork weren't so unrealistic.

IME, it's usually TAs, not teachers who are on the playground before school and at break time.

Maybe the TAs should get out there a bit earlier. They are much more likely to be working for the love of children than the love of money.

I left my job to enable me to support my daughter with her emotional issues.

The end result will be I will pay £20 a day to pay for taxis to get my daughter safely to school, she is my daughter and would walk over hot coals for her. That cost will have an effect on her home life. I just clearly wrongly presumed that since she was legally entitled to a bus pass that there must be risk assessments carried out that to ensure the safety of bus children. I don't think my concerns are abnormal, I am a mum who is worried and presumed the millions paid via taxes to the LA to provide school transport would mean that children are transported and left safely.

FallenCaryatid, you'd think i'd requested the LA and the school to walk on water the way some of you responses come across, all I am suggesting is that the current way of dropping off bus children which seems to have been the same since the 70's is reassessed for safety reasons, we do not live in the 70's and edcuational policies have evolved in every area but school travel.

I was sympathetic to your situation until your last few posts.

In answer to your question about who is responsible for YOUR daughter BEFORE school starts the answer is simple. You are.

lynette how do you get to the point of deciding whether someone works for their love of money?? most people work to put a roof over their families and feed their children ie to live. is this unreasonable and somehow shoddy? I am very pissed off with some of the opinions on this thread. it is possible to care about your job and the children you teach and expect to get paid a decent wage. this has bigger all to do with the OP,s problem. By the way TA,s rarely do playground duty. most start at 8.45 on the dot and finish at the end of the day.

OP, three miles isn't a great distance, couldn't you cycle with your daughter on a child seat?

OK

A slight tangent here

Has any professional indicated that you could go down the statementing route with your DD, because that could release £££ in order to pay for a TA to receive DD from the bus and put her back on at the close of the day.

??

Jessy, you do realise you have lost a lot of sympathy by being so nasty about teachers. It is not their responsibility to get your child to school safely, it is yours.
If it was a special needs school, the bus would have an escort.
Remember, by law, you do not need to send your child to school for almost another year.

I do not think that all teachers are uncaring, I feel many are in the job for the wrong reasons. I have been lucky to deal with a Head Teacher who is willing to try and find a solution for my daughter, however what about other children? I feel its morally wrong that either a school or the LA not take responsibility for the safety of the children of at least infant aged children that travel by the bus. When I asked why a teacher takes children to the bus at the end of school and I was informed it was for safety reasons, to me there is no difference to the start of school.

Are we trying to get Jessy's daughter to school safely or argue about the merits of teachers?

RandomNumbers

The health visitor and nursery staff requested to the school that the educational psychologist should make an assessment of my daughter, however the Foundation Stage manager said she wanted to wait until my daughter was at school to carry out the assessment.

Op, I appreciate you are frustrated about this situation and worried about the new start for your DD in September but could you please drop the frankly awful attitude towards the teaching profession.

Believe me, you've lost lots of sympathy on this thread.

I hope you get the resolution your DD needs.

You can ask GP to refer you IIRC

This might be quicker, do some research

You might need to direct your ire at nursery manager, ducking out of starting statementing process

But Jessy its not the schools job to get children to school its yours. At the end of the day they make sure 4 year olds go to whoever is picking them up so in this case the bus driver.

The issue seems to come with the service the bus company is providing not being quite good enough in the lack of supervison/poor timing of arriving at the school which would be for the LEA and bus company to tackle.

Being unnecessarily bitter and nasty about teachers will not win you any support I'm afraid.

It's funny, I've never met any of these teachers who are supposedly in it for the money.

I've just finished a 13 hour day at school. Which I will be doing every day this week. Good to know that I "do not put in as much effort and care as they teachers once did" though.

Why don't you take responsibility for your own child?

The reason why I came on here is the Head teacher at the school said even she whom has been a head for 10years was unsure of who was legally respsonsible for bus children once they get off the bus. I thought that maybe I may find someone on here who was clued up on the LAW and possibly had a link regarding the legalities of school travel. I think maybe it's time to see a solicitor for some legal advice on this issue.

Teacher arguments aside it is very difficult. My children are taxied in to school. It is arranged by the council as there is no space in the school near us. We are lucky that the driver takes them into the school and at their old school it was a minibus that parked in the school car park.
If this bus is full of pupils from the school is there not a way they could stop on school property?