Sorting out behaviour on the bus

[FiveExclamations]

Anyone got any success stories? Does CCTV and/or Chaperones work? There is a tedious cycle of behaviour issues on DD's school bus and I'm wondering what the parents can collectively suggest to the school.

It isn't really anything to do with the school, it is up to the bus company. In London teens travel with an oyster card, which can be confiscated as a result of bad behaviour.

The buses are private hires specifically for the school, not public transport, but yeah, you are right the bus company is responsible to.

On my dc's school bus the entire bus got detention once - that sorted behaviour out pretty sharp.

The school should certainly get involved - can the driver identify the culprits and a teacher meet them off the bus? Or can bus passes be removed for a week? Our dc's sign a behaviour agreement and their bus passes can be removed - although as they have a statutory entitlement to the bus pass I'm not entirely sure their passes could be removed but the threat works...

The school can and should be involved. At DDs school it is made very clear that poor behaviour will result in the bus place being withdrawn then parents will be responsible for getting pupils to school.
The school can question pupils re behaviour once they have been notified there is a problem. Then take further action if necessary.

Thanks for the reply, it doesn't help that the Driver finds it almost impossible to see who is doing what, there have been a couple of occasions where they've pulled over to give all of them a bollicking, which calms things for a while.

DD has told me who, in her opinion, the main culprits are, the same ones who got into trouble the couple of times I contacted the school after more serious incidents involving DD. Could be others though, I can't guarantee that DD isn't just focusing on the ones who gave her a hard time.

Could you get everyone on the bus into a room at school & ask them to write who is responsible normally. Then get these people to sit at front of bus to see if there's an improvement? Bloody hell the poor bus driver. How do you expect him to safely drive the all home if he's supposed to babysit them all as well-that's not his job. I can barely concentrate sometimes with 2 dc in the back of the car.

Behaviour contract sounds good if not already in place.

Interested to see other suggestions. Maybe volunteers from guardians to accompany on bus for a while to discipline and/or take notes to feedback of breaches of contract?

I agree Camel and Evelyn, I wouldn't jump at the job, (I'd still do it but I can just imagine what it would be like) and the drivers do struggle, they just want to get the kids from A to B. During the last big incident the driver lost his rag after the noise and silliness distracted him, pulled the bus over and used a bit of inappropriate, but understandable language.

I think I need to get DD and other kids, via their parents, if they are willing, to keep a note of all incidents for a period and then we can tackle the school as a group and push for one of the above.

A friend of mine's son had a problem on the bus with a boy from another school. He knew his name and told his mum. Although the boy didn't want him to, the mum contacted the school the boy went to and told them about it.
The school took the issue very seriously and dealt with the boy properly and got back to the mum for further feedback. The offender apologised and despite fears there would be reprisals, nothing more happened.
So some schools are interested and do take these things seriously - and it was quite a rough school which doesn't have the best reputation - I was impressed.

Why haven't the bus drivers complained to the school? Surely the onus is on the drivers to make the school aware of any behaviour problems, not the children or their parents - I would be sending an email to the bus company asking them for their views on the matter.

Have the issues been raised with the bus company? Do this and if you're still not happy and it's affecting your DD, I'd contact the school about anything that relevant to her.

On a slightly different vein my DD had been saying she wasn't happy about how A was treating her friend in school and then A started pushing them both off benches and making nasty comments. One day after school A hit my DD across her hand with an umbrella on the way home from school. (DD tried to hide but it was very red so been done hard). I reported it to the school and we know they pulled A out of lessons within 40 mins. We were told if anything like that happened again they'd be asking A's parents to go in, so some schools will back up pupils with out of school matters. While in uniform I think ours take the attitude you are still representing the school.

It sounds like they need another adult in the bus.

Can staff be encouraged to use the buses if there are any unallocated seats?

The possibility of staff there, just as a normal feature, could make just the shift in expectations required even if they're not actually there all the time.

If staff travel was free, then you'd probably find some uptake, though timings won't always be workable.

The timings would definitely not be workable for staff getting buses.
We would take statements as detailed below. Get parents in etc.

Timings : It depends on the individual school, surely, rather than a blanket 'no'?

Because of course, it depends on the flexibility available to the entire staff body over a whole week. Not a rigid requirement on one or two people only and every day.

I do agree that some schools are far more flexible and creative than others. That's why there is such a range of actual practices which can be shared between them.

Maybe. But in my experience, the number of staff who live in catchment, and who could arrive just as school starts and leave as school ends on any day is quite small.

staff obviously are not going to be travelling at the same time as students.