Ratio

[Gardenia]

Hi All

 

Could anyone tell me if in their borough there is a guideline for how many adults to children there should be when travelling in a minibus. At present my ds travels with another 9 children, with one driver and one escort. He attends a SN school where the age range is 2 - 11. I know fine well that if the school were taking that amount of children on a bus there would definitely be more than one adult as well as a driver, and lets face it they are qualified and know the childs history e.g. epilepsy, ASD etc. I don't think many of the escorts have much experience of dealing with additional needs.

 

I have contacted the local authority regarding this matter but they say there is no stipulation when transporting the children, only when they are at school

 

I'd be very interested to know if any other parents have approached their LA and know if there is a stipulation.

 

In my opinion 1 escort for 10 children is too great.

 

Gardenia

[oracle]

Gardenia I agree with you. Although I can not give a definite answer to you question re training of these escorts, I can tell you that my Uncle is such and escort for a different SEN School in our Authority and he has had no training as he and I have had some quite heated words about this

 

Oracle

[Paula]

I actually work as a escort on special needs school buses.

 

i take very very sevearly handicapped children to and from school and some with just mild learning difficulties.

 

Ive had no formal training what so ever,but do have the advantage of my As son.

 

I was appaled that we didnt have to have a first aid qualification and brought this up the the authorities.But they wouldnt budge on policy.

 

I have booked myslef onto a first aid course at my own expense covering everything from drowning (wont happen on a bus) to cpr ect because i feel this is something i and all escorts should have.

 

On some of the routes i do the children are so so seveare that i only transport one child at a time but on others with less seveare problems you can have up to 11 kids.

 

The criteria in my authority is no child should be on a bus for longer than an hour otherwise another bus needs putting on.

 

Im conciencious,i love the job,love the kids and want to take care of them to the best of my ability hence the first aid course.Some of the people escorting though are absolutley useless and have no idea what so ever.

[Bagpuss]

Our dd travels to school in a taxi, with 2 other children and a chaperone. She comes home in a mini bus, which is full (not sure how many they take), with one chaperone and a driver. We've had our fair share of chaperones, all lovely ladies, with one exception. We had a huge struggle to have her travelling time cut, as she was travelling 3 hrs per day. Its now been dealt with

[lil_me]

Previous company my partner worked for took 5 with one escort, that included 2 children in a wheelchair, but I have known other companies to take more with one escort, full bus usually. Also seen some with up to 4 children and no escort. Some of these trips take several hours because of the traffic, used to take him 3 hours with the 5 children. LEA will save money wherever they can.

 

Escorts receive no formal training, you're just lucky if they are nice enough and know something about dealing with children with special needs.

Edited June 5, 2006 by lil_me

[justamom]

At our special school, the ratio is sometimes 6 children to 1 escort and like alot of people have said

no escorts dont get formal training and its awful because they do deal with alot of poorly children

but are told if the child has a fit or is ill call 999....

[Bagpuss]

Thought it would be worthwhile to add that our transport dept suggested we send our dd (5 ASD & DMD) to school on a dial a ride bus with no chaperone transporting older children to our local secondary school when we first made them aware of our concerns re. her travelling time (3 hrs). The manager thought it was suitable solution, and thought the fact the driver had been police checked would allay any fears we had about our dd travelling alone without supervision

[jayjay]

I dont know about bus ratios but in the classroom if the kids go on a school trip for reception class which is 5 years old its 1 adult to every 3 kids and in the other classes its 1 adult to every 5 kids and that is in a mainstream school but they do give exception to my son and he is in a group as small as the 5 year olds (he is 6 years old) dont know if that helps.

jayne xx

[Gardenia]

Just thought I'd let you know that I telephoned our Local Authority again to ask about the stipulations to be told, " As far as I'm aware, legally we are not obliged to place an escort, but our borough do."

 

I couldn't believe this and told them so whereupon he said he would check with the legal dept.

 

He telephoned back at 4.00p.m to say that the above was correct and by law they are not bound to place a chaperone/escort.

 

Is there anyone who does not have an escort on their transport?

 

 

Gardenia

[CarerQuie]

We have 2 escorts for 8 children on our bus.xx

[madme]

Not sure if there is a legal requrement - I would be surprised if there wasnt. Before transporting children they must have undertaken a risk assessment- presumably they have insurance - some authorities do self insure but I believe that some do insure with insurance companies. You could ask to see the risk assessment and who there insurers are to see if they have placed any conditions on the transport. Thats just off the top of my head. Ill have a think about it and let you know if I think of anything. Might be worth speaking to the NAS.

[Mother in Need]

Transport is a huge gray area, nobody is really in charge, not the schools nor the parents, nor the LEAs I think when it comes to non-special needs children. I suppose if transport is written in the child's statement, the LEA will have to take responsibility, somehow, somewhat.

 

As for my son, some days he has a escort, other days not, drivers change constantly so I have even given up on preparing them what might happen. But then, it is only a 10 minute journey (well, this time of year, tractors, roadworks and what have you, double that at times, but is still too short to have real health concerns (for my son that is as he is diabetic)(if they find out he is autistic and doesn't like change and hence goes ballistic then their office should have told me so). that is by taxi on the journey to school. However, he comes back on the school bus and that is a different ball game altogether, his own bus is not too bad and the driver knows him and his LSA puts him on the bus, but when that bus has broken down (you should see the busses around here, wouldn't pass their MOTs legally those buckets on wheels) and they're all cramped on a double decker with kids smoking and fighting upstairs...and not a single adult other than the driver on board. NEVER. Despite it being a proper PUBLIC bus service.

 

I remember a similar thread before, where the outcome was that it is a complete hit and miss situation re transport and training escorts and ratio adults:children. And rightly so us parents are worried about this!

Money money money, it always comes down to this, do it the cheapest way and if someone doesn't like it well they can take their own kids to school.

At my sons' school they put on a extra bus at 5 pm for children who stay on to do after school clubs etc, which they need to book a day in advance. Normal children do not use these busses. Only the bulllies who are there for detention. Hence that bus is soooooooooooooooooo rough, not a single other parent will let their kids use that bus, but will allllllllllllllll come enmass to collect them. School still hasn't cottoned on that htis is happening, and if they have, are not concerned.