Walking Bus Operating Guidelines
Safety | Operators | Children | Ratios | Operation
For safety:
- Children should walk in pairs, or single file where the footpath is narrow
- All Children must wear high-visibility tabards
- The bus should operate according to a strict timetable and will not wait for latecomers
- Parents are responsible for the safe arrival at school of children who miss the bus
- Parents must ensure that they are waiting at the bus stop when their child is dropped off on the journey home, unless the child has been given permission to continue home from that point unsupervised.
- Parents are still responsible for their child's behaviour on the route, and safety on the way to and from the designated bus stops.
Operators must:
- Agree to a criminal background check
- Wear high visibility clothing when training and operating the bus
- Provide a contact name and address to the co-ordinator and other operators
- Ensure a replacement is available if they cannot attend their turn
The children:
- Parents / carers should complete the parental consent forms
, one should be returned to the walking bus co-ordinator and the second should be kept for reference - Must understand that they must walk in pairs and behave well on the bus, otherwise they will be refused access to the bus
- Wear the high visibility clothing provided for them
Ratios:
- The ratio of 2 operators to 12 children is recommended and no operator should ever walk alone with a group of children
- Extra adults must be used to hold hands with Key Stage 1 children, at a ratio of 1 operator to 2 children. They should not delegate responsibility to older children to look after younger children.
- At no times should these numbers be exceeded - the provision of an additional bus on the same route should be considered instead.
Operation:
- The number of days per week the bus 'walks' is determined by the number of operators available. Once decided, the bus should be reliable, and operate every school day for which it is planned, whatever the weather.
- Notice should be given in advance to all parents, if for any reason the bus can not operate on a particular day
- Each bus route will need a register of children who intend to use the bus and on what days they will be travelling. It is the responsibility of the operators to keep the register up to date, to ensure that a child is not left behind, but it must keep to the timetable and not wait for children who are late
- The 'driver' should be in front leading the group with the 'conductor' following at the rear so that all children can be seen and kept in order
- It is against the law for operators to request any vehicle drivers to stop and must not use signals or body language that might imply that drivers are expected to stop
