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Mike McRoberts drives the walking school bus (PDF, 369 KB)
Article provided courtesy of NZ Woman's Day

Walking school bus

Coordinators' guide

Full print version: The walking school bus (PDF, 636 KB, 24 pages)

6. Resources

Need some help?

The following pages provide you with ready-made tools to help you start your walking school bus. Your nearest Land Transport NZ regional offi ce (listed on the back cover) can provide you with an electronic version of these tools. See our website for more details.

1. Letter to parents

2. Walking school bus survey

3. Walking school bus guidelines for parents and drivers

4. Walking school bus consent form

5. Child roster for walking school bus

6. Parent roster for walking schol bus

7. Parent volunteer roster for walking school bus

8. Route plan for walking school bus

9. Text for school newsletter

1. Letter to parents

Print version: Letter to parents

School name
123 Street
Anytown 1234

Walking school buses – a fun, safe and active way for children to travel to school

Dear parents

In an effort to ease traffic congestion and improve safety around our school, we would like to establish several walking school bus routes. In addition, the walking school bus is good for the environment, and it also gives children regular exercise and the chance to meet new friends.

What is a walking school bus?

A walking school bus usually has at least one adult ‘driver’ who walks along an agreed route, collecting all children waiting at designated ‘bus stops’ and walking them to school. After school, they walk back along the same route. More information about the walking school bus is in the brochure attached to this letter.

Are you interested?

We would like to gauge support for setting up a walking school bus network for our school. We would be grateful if you would complete the survey form attached and return it to school by: ___________________________________

If we have enough interest, we would like to start the walking school bus network most or every school day from ___________________________________. The service will be free and a coordinator will organise parent volunteers to act as drivers for each bus route. There will be a maximum of eight children per adult and, while it's a great thing to do, you don't have to volunteer if you're unable to.

Children can use the bus every day or on whatever days suit the family. Routes will be established along those roads most used by our students, depending on the level of interest shown by parents and their willingness to volunteer as leaders.

When is the meeting?

We will hold a meeting at the school in the next few weeks to discuss parents’ responses to the survey and our proposed walking school bus scheme. You will be notified of the date via the school newsletter, and your attendance and input would be welcome.

Your local coordinator will contact you with more details if you can't make the meeting but express an interest in the walking school bus through the survey.

Your sincerely,

2. Walking school bus survey

Print version: Walking school bus survey

Parent's name:
Address:
Home phone:

1. If a walking school bus was organised from your street to our school, would any of your children use it some of the time?
(If yes, go to Question 3, if no, go to Question 2)

2. Why wouldn't your family use the walking school bus?
(Thanks, that's all we need to know! This is the end of the survey if you answered ‘No’ to Question 1.)

3. Please provide the names of your children who would use the walking school bus.

4. In a typical week, which days would your children use the walking school bus? Please state which child would use it on what day.

5. What times would be too early or too late for your child to be collected by the walking school bus in the morning?

6. The scheme's success depends on having adult volunteers to act as drivers. Would you or another adult be willing to volunteer to drive the bus on a rostered basis?

7. Please indicate how often each 10-week term you or this adult would be willing to drive the bus. If there is more than one volunteer from this household, fill in separate columns.

Up to:	Adult 1	Adult 2	Adult 3
5 times per term (maybe one morning or afternoon per fortnight)
10 times per term (maybe one morning or afternoon per week)
20 times per term (maybe two mornings or afternoons per week)
30 times per term (maybe three mornings or afternoons per week)
40 times per term (maybe four mornings or afternoons per week)
50 times per term (maybe five mornings or afternoons per week)
Don't know

8. Would you or these adults prefer to drive the bus?

	Adult 1	Adult 2	Adult 3
Morning
Afternoon
No preference

9. On what days can you or these adults drive the bus?

	Adult 1	Adult 2	Adult 3
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

10. How do your children usually travel to and from school each day (for the main part of the journey)?

Walking with an adult
Walking by themselves
Walking with siblings or friends
By bicycle
By bus
Driven in a carpool
Driven by a parent
Other (please specify)

Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire.

Please return it to your child's school by: _________________________

3. Walking school bus guidelines for parents and drivers

These guidelines are an example only and should be adjusted to suit your bus (eg agreeing to your own wet weather policy or process for handling behavioural issues).

There should always be two adults present, if possible – one at the front and one at the back of the group. This will depend, however, on the number of children and availability of adults.

Print version: Walking school bus guidelines

Rain or shine!

The walking bus will take place whatever the weather – rain or shine! However, if your children will not be walking due to heavy rain, please contact the driver rostered on for that day by 8 am or 2.30 pm to let them know. If it turns out that no one will be using the bus, it will save the driver from a wet, lonely walk. If you are the driver on a wet day, you must go ahead if you have not heard from everyone.

Walking route

The route has been finalised (please see enclosed timetable).

It begins at: _________________________________________

Crosses at: _________________________________________

And the bus stops are at: _________________________________________

This route must be adhered to at all times. It will be reviewed after four weeks, so if you have any suggestions for improvements please let the bus coordinator know. If any part of the pathway cannot be used due to a temporary blockage (eg roadworks or parked vehicles), the drivers will need to divert accordingly. If there are persistent problems with a route, report them to the local council.

Safety

Parents are responsible for their own children's safety to and from the designated bus stops. Drivers must stay with the group on the authorised route and take care when children join and leave the bus.
Parents should speak to their own children about road safety before they join the walking school bus, but it's a good idea for drivers to tell newcomers about acceptable behaviour. Emphasise that children must listen to the driver and obey their instructions at all times – especially about stopping and crossing.
The driver will be in the front leading the group. If there is a second parent, they should be at the back to ensure there are no stragglers. No child should walk ahead of the parent driver or behind the parent at the back. We recommend having the youngest and slowest children in front with the leader.
The children should walk along the pavement away from the kerb in an orderly manner, and in pairs where possible, allowing other pedestrians to pass.

Crossing roads

Drivers should follow these guidelines when crossing the road with children:

Choose a safe place away from parked cars. Gather the children around you away from the kerb until you decide that it's safe to cross. It may be quicker and safer to cross them in a bunch, eg rows of four. Walk across, looking and listening as you go. When you have crossed safely, reform your group and continue on.
Remember, you are not empowered to stop traffi c to cross. If any vehicle stops to allow the group to cross, it is vital you check other drivers are aware of what is happening and have stopped before you step onto the road. There is always the danger of other vehicles overtaking the stationary vehicle.
At the school crossing, make sure the whole group is assembled before going across.

Parents' responsibilities

Parents must have completed a consent form before a child is allowed to use the walking school bus. This form includes emergency contact details and an indication of when the child will use the bus. This information will be held on the route register.
It is a parent's responsibility to inform the driver of any change to their child's regular travel pattern. For permanent changes, please contact the parent coordinator so the register can be updated.
Parents should ensure their children understand how the bus operates and that they need to behave sensibly and obey any instructions given by the driver.
Parents are responsible for their children's safety to and from the designated bus stops and must discuss with their child what to do if they miss the bus for any reason.
If your child is having a friend over to play, their parents must write and sign a note giving their child permission to walk on the walking school bus. If safe adult-to-child ratios are exceeded, you may be asked to come and walk with the group.

Children's responsibilities

Children must behave sensibly and follow instructions. If they miss the bus in the morning, they can walk up and join if it's still visible. Otherwise, they must return home so their parents can arrange an alternative way to get to school.
If for any reason they are left behind after school, they must go to the school office and inform a staff member.

Vetting volunteers

Police carry out vetting for ‘approved organisations’ that are responsible for providing care to children, older people and more vulnerable members of society. Vetting is subject to the Privacy Act 1993 and the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004.

Organisations who want to be approved as users of the Police vetting service should apply in writing to:

The Manager
Licensing and Vetting Service Centre
Office of the Commissioner
PO Box 3017
Wellington 6140

Please apply on school letterhead and include your institution's Ministry of Education number as part of your application, as this will verify the school as an approved organisation. It is the responsibility of the requesting organisation to maintain the security of the information provided.

Thanks for volunteering to drive the walking school bus.

Your name is included in the parents’ roster below. Please try to swap with another parent if you need to change your rostered day or time. Contact the bus coordinator if you need to change your time permanently.

Your walking school bus driver roster

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Morning
Afternoon

The parent coordinator for your bus: ______________________________________

Bus schedule and routing

Bus stop	Morning pick-up time	Afternoon drop-off time

Walking school bus rules

The bus leaves on time – it won't wait for late children!
Children must listen to the leader when using the bus – misbehaviour may mean that a child cannot use the bus.

8. Route plan for walking school bus

Print version: Route plan for walking school bus

9. Text for school newsletter

Print version: Text for school newsletter

Walking school bus survey

[When letter and survey goes to parents]

You'll notice a survey attached to this newsletter. We want to set up walking school buses at our school to give you a safe, alternative way to get your children to and from school and to help reduce traffic congestion around the school gate.

The survey will tell us whether you and other families are interested in participating. Please return it to school by [date].

Let's get involved to make our school a safer place and do our bit for the environment.

Walking school buses are coming!

[When you are ready to hold your parents’ meeting]

Thanks to everyone who returned the surveys indicating their interest in walking school buses. We're now ready to show you the proposed routes and who will be walking on them.

A meeting to discuss the routes and volunteer rosters will be held at [place] on [date]. With the response we've had, we think we can make a real impact on traffic congestion around the school gate and even make a difference to the environment! The increased walking will also improve the health and road safety skills of the children involved.

Join the walking school bus

[Update every term about the walking school bus]

[School name] runs a walking school bus – a safe and fun way for children to walk to and from school with other children, supervised by a rostered group of parents. The walking school bus helps get rid of traffic congestion around the school gate, making it much safer for our students – and better for the environment too!

We would love to hear if you and your child would be interested in joining our walking school bus. We currently have [number] walking school bus routes:

1. Walking school bus [name]

[Enter route details here, eg Stop 1: 33 Clog Rd, Cross: 35–38 Clog Rd, Stop 2: 23 Scooby St]

This walking school bus operates to and from school from Monday to Friday. [Adjust accordingly] For more information, please contact the bus coordinator: [name and contact details]

2. Walking school bus [name]

[Enter route details here]

This walking school bus operates to and from school from Monday to Friday. For more information, please contact the bus coordinator: [name and contact details]

3. Walking school bus [name]