School Bus Service

The Latham School facilitates a bus service to and from the school to provide a sustainable transport option, which can ease the burden on parents of transporting children to and from the school in Bahari Beach. The bus service operates independently of the school. The form to book a place on a school bus may be picked up at the School Office. The buses operate on the primary principle of minimising the time children spend on the bus, thereby using the shortest and most direct route to and from the school as possible.

The bus service is available to all children. Spaces on the bus are limited, and parents wishing to use the service are advised to apply for, and reserve, a place as early as possible to avoid being disappointed. Parents can make direct contact with the bus service providers. Telephone numbers will be provided at the start of the school year.

The school buses are an extension of school and the same high expectations are still in place for all the pupils using them. There is often a wide range of ages present on a bus and the older children, especially, need to take care of how they behave and what they choose to talk about.

Each bus has a Bus Monitor to supervise the children and to ensure that behaviour/safety is acceptable.

The bus driver and a bus monitor both have mobile phones. Parents are expected to provide cell phone numbers of their child’s minder (who will dropoff and pick up your child from the bus stop) to the school bus operator so that they may be contacted if the bus is late.

New Pick-up Points

For families that do not live on one of the current bus routes, parents are advised to contact the bus providers BEFORE the start of a new school year to discuss the possibility of adding a new route or a new pick-up point. It is entirely up to the discretion of the bus provider whether the request is viable.

Parents are informed that the designated bus stops may not be within walking distance of their homes - this would not only raise the cost of the bus service considerably, but also result in longer times spent on the bus by the children (earlier pick up times and later drop off times), neither of which are desirable. Arrangements need to be made by parents to ensure that children are dropped off and picked up from the designated bus stops.

Parents wishing to use the bus service must enrol and confirm their child’s space well in advance. Failure to do so may result in buses being full.

Departure Times from School

The buses will depart at 3.25pm.

Morning Pick-up Times

Parents should note that buses will stop on the side of the road at designated points in the direction in which they are travelling.

Exact times may vary slightly given traffic flows. The aim is to ensure that children spend the shortest possible time on the bus, and where starting times can be adjusted, they will be.

The bus will follow a strict timetable for each stop along the assigned route. The bus will not wait at any of the stops more than 3 minutes. The bus will not deviate from its assigned route, nor stop at any other place except those that are designated stops. If a pupil misses the bus in the morning, it is the parent’s responsibility to ensure the child reaches school on time.

In the morning, the pupil remains the responsibility of the parent/guardian until s/he boards the bus. In the afternoon, the pupil is permitted to leave the bus if his/her parent/authorized guardian is present, or written permission has been given to the school for the pupil to leave the bus unaccompanied. It is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to ensure the pupil is met from the bus on time. If a pupil is not met from the afternoon bus within 2 minutes of the bus stopping, parents are requested to make arrangements with nearby shops/dukas where their child may be left if no minder is present. Parents are advised to work out an emergency plan in case they are delayed unavoidably to meet their children off the afternoon bus.

The school reserves the right to withdraw the seat from the bus from any family who repeatedly (more than 3 times) fails to have their children ready on time in the morning, and to meet their children off the afternoon bus on time as agreed.

It is not possible for children to invite friends not subscribing to the bus service to ride with them on the bus, nor to change their drop off points.

Terms and Conditions

The following conditions apply to all pupils using the bus service:

• Pupils will observe the rules of good conduct and behaviour, in particular ensuring that all body parts remain within the bus.
• Pupils will maintain low noise levels, and will not distract the driver.
• The bus service reserves the right to ban a pupil from using the service at any time for misconduct.
• Loss or misplacement of any items on the bus is not the responsibility of The Latham School nor of the bus service.
• The bus service reserves the right to change the timings to best suit traffic patterns.
• Priority will be given to pupils using the bus service for both morning and afternoon pickups.
• Priority will be given to siblings of pupils already using the bus service.
• For those using the bus service for only morning or only afternoon pickups, these are not interchangeable i.e. a pupil on an only afternoon pickup plan may not interchangeably use the bus in the morning.

Parents should note that The Latham School does not assume responsibility for the school bus. The school bus operator is a separate company to The Latham School, and while The Latham School has carried out due diligence on the track record of the contracted company, it cannot and will not assume any responsibility for the services provided.

To sign up for the school bus service please collect a Bus Application Form from the School Office.