Bristol, Bath and the West

Staying safe on the school bus: children offered advice by Kidscape

SCHOOL children in Bristol, Somerset and Avon will get advice re how to deal with the issue of bullying whilst travelling to and from school thanks to a new leaflet produced by the childrens charity, Kidscape.

The leaflet, which is being unveiled during Anti Bullying week (17-21 November 2008), has been partly funded by a £6,000 charitable donation from FirstGroup. It is designed to equip children with the skills they need to ensure that they are able to travel to and from school using public transport. A leaflet offering advice for parents has also been produced.

Claude Knights, Director, Kidscape, explains: "Thousands of children and young people in the UK use public transport to get to and from school, and many arrive on dedicated school buses. These new leaflets will offer those young people travelling via bus some practical tips on how to deal with the worries they may have, in some cases thats about what to do if they feel ill during a journey, what to do if they miss the bus in the morning, or what to do if they are being unfairly picked on by another person."

The leaflets are designed with both primary and secondary school students in mind. Over the coming months 10,000 copies will be distributed for free to schools in the South West, North West and North East. Schools in other parts of the UK will be able to order leaflets via the charity.

Kidscape Patrons, Dan Norris MP and actress Jill Halfpenny support the scheme.

Dan Norris MP for Wansdyke, says: "As a former teacher and child protection officer I know through first hand experience the impact that bullying can have on a childs confidence. For this reason it is important to equip children and young people with the skills they need to be able to deal with the challenges they may face. These leaflets are great; they include practical tips and some useful advice about adopting positive body language so that you appear confident. I would urge schools in the area to ensure that the information is passed on to students."

Jill Halfpenny says: "As a charity, Kidscape is unique, it gets to the very core of the issue by working closely with the children and providing them with invaluable tools which they can use throughout their lives. These leaflets will really help those children and young people who travel to school by bus and who maybe experience some difficulties doing so. FirstGroup should be commended for funding the production of these leaflets, ensuring that Kidscape is able to distribute them to so many schools for free."

Justin Davies, Managing Director, First Bristol, Somerset and Avon says: "First is delighted to be able to support this project. Thousands of children and young people travel to and from school by bus everyday and while the majority will probably never encounter problems it's worth preparing young people for the challenges they may one day face. The tips offered in the leaflet are useful and practical and I suspect that they will be welcomed by children and young people, their parents and their teachers."

FirstGroup plc is the worlds leading transport company. The Group is Britains largest bus operator running more than one in five of all local bus services. A fleet of nearly 9,000 buses carries approximately 3 million passengers a day in more than 40 major towns and cities.

Anti-bullying week is 17-21 November 2008.