Urgent - change our school bus service

The practicality of getting up and getting to school an hour earlier than needed is getting harder and harder as each day passes.

My son is absolutely shattered now, it’s affecting his mood and enthusiasm towards school. I don’t want this affecting his education!

Totally ridiculous setup. Starting secondary school is daunting for the children as it is, they can't be expected to be left unsupervised and vulnerable, I am stunned you haven't thought of safeguarding issues here, they are still so young.

I am signing this petition as I feel it is unfair and unsafe that children are being made to stand on the bus due to overcrowding and that they are being made to get on a bus at 7.30am and having to wait around in school premises for nearly an hour due to there only being one bus, this will also mean that 2 of my children will have to get on the bus at 2 different times due to the age difference, it’s madness.

With cold, dark morning upon us, this is unacceptable. Later buses should be provided and adequate supervision/waiting areas when the children get to school

We live in freeland whereby our children's bus drops them off just after 8am, I thought was bad enough. I couldn't rest knowing my 11 year old child was potentially wandering around Eynsham completely unsupervised. This huge oversight absolutely must be addressed and recitified as a matter of urgency. Please still sign this petition if you have young children, if we don't sort this issue out now it will still be happening when your little ones start secondary school.

Far to early in the morning

Far far to early for them all standing around on cold dark mornings not good enough !!!!!

This is clearly a safeguarding concern! All children should have the same 'life chances' and leaving this early for school puts these children at a disadvantage. Very concerned that members of the public can have unsupervised access to children is a huge concern and who is responsible for children's safety before 8.30?

I am truely shocked at this budget cut. There are many school inititives which I think are parents responsibility such as giving your children breakfast but not to provide transport to and from a local school is complete madness. If it was a parents choice to take their child out of local education and into a private school then I would expect that to result in them finding their own way. However a bus to take kids to school in the local area is such a basic requirement. Whoever has this responsibility, please think about logic. Children arriving unsupervised to a school which isnt open doesnt make any sense and im sure that soon there will be unrest by the eynsham residents & possibly some crime with all these children milling about with nothing to do. Sort this out urgently

I have no words - horrendous. Putting children's health and safety, Education and lives at risk!! This should go to the main news stations - people around the country would be horrified.

In absolute shock at this

I know there are other pupils out of catchment who catch buses from around Oxfordshire at a similar time but those children & parents chose to undertake such early travel from the outset and their children do not arrive at school 45 minutes early feeling dejected.

So what happens to the children when they arrive an hour early?! Are staff on hand to deal with any issues or medical/first aid needs?! That's a VERY long day for some of the youngest children at secondary school. Some parents are taking their children to school to avoid this which is causing issues with their own work and younger childcare provision. Crazy

As a parent this is a really concern.

Very concerned parent. This is an absolute disgrace.

I think it is unfair to expect our children to catch a bus at 7:30am and be able to concentrate with the pressure of a full day at secondary school

The best interests of our children have not been considered in these transport arrangements. The consequences of this early bus are hugely concerning. Something must be done.

A complete and utter discrace....,just a way of saving a bit of money at the detriment to the education of our kids and causing unnecessary disruption to many families lives.

I left Bartholomew in 2016 when I was a student we had a school bus service which was usually the same driver everyday. This was reassuring because they had a good idea of who should get on the bus and who shouldn't making it a lot safer for a start! This bus didn't leave Long Hanborough until approximately 750 each day meaning we would arrive at school about 820 traffic dependant. teachers were majority of the time understanding due to us being on the School bus service. However if a student who got a public bus was late they were told to get an earlier bus. Arriving at 820 was useful because you didn't have the long wait before form time at 830! What if these new public school buses get caught in traffic causing the students to be late what are they meant to do? We often got 3 warnings if we were being late on a regular basis. And then detentions issued. Is this fair on students who's situation is out of their hands?? As for the new 7.30 leave time this is way to early! This is when traffic is at its highest for people commuting to work and vulnerable children are wondering about Eynsham which is close to the a40. By the end of the day their concentration will have reduced massively and this could lead to results dropping. This could also lead to exam results dropping too, which is no fault of their own but the schools fault and it will look bad on the school not the students!!