PEMBROKESHIRE County Council is sharing important details on the safe operation of school transport ahead of the return to school next month.

Planning has been ongoing throughout the summer with pupils due to return to schools from September 1.

In the first instance, parents and carers are still encouraged to take their own child/children to school wherever possible using active travel by walking or cycling.

If private car use is necessary, parents and carers are encouraged to park away from the school site and use active travel to travel the remaining distance.

For those planning on using school/college transport, all education transport routes will operate as normal and timetables will remain the same as before the Covid-19 situation.

Pupils/students should not travel if they are: experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms – new and continuous cough, high temperature or loss of taste and smell self-isolating as a result of Covid-19 symptoms or sharing a household with somebody with symptoms clinically extremely vulnerable

As part of the measures to keep pupils/students as safe as possible, school transport operators will be continuing their increased cleaning regimes on all vehicles.

This includes the cleaning of all touch points after each passenger journey and a full deep clean of each vehicle at the end of the day.

Before boarding and when leaving the vehicle, pupils/students should use the hand sanitisers provided and should avoid touching surfaces wherever possible.

With all pupils set to return to school, please note that it will not be possible to ensure social distancing between pupils on school transport.

However, front seats of larger buses will be out of bounds to maintain social distancing between the driver and the pupils.

It will be mandatory for all secondary school pupils and college students to wear face coverings whilst travelling on all education transport- including taxis utilised for school transport – unless they are exempt.

For primary school pupils the wearing of face coverings is recommended and actively encouraged.

Extra dedicated education transport is being put in place for eligible pupils who normally travel on public transport but will not be able to do so in September due to reduced capacity on service buses.

To maintain on-vehicle social distancing protocols, concessionary school bus passes will only be issued before the start of the new academic year if it is clearly identifiable from the number of passes issued that there are going to be spare seats available on a particular
Route.

Applications for other routes will be reviewed as soon as the numbers travelling have been finalised.

If parents DO NOT require School Transport for their child in September 2020, please contact the Council’s Integrated Transport Unit (ITU) on 01437 775222 / 01437 776363 or:
[email protected]

Pembrokeshire County Council Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Guy Woodham, emphasised that the safety of pupils, students and transport staff has been at the heart of the Process.

Cllr Woodham added: “Covid-19 has thrown up a series of unprecedented challenges to how we provide safe transport to and from schools and college.

“While social distancing may not be possible for pupils and students aboard education transport, the measures introduced following discussions between Council officers and school transport providers will help keep everyone as safe as possible.

“There will be mandatory wearing of face coverings for all secondary school pupils and college students and we would also urge primary school pupils to wear a face covering on all school transport too.

“With everyone continuing to practise good hand hygiene we will be in the best position possible to ensure learners are able to travel safely and ready to return to their classes.”

Further information on school transport from September can be found here: https://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/children-and-schools-transition-to-the-new-normal/covid-19-school-transport-information