My eldest starts Primary in September, and as we are moving, she will have to go on the school bus every day. How does this work? Am completely confused and also having a stress about sending her off on her first day to a new school all alone on the school bus

The bus will pick them up outside the house or at a designated spot and drop them off at the same spot. Young ones have to be met by an adult. They don't leave the bus from getting on to getting to school and vice versa.

If there are other arrangements made, such as going home with a friend or someone else meeting them as note has to be sent.

I take it I just ask the school and they will tell me where the designated drop off/pick up spot is?

You look up the 'School District' in the white pages and there should be a listing for 'Transportation', they are the ones to call.

You will probably have to register with the local school district to make sure that your child is going to be picked up. On the first day most parents take their children into school. I use to drive the school bus and on day one I would have 10 kids instead of 50. Most would come back home with me in the afternoon. By the end of the first week I had everyone on board.

The children normally sit with their age group and so a 5 year old would be sat at the front near the driver. It is normally the same driver everytime and the children get to know them and build up a rapport. I wouldn't worry too much.

We filled in a separate form for the bus, it was given to us by the school. It was a waste of time, nobody actioned it, but you don't want to hear about all that

When the kids were registered through the ed dept here, the school told us which bus numbers and what pick up/drop off points.

I took them to those points and met them for the first few days.

After about two weeks things were adjusted and a different morning bus was used.

Here we have a French district and an English district. The English district has a feature on their website announcing, daily, if any of their buses will be late and by how much.

It also displays if schools in the district are closed for weather. The French one isn't updated and you phone for a recorded message....but so many are calling it takes ages to get through.

In theory, they may make different decisions. but so far, when one has closed, both have closed. So when I phone and can't get through, if the English district website says they're closed, I take that as both and go back to bed without getting the kids up.

D'oh!

Don't fret. It's Canada, there's not so many paedo's and child killers as in the UK. There's far less chance that anything nasty could happen to Junior on the skool bus.

R.

Use the "school finder" drop down list on this page to find the school your child will be attending. The next page will be a school information page which will include a link to the bus schedules.

http://www.hrsb.ns.ca/

I have been told to double check with the school at the beginning of term in case anything changes, but generally the lists give you a good idea.

How young is young?? Mine are 10 and 11 will they need to be met?

In Calgary Kindergarten and grade one had to be met (5 -6 year olds). If they had an older sibling, and it was agreed by the parents then they could be dropped off with them.

Here SK and JK get a different coloured band on their backpacks which means they're only to be let off the bus to adults (parents only without prior consent). A neighbour kid is G2 I think and one time her elder sister wasn't on the bus and she, the G2 kid, was not allowed off alone. I offered to take her with us and that meant radio-ing in to the bus HQ to check if she was allowed to be released to me without her parents' consent - she was.

Aaaaaah this brings back memories. In Toronto I was just given a number to contact to get info on pick up times etc and it went very well. In fact Charlotte enjoyed it so much in her new little social group it was just me having the stress. Her bus drivers were so kind and friendly and of course they do not let them get off the bus to anyone, prior permission has to be given to allow this. I'm sure your little one will be fine just takes a little getting used to for us moms. It is also a great way for us to meet other parents at the bus stop everyday so can create a bit of network for us too.

This is such a fantastic setup! Radio-ing in, coloured bands for backpacks.. this is the sort of thing which ease your mind as a parent (even though AJ is only 1!). Another reason why we can't wait to come to Canada!!