Keeping an eye out for the bus is something most people have done at one time, but for St Kentigern’s Academy’s head teacher Andrew Sharkey it’s something he does every day - for more than 1000 of his pupils.
And as he told the Armadale and Blackridge Local Area Committee it is as an important a job as any he has at West Lothian’s largest secondary school.
Of the Blackburn school’s 1262 pupils, 1150 rely on school buses.
It means an almost military-style operation getting everyone into and home from school safely, and bookends a very busy day for Mr Sharkey and his staff, whose days start and end with monitoring the bus park.
Councillor Stuart Borrowman asked how the bussing was going.
As he pointed out: “It’s been a recurrent problem and the school is so hugely bus-dependent so there are impacts not just on individual pupils but on the school day generally.”
Given the number of buses the school relies on and the general problems with roadworks on bus routes recently Mr Sharkey said: “We are on the case, and it is a concern. We are very clear on how long some of our buses take.”
Mr Sharkey urged parents to complain if their children faced on-going problems in getting to and from school – acknowledging that delays in getting into school impacted on the school day.
A West Lothian Council spokesman said: “We are aware of a number of lateness issues involving the bus service for pupils to St Kent’s in Blackburn. Both the school and public transport team are monitoring the situation, and the issues have been raised with the bus provider.”
