Pupils will be able to hit the road in style thanks to their fantastic new school bus.
Youngsters at Mary Russell School, in Paisley, rely on their minibus to take them out and about.
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And thanks to tireless fundraising from volunteers on their parent council and a generous donation from the Pears Foundation, they’ve now taken charge of a brand new Sunshine Coach from the Variety Club charity.
Deputy head teacher Lorna Barr said the new bus will make a massive difference to pupils at the school who require additional support.
She said: “We rely on the transport so much to get out and about.
“We’d like to say thank you to everybody who’s helped us replace the bus. We’ve been fundraising a lot and the parent council has really helped with that, they were quite a driving force.
“Before covid they ran Christmas fetes which took months of planning and raised a lot of money. We were so lucky to have our last one in November 2019 before lockdown. The money they raised really helped make a dent into it.
“We’ve been fundraising to get a new bus for the best part of ten years.”
The Pears Foundation is a family foundation and since its was established, has committed over £250million of support.
The new school bus is from Sunshine Coaches, which are donated by Variety to schools and children’s organisations for educational, recreational and vocational purposes.
Organisations have to raise 35 per cent towards the cost of the coach while Variety donors cover the rest.
The 14-seater bus is adapted to make it suitable for all pupils. Lorna added: “It can be difficult for some of our pupils to use public transport, quite often our parents aren’t able to just jump on a bus and go somewhere with their children, a day trip or something like that.”
Lorna said everyone at the school is looking forward to using the new bus now that lockdown restrictions are easing.
““We have four drivers in the school who’ve done the local authority driving course and are qualified,” she said.
“They are in very high demand. We have to book them in advance and our nursery officer has just qualified which is a great opportunity for our younger children to get out further afield.
“Life skills are so important for our young people right across the school and we’ve got opportunities to get out now.
“The main thing is it’s a nice, reliable, new bus we can use when we need to.
“It’s more efficient and environmentally friendly, it’s comfortable for our young people to use and it helps them have a good experience when they’re out in it.”
She added: “We’ve missed out on a lot of opportunities with lockdown so this is a good reason to celebrate. So if you see our bus out and about, give us a wave!”
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