Welcome to FlagFinders, your local friendly coach company

Shuttle ID Passes

Please ensure you have your QR-Code ready for boarding.

All ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED A LETTER, STATING THAT YOUR CHILD/CHILDREN CAN TRAVEL ON THEIR SPECIFIC ROUTE.  Please do not throw this letter away as it is a temporary pass and proof of travel.  Essex county passes will be issued later in the month, once all data has been received.

Getting Children to School: We will be working with the Local Education Authority and schools to ensure we follow the guidance available to secure the safety of drivers and students when they travel on school transport.

Using our home to school transport:  The guidance for ‘Dedicated School Transport’ does not require social distancing. This means that we will largely be running our normal services and vehicle capacity. We will still be having assigned areas for year groups as we found this worked well last year.  All students are to sit in their assigned groups indicated by stickers displayed around the bus.

Downstairs -        Year 7/8/9 (year 9 can be a split group)

Upstairs -             Year 9/10 /11/12/13

As far as is logistically possible we will group children on the vehicles to reflect their year groups in school, however on some journeys this may not be possible.

Boarding a Service: It’s important that you arrive at your bus stop 5 minutes before departure.  Please wait and queue in an organized manner. When boarding the vehicle from your designated stop please board one passenger at a time and have your bus pass ready to show the driver.  Please don’t push and keep to your own space.

Disembarking a service: Double Decker -Students from the bottom deck will depart first followed by the top deck starting front to back.  Please don’t push, be patient and respectful to all students.

Single Decker Coach/Bus - Please depart the vehicle front to back.   Please don’t push, be patient and respectful to all students.

Behaviour:  Responsible behaviour when travelling on school buses is of paramount importance. It is imperative that all students observe the conduct expectations set out by Flagfinders, particularly regarding the seating areas assigned to specific year groups.

Incidents on school transport will be dealt with in liaison with the Local Education Authority, schools and Flagfinders and could include in a verbal reprimand, a letter to parents, a fixed term ban from school transport or a permanent ban from school transport.

We ask for your help in:

• Staying in your seats

• Respect your space and those around you

• Do not distract the driver and respect their personal space

• Try to keep touch points down to a minimum.

• Keep your bus pass safe and do not pass it or anything else to another pupil. Try to stay in control of your belongings and space.

• No food or drink to be consumed on the vehicles

Ventilation: Good ventilation is an important component to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in confined spaces.  Well ventilated spaces help prevent the build-up of the virus and reduce the risk of transmission. We encourage passengers to keep some windows open to help improve the natural ventilation on the vehicles.

Hand Sanitizer: Hand Sanitizer Stations are available on our vehicles, but we would request that children have their own hand sanitizer and use it before boarding and on disembarking. 

Disinfecting/Sanitizing the vehicles: In accordance with current guidelines all our vehicles will be disinfected/sanitized using daily enhanced cleaning regimes with particular focus on touch points. 

Food and drink on vehicles: We would request that food and drink are not consumed on our vehicles at any time.

When an individual develops COVID-19 symptoms or has a positive test

Pupils should follow public health advice on when to self-isolate and what to do. They should not come into school if they have symptoms, have had a positive test result or other reasons requiring them to stay at home due to the risk of them passing on COVID-19.

For everyone with symptoms, they should avoid using public transport or Home to school Transport and, wherever possible, be collected by a member of their family or household.

We thank you for taking the time to read this.  Please can you reiterate to you child the importance of following these guidelines as it will protect us all going forward.

If you have any queries please call the main office on 01376 320501