Case Studies

Transition training

Educational transition training was delivered to 34 year six students at Thaxted Primary School - a small, rural school where the majority of students had not previously travelled on a bus. Essex County Council Student Behaviour and Road Safety Officers and a local bus operator collaborated to deliver important safety messages. The B Safe B Cool DVDs were used as part of an interactive presentation which engaged the students and encouraged their participation to enhance their learning.

The result? The children loved the films and felt more confident about making the transition to secondary school, whilst the school described the event as "thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile".

Road Safety/Anti-Social Behaviour Training

An increase in anti-social behaviour and dangerous incidents on contract buses serving an Essex secondary school was a serious concern for the operator, the school and the council. The B Safe B Cool materials are specifically designed to highlight health and safety risks and deliver a powerful and effective message. A training session was therefore arranged for all 192 students that use these buses. "Frankie's Film", "Caught on Camera" and "Bus Bullies" were among the short films shown, truly engaging the students and making them fully aware of the consequences of their actions when travelling to and from school. The school and the bus operator were very pleased with the outcome - a marked improvement in appropriate and safe behaviour on the buses.

Tailored delivery

Here is a typical example of how the training can be tailored to suit the needs of a particular school.

Background: Gt Totham is a large semi-rural primary school in Essex. The outgoing year six students travel to a number of different secondary schools to continue their education, including a denominational school 15 miles away.

Approach: The presentation was made to manageable class-size groups of about 30 children at a time by a team consisting of teaching staff, council representatives (including Road Safety) and a local bus operator. The school had set aside a couple of hours to run the session for each group, and the most appropriate films and activities were chosen to create the best fit for the needs of the students. In this case, a number of B Safe B Cool animated scenarios centred around bus travel were deemed most appropriate, and these were supported by 'Frankie's Film' and 'Caught on Camera'. The children were initially engaged through a discussion about who was going to which school and by what form of transport. This led to an interactive session using the 'B Safe B Cool' animated films, and 'Caught on Camera'.

The children were then able to go into the playground and board a real bus that the operator had brought along so they could gain active reinforcement of the things they had seen in the films. Finally they returned to the classroom for a plenary session including a showing of 'Frankie's Film' - the cautionary tale of a real-life road accident. At the end of the presentation children were rewarded with certificates and quiz sheets, and asked to complete feedback sheets.

The session was very well received and valued by everyone.