Bowraville Preschool shares vehicle safety tips and stories after new regulations launch

New regulatory requirements came into effect on 1 March 2023 for early childhood education and care centre-based services offering bus transport. The primary goal of the changes is to ensure that every child is accounted for when picked up and dropped off by a bus.

 

Under the changes, approved providers and nominated supervisors must:

 

• ensure a staff member or nominated supervisor (other than the driver) is present to account for all children as they embark and disembark a vehicle at a service premise.
• ensure a staff member or nominated supervisor (other than the driver) checks inside the vehicle to ensure no children travelling to or from the service are left behind.
• ensure records are made showing that all children were accounted for, and a vehicle check was completed after they had disembarked to ensure no children were left behind.
• notify the regulatory authority when they begin or cease operating or arranging regular transport.
• update required policies and procedures to bring them into line with the new legislative requirements.

 

Appropriate risk assessments and determining adequate supervision remain a critical element to ensuring the safety, health and wellbeing of children during periods of transportation.

 

Bowraville Community Preschool recently spoke with the New South Wales Department of Education, sharing their experience of offering transport at their service. The service has had rigorous transportation policies in place since bus transport was first introduced in 2018.

 

The preschool’s director, Melody Mackay, said the bus run has been in operation since 2018 and all the drivers are educators, too. Children are taught how to get on and off the bus safely, and how to behave on the bus.

 

“Our educators teach the children how to buckle and unbuckle their seat belt harnesses,” she said.

 

“The children then take pride in passing on the lessons to new children. It’s always amazing how quickly the children learn these key safety points.”

 

To Bowraville Community Preschool youngsters Luna and Ollie, their preschool ride is a ‘party bus’. Ms Mackay explained that one of the preschool bus runs transports children who love the gummy bear song played . . . on repeat.

 

“When educators turn the music down, they insist on us turning it up. I think the chant of ‘Gummy Bear, Gummy Bear, Gummy Bear’ can be heard way before the bus arrives at our families’ houses,” she said.

 

“The other bus is called the Magic Bus because it has magical powers. Once the children are all inside and buckled up, the doors close… all by themselves.”

 

Offering a bus service is crucial to the enrolments at Bowraville, with some families not having safe transport of their own, some relying on inconsistent public transport, and some having diverse family needs and varying capacity to collect children. 

 

Information about the changes has been prepared by ACECQA and may be accessed here.