As the first week of school comes to an end, students at Winston Churchill school are learning the importance of bus safety. On Friday, the kids practised school bus safety exercises that would be required in case of an emergency.
Bus driver Simone Saiville says it’s a good reminder for students as they start a new school year.
“It’s a good way to remind the older kids of what to do if there was an emergency and for the younger kids for them to learn what to do because they’ve probably have not been on a bus before or if they have they probably don’t remember from the previous year.”
As part of learning about bus safety, the children practised how to get out of the bus through the back emergency exit. Two grade five students were present helping the younger kids get off the school bus without injuring themselves.
Student Sonja Friesen was one of the helpers and says she learned that in an emergency situation one of the most important things to do is to remain quiet.
“The bus driver might say something or ask two kids to help the younger kids get off the bus quickly and safely.”
Saiville says the exercises teach the kids simple little things that they may not think of but would need to know such as not jumping off the bus or finding a designated area to stand once off the bus.
“Through the evacuations, we teach them where the safety equipment is, the two-way radio is so that if the bus driver was unconscious somebody would know how to reach the head office, as well as how to get off the bus safely.”
Each year the school teaches their students about bus safety in order to remind them of best practices.