A creative stance has been taken to solve anti-social behaviour and bullying problems on secondary school buses in North Wales.
Denbighshire County Council, which is leading on the Zoom project on behalf of North Wales local authorities, has installed four entertainment systems equipped with age appropriate DVD’s and music, to keep the students engaged and sat in their seats.
Selected bus routes in Denbighshire, Flintshire, Anglesey and Gwynedd are entertaining students on their way home as an experiment to see if positive early intervention can reduce bullying and driver distraction; with promising results so far.
In Denbighshire, Zoom has teamed up with Ysgol Dinas Bran, Llangollen and GHA buses, and has equipped the school run with music concerts, block busters movies and nature documentaries. The objective is to make the trip a pleasant experience and lessen bullying which can lead to school truancy.
Berwyn Davies, GHA Coaches Operations Manager, said: “It works! A driver turns his back on 70 kids and drives. If we can keep them occupied and entertained on the trip home they are more likely to be well behaved and less likely to cause vandalism or distract the driver.”
The number of reported anti social behaviour incidents have increased over the last few years. The trial is a radical approach to reducing driver distraction, bullying, and antisocial behaviour on the home run. The Zoom project, supported by the Welsh Assembly Government, is underway in all six North Wales counties.
Stuart Davies, Joint Head of Highways & Infrastructure for Conwy and Denbighshire said: “At the end of each school day students board the bus for home animated and energetic, and noise levels can be quite distracting for bus drivers. This may seem a radical approach to school transport but if it reduces poorer behaviour and stops bullying it is well worth it. In the USA, entertainment systems are already used to reduce antisocial behaviour, they also report positive results.”
This trial is to be monitored for one year, and assessed as to whether it is an effective form of behaviour management. The expected outcomes are a reduction in noise levels, bullying, truancy and driver distraction.
