J's bus did not turn up until 10 minutes before school began! It takes about 15-20 minutes to drive there, and they still had more children to collect.
The escort told me that their company had not been given any details about the names and addresses of who they would be collecting, until late afternoon, the day before! Then they had received two more names that morning and had to work out the route to collect all the children.
I, of course complained to the transport department. It was not the bus driver or his companies fault.
I had a rather clipped woman in the office give me the impression I was in the wrong and that, in her words "it's only year 7, it doesn't really matter that much".
So I fired off an email to her.
*I pointed out that it was J's first day at a new school.
*We had been told collection time would be around 8.15am, and so he was all ready to go. He was a bit stressed because he couldn't wear his old school top, but I was managing him. But then, because the bus was so late, he got into an almost melt down state. "Hello bus", over and over again. Crying. Smacking his arms. The bus arrived at 8.40am.
*The year the child is in makes no difference to the time of arrival at school, and punctuation is still expected at special needs schools ; the same rules apply.
*Being blasé about it, really doesn't cut anything with me.
*The whole point of requiring the transport is because I cannot take him myself
*Children with autism, learning difficulties, cognitive delays, communication limits etcetera, like routine. It makes them feel secure. They are not lifeless beings that get ferried about. They still have feelings.
I received a reply within the hour from her.
The obligatory apology was issued.
Then an explanation ; They don't give out the details of the children being collected until the day before as there can be changes.
I accepted her reply, and left it there.
Apart from that, it seems J had a good first day at his new school. He came home happy, singing to himself, laughing, and being very jolly.
Later on in the evening, I found a drawing he had done on his magnetic drawing board.
I asked him who they were, and he tried to tell me, but because there are new names in his class, he wasn't able to say them clearly for me, so he mumbled.
They are all wearing their uniform too, with the school logo on the top.
It is so good that J can communicate his feelings by his drawings. I could tell from his happy state that he had enjoyed school, and this picture confirmed it.
The bus arrived on time this morning, and J raced off to get aboard. I hope yesterdays trouble is the only one we encounter this year!
