Member Article

Pupils Have A Wheelie Good Time At Stockton Bus Depot

A visit to a Teesside bus depot was just the ticket for youngsters from Rosebrook Primary School in Stockton.

Ranging from ages five to eight, pupils from the school were thrilled to take a tour of Stagecoach North East’s Stockton depot which is the base for its Teesside operations.

The children were given their very own high visibility tops so they could look around the depot in complete safety. As part of the tour, the children were treated to a drive around the town on a forty-year-old double decker Cleveland Transit bus. They also took turns in the drivers’ seat and were handed their own tickets by staff member and The Teesside 500 Group Chairman Bill Woodward.

The bus was then taken through the depot vehicle cleaning system and the children were delighted with the fun ‘bus wash’ and its huge brushes and water spray.

Clare Chalmers, a teacher at Rosebrook School which has an enhanced provision for children with autism, said: “We wanted to bring our small class of children to the depot as part of our transport topic. Each half term we start a new topic and we try to incorporate a trip or a visitor to begin the topic to hopefully inspire the children’s learning. We have set up a bus “role play” area within the classroom and the children have been enjoying taking turns being the bus driver!”

She added: “All the children and staff were thrilled with the bus ride – especially going through the bus wash. One of our boys said “It was awesome!” We all want to thank Stagecoach for going the extra mile to make the visit fun.”

Neil McLeary, Engineering Manager at the Stagecoach North East’s Stockton depot, said: “We enjoyed talking to the pupils and hope their visit to the depot was fun as well as educational. Bringing together all the different aspects of the depot, from the engineering workshops to the bus wash and office administration will hopefully be a useful learning experience for their project. They certainly looked like they had a good time on the day!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kathryn Clapham .