School to lose bus service

By Tania Turei and Nathan Clarke

Waitati School is to lose its local school bus service at the end of
this term which has been wonderfully driven for many years by Averil
and Mike Thomson. This is the result of a routine two year survey by
School Support Invercargill.

Waitati is a vibrant, family-oriented community where children are the
centre of many activities, and as such it is considered important that
we maintain a focus on developing the educational opportunities for
our children and encourage attendance at the local school rather than
urban schools.

Having a regular and reliable bus service is a factor in maintaining
safe transport to rural schools, and therefore we ask that parents who
have children at primary school or intending to go to primary school
who live within the Waitati catchment to consider Waitati School as
and option for education and to call the school to discuss.

The school board and many parents believe that it is important we keep
the bus service running as it provides transport services on Mt
Cargill Rd and Waitati Valley Rd, where there are no footpaths, and
have open road speed limits. Many parents do not believe it is safe
for primary school students to walk or cycle to school on these roads.

Families particularly affected by the proposed changes include single
car families and families with parents who do not drive. Please help
to maintain our valuable bus service.

We need eight eligible students (who must be enrolled at Waitati
School) but at the moment we have five. School Support will continue
the bus service if we can show that there will be more children
requiring the bus within the next couple of terms.

The bus currently travels (not in this order) down Doctors Pt Road to
Michies Crossing, up Mt Cargill Rd, up SH1 to the Leith Valley
junction and then back down Waitati Valley Road. These routes can
sometimes be altered for eligible children.

The distances for eligible students from their homes to the school are:
• More than 3.2 kms for students under 10 years of age
• More than 4.8 kms for students 10 years of age or over

Can you help?
• Do you have any children aged four years who may be starting school
within the next six months or so?
• Are you moving into the area and have children not yet enrolled at
Waitati School?
• Are you considering changing schools to Waitati School?
• Do you know of any new families moving into the area within the next
six months?
• Have we missed out your eligible child?

If so please contact Waitati School on 482 2888.

From blueskin.co.nz and 'Blueskin News' published by Blueskin Media:
voluntary/non-profit community publishers in Blueskin Bay (Seacliff,
Warrington, Evansdale, Waitati, Doctors Point), Dunedin, New Zealand.
All material sent to or published by us is "copyleft" in the public
domain and may be freely shared, archived, re-edited and republished.
If you want to credit the source it's "blueskin.co.nz".