We believe school/college transport is one of the most important services in your child’s day. The transition between home to school and back again, can make a huge difference to their school day and family life.

The Customer Relations team is here to support you!

Every child is an individual and will cope with travelling on the school bus in different ways, needing person-centred support.

We understand how unsettling using transport can be for your young person and for the families. There is a lot of guidance to help you understand the process of applying for transport and funding, but there is less information on what happens, once your child has been accepted for school transport.

You have been accepted for school transport, what happens now?

The start of the school year is on its way, but we are already hard at work preparing for September!

Our routes are covered predominantly by minibuses most of which have seven children/young adults traveling to and from school. Your child will be picked up and dropped home at specific times, according to the distance to school, in relation to the other children/young adults on their route.

Once we have finalised our route plans for the new school year, you will have an allocated Driver and where required a Passenger Assistant onboard to assist with the children’s/young adults needs while traveling.

You will be contacted nearer to the start of term in September by your crew with full clarification, times, route, Driver, and Passenger Assistant’s names. Your new Driver and Passenger Assistant will call prior to the new term starting, to arrange a meet and greet.

We can provide a short story and pictures of the Driver and Passenger Assistant on request and if we have the consent of the crew to do so and a welcome pack will be sent out when we have your information from your local council or your funding provider.

What is in the Welcome Pack?

• Introduction letters from the Kinect Customer Relations Team, our experience working with SEN children/young adults, why we came to Kinect Services and our passion for making SEN transport recognised as an integral part of the school/college day, raising standards, and understanding country wide.
• A one-page profile template for families to complete, we like to have family input (experts by experience) Likes, dislikes, what our crews can do or use if your child becomes unsettled while travelling.
• Meet and greet, our crews will contact you to arrange a meet and greet prior to traveling, they will arrive in their school bus for your child to have a look and familiarise themselves with the crew and the vehicle, they will also provide you with their contact information.

What do we offer?

• 1-2-1 support from our Customer Relations Team.
• Social Stories – we can provide social stories to help with transition, or any other concerns that arise, just call, or email our team, we are always happy to help.
• Multidiscipline meetings, we work with schools, colleges, Councils, the NHS, and any other external provider to assist our families if a child is finding travel difficult, we are a solution-based company that believes every child should have the opportunity to attend their school day.
• We work alongside Family Forum, attending a monthly meeting where parents can join to have their say, we love to hear from you, with compliments or recommendations for improvement, we consider our families part of the team and value your feedback.
• You will be able to see us out and about and meet us at various coffee mornings, provided by the schools, colleges or at our head office. We like to be accessible, put faces to names and get to know you and your child/children/young adult.
• We are here to work with your child/young adult from their first day at school and throughout their time with Kinect Transport.

Tips and Suggestions!

• Pack a small backpack with favourite comfort items, small soft toys, small comfort blanket.
• Add their favourite things to do, games for their iPad or equivalent (with headphones), iPod with their favourite music (with headphones) drawing pad and pencils.
• Add support items, ear defenders, sunglasses, soft fiddle toys.

Contact the team on 01702 597 995 or email customerrelations@kinect.services for more suggestions or to check suitability if you are unsure.