Sheffield Schools: Pupils facing one hour bus waits as cuts bite, warns King Ecgberts headteacher Paul Haigh

Paul Haigh, headteacher at King Ecgberts School, in Dore, says he has seen the number of school double decker buses, bringing pupils to lessons at his school from communities all across Sheffield, plunge by 50 per cent in just a few years.

After having already been reduced from four to three in recent years, the number is down to two this school year.

He fears the situation will be being replicated at schools across the city, and wants to see them brought back.

The school’s catchment is from the city centre to Dore. Its most disadvantaged pupils travel from Nether Edge, Lowfield and Sharrow.

Mr Haigh said: “We have seen one of our three school buses cut and families told to make their own arrangements with the public service 98 buses or walk a good 20 minutes to the main road and wait for a 97 bus to come.

“In the evening this means a 30 minute wait after school for an unreliable 98 – it hasn’t turned up this week – which we’ll then fill with students effectively taking it out of service to the good people of Dore, Totley and the Abbeydale corridor. The next bus to take anyone still waiting comes an hour after school had ended.

“How can a city like Sheffield not be able to provide the most basic service of getting children to school? We are proud of our comprehensive and diverse intake- the city is designed with wedge shaped school catchments reliant on transport to bring children to schools built in the lovely spacious surrounds of the suburbs. It is the role of local government to provide that transport, not take it away.”

He said the school finished at 3.15pm, but with the changes to the school buses, some pupils would still be waiting for a bus at 4.15pm, away from the school site. He said the school and the sixth form were growing, and felt it was bizarre to be cutting the number of buses.

A South Yorkshire Metropolitan Combined Authority spokesman said: “SYMCA shares the frustration of parents and staff at King Ecgberts. We have already taken steps to plug the gaps in the network created by withdrawal from private operators earlier this year. We continue to monitor the situation daily, and will keep working with operators, service users and the wider community to improve services subject to our legal and financial constraints. We will also continue to lobby national government and private providers to increase funding and services.

“The school bus services that previously operated to this school, and the majority other schools in Sheffield, were run on a commercial basis by operators and were not directly funded by SYMCA.

“These services were withdrawn in July 2022 following a decision by the private operators. In response, the Mayor and local Leaders took to the decision to provide £5.1m of reserves funding to ensure school services could be retained over two academic years.

“We are aware of specific concerns from King Ecgberts over capacity. We have agreed with Leaders to fund an additional service, meaning there are two dedicated school buses and one local 98 bus which serves King Ecgberts. These three services together have the same capacity as the previous private services.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the powers to set or amend bus timetables; this lies with the private bus companies. We are liaising closely with the firm which operates the 98 bus, urging them to re-evaluate the arrival time of the service to co-ordinate with school finishing times.”

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