Apology over special school transport delay in Belfast

Short Strand resident Geraldine Donnelly has two sons at Harberton Special School

The Education Authority (EA) has apologised after severe delays in transporting over 20 children to their special needs school.

Children in east Belfast who attend Harberton Special School in the south of the city were affected.

One parent told BBC News NI her child, who has Down's syndrome, spent some five hours on his school bus on Friday.

The EA said they would put new arrangements in place for the children from Tuesday.

In previous years, children from east Belfast have been taken to Harberton on 14-seater buses.

They have been picked up from home, with a familiar driver and escort.

On the first day of the new term on Friday, however, a 28-seater bus arrived to pick the children up.

Clare Annesley, who also has two sons at Harberton, said it was not acceptable for children with complex needs to have to wait at a collection point

Geraldine Donnelly's sons Joseph, 13, and six-year-old Sean-James, were two of the pupils affected.

"A 28-seater bus pulled up at my front door, which my sons were not ready for," she said.

"My youngest wee boy looked out the window, stripped off his uniform and refused point-blank to go anywhere.

"So I put Joseph on the bus, but it turned out to be a big mistake."

Although Harberton is about five miles away from Geraldine's home, it took Joseph more than two hours to get to school on Friday morning as the bus had to pick so many children up.

"Joseph got on the bus at 08:15 and did not arrive at school until 10:25," she said.

'Big mistake'

"With Joseph being diabetic, he was sitting on a bus for over two hours with no water and no one knowing if his bloods were high or low."

"It was a big mistake me putting him on it in the first place."

Clare Annesley also has two sons at Harberton. In previous years, her 11-year-old son Adam would arrive back home from school at 15:15.

But on Friday at 16:00, Adam had not been brought home so Clare went out to look for the bus.

"I had to look on Google Maps as I had been told the bus was close to Dee Street," she recalled.

"I got into my car and drove round to Dee Street.

"I was frantic, I was out of my mind thinking where was he?

Alliance Party MLA Chris Lyttle said he was "seriously concerned" about the transport arrangements to Harberton Special School

"Had they dropped him off at a different house?

"I found the bus at 16:25 and took him off it."

Some parents contacted the Alliance MLA for the area, Chris Lyttle, who said he had requested an urgent meeting with the EA.

"I am seriously concerned by accounts I have received from distraught parents about unacceptable transport arrangements experienced by their young children with special educational needs on their first day of school," he said.

"I am seeking answers as to how this happened and assurances that families and children will have access to the home to school transport they need and deserve."

There was a further twist on Sunday as parents received hand-delivered letters telling them that their children would no longer be picked up at home.

Instead, they were told to take them to a collection point in a named street, but Clare Annesley said she could not do that.

'Apology'

"I'm supposedly meant to go and stand in the street with no shelter on a busy road with two children with complex needs," she said.

"I was never going to do it."

There were further delays in getting some of the children to school on Monday.

In a statement to the BBC, the EA admitted the new arrangements had not worked.

"This has regrettably led to significant delays for some children arriving at school and returning home," they said.

"This falls far below the standard of service we expect."

"We apologise to the parents, their children and Harberton School."

"As a matter of urgency, EA has been working to resolve this issue. New arrangements will be in place from Tuesday morning."