School Coach Service 2023-2024

Welcome

Five Star Service

Dear Parents / Guardians,

I am pleased to introduce the Transport and Travel Guide for the 2023-24 academic year. This guide is produced in order to communicate the wide range of travel options available to students at John Lyon School.

Our school coach service is operated by carefully selected partner coach operators, alongside a dedicated team of John Lyon School drivers who drive our own fleet of branded minibuses. We allocate regular drivers to the same route each day, allowing you and your child to get to know the driver on your route. The safety of the children in our care is of utmost importance. All drivers hold enhanced DBS checks as standard.

Sustainability and stewardship of the environment means a great deal to us, as demonstrated by our school achieving the coveted Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. Using our coach service would certainly help both our school’s commitment to doing more for our local environment whilst also significantly reducing the impact we as a community are making.

I am pleased to announce that, in response to recent parental feedback, Prep pupils in Year 3 and above are able to book seats on the Senior School coach service. This will give a wider range of routes for parents to take advantage of.

The two Prep School minibus routes will remain exclusive to Prep pupils only.

The John Lyon coach service continues to be managed on our behalf by Vectare, a specialist school transport management company. All bookings for our school coach routes must be made via our online ticketing system, which can be accessed at johnlyon.vectare.co.uk.

You can book travel 24/7 from anywhere in the world, meaning that if you need to leave early for work one morning or you are running late and you would like your child to travel on the coach as a one off, you can make a booking right up until the coach is due to depart.

We advise you to make a booking as soon as possible to secure your place, and payment for the service must also be made online at the time of booking. I wish your child an enjoyable and successful academic year. We look forward to welcoming them onboard our school coaches.

Kind regards,

Gareth Mawdsley Chief Operating Officer

All of our vehicles are modern, easy-to-board and are operated by the school or our approved operators. This means that they are all regularly maintained to the highest standard, giving you peace of mind that your child is travelling in safety.

We use dedicated drivers who work on the same route. These drivers get to know the pupils and are subject to an enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) check and full MiDAS / CPC training.

We offer a wide range of different tickets on our school coach service. From a single fare for a one off journey through to return passes for the entire academic year, there are options for everybody’s travel arrangements.You can book tickets at any time throughout the year, so it’s simple to book an extra journey or arrange travel for a visiting friend.

Our school coach network consists of 25+ coach stops, and we also have direct links from 2 National Rail stations, 10 London Underground stations and a London Overground line. We want to offer you a travel solution that works for you and your child, so if you need any assistance working out the best route to school then please do get in touch.

It takes less than 30 seconds to find your nearest coach stop online, and booking takes only a few minutes, so all of the information you need to arrange travel for your child really is at your fingertips. To find your nearest stop or to book your child’s travel visit johnlyon.vectare.co.uk.

London Underground, London Overground and National Rail Connections

Our coach service integrates with several rail-based transport modes at key points across the network. Students can interchange from the Central, District, Piccadilly, Jubilee, Metropolitan lines of the London Underground, and the network also serves a number of major National Rail stations.

Following our successful trial in 2022/23, we have expanded the opportunity for parents to book pupils onto a ‘Tube shuttle’ on an ad hoc basis, to and from both Harrow-on-the-Hill (Chiltern and Metropolitan lines), and from Sudbury Hill (Chiltern and Piccadilly lines).

If you would like more detailed, bespoke information about potential journey opportunities that involve travel by rail and then the school coach, please do not hesitate to Contact Us by using the Contact Us form online. Vectare will be able to assist with timetable and journey information and planning. Where possible, we will endeavour to ensure that a guaranteed connection is made between the train and coach, ensuring that the journey is as seamless as possible.

Further routes

If you cannot find a travel option that works for you and your child, please contact Vectare. They will do their best to ensure that the journey to and from school is as seamless, straightforward and easy as possible. In some instances, it might not be possible for your child to travel to school by coach, in which case, Vectare will register your interest and let you know if we are able to operate a service in the future. Our intention is to increase our Coach Service substantially over the next few years, to the extent that we can accommodate most parental requests.

ZONE C

ZONE C ZONE C

Sudbury Hill Shu le School Coach Routes (Year 3 and above) Railway/Metro Lines

Rt 7 Belmont Rt 6 Edgware Rt 5 - Hatch End Rt 4 - Northwood Rt 3 - Gerrards Cross Rt 2 - Northfields Rt - Ealing Broadway

Rt 8 - Willesden Green Sudbury Hill Shu le Harrow-on-the-Hill Shu le

Central Line District Line

Elizabeth Line

Jubilee Line

Rail/Metro Connections Picadilly Line

Interchange Interchange Interchange

ZONE B Bus stop le er on the flag in the street A

Harrow High School

B

Senior School

Prep School ZONE A

Sudbury Court Road, Harrow

Kenton Road, jct of Queens Avenue

Kenton Library

Streatfield Road

Culver Grove, jct of Clydesdale Ave

Clifton Road Preston Hill Kenton Road, St Leonards Avenue

Ravenscroft Avenue Shops Harrow-on -the-Hill station

The Green (on request)

South Kenton Station

ZONE B

Ridgeway, Drayco Avenue

Picadilly Line Northern Line Metropolitan Line London Overground

Bakerloo Line National Rail lines ©Vectare 2024

Rt Northfields Picadilly Line Elizabeth Line

Central Line District Line Elizabeth Line N S

Sharps Lane West Ruislip Ruislip Manor Eastcote Chandos Road

Rt 5 Hatch End Metropolitan Line Rt 6 Edgware Jubilee Line Rt 7 Belmont Bakerloo Line London Overground

D A

C Northwood Northwood Hills

North Woodcock Hill The Avenue, Mayfields Corringham Road Deanscroft Avenue

Highfield Avenue Wembley Station

PC Ravencroft Avenue BT

St Augustine's Avenue

ZONE B ZONE B

Rt Gerrards Cross Metropolitan Line Picadilly Line Metropolitan Line Picadilly Line Metropolitan Line Picadilly Line D A Northwood Northwood Hills

Metropolitan Line

Harrow-on-the-Hill-Shu le Metropolitan Line

Pinner Stanmore Station Kenton Station Rt 8 Willesden Green Metropolitan Line B Harrow-on-the-Hill

Rt Northwood Metropolitan Line Metropolitan Line

Interchange Interchange

BP Interchange Interchange

The Paddocks Willesden Green, Walm Lane Hanover Road

P BM H

Interchange Prep School Minibus Routes Rt 2 Prep School East Rt - Prep School West Bus stop Interchange

3 - Gerrards Cross

1 - Ealing Broadway

4 - Northwood

2 - Northfields

7 - Belmont

8 - Willesden Green

Timetable - Prep Only Service

Rt 1 -

The most cost effective travel option for students is to purchase an annual return coach pass. These are available at a significant discount compared with purchasing ad hoc travel. A smaller discount is also available for those purchasing annual coach passes for one direction only (AM or PM). The cost per journey is higher for ad hoc journeys due to the variable nature of this travel requirement.

All annual coach passes can be paid termly, so you don’t have to pay for the entire coach pass up front.

1. This agreement is made between all those who travel on the School Coach Service, their parents and John Lyon School in order to provide safe, comfortable and civilised journeys for all passengers.

2. Arrangements for students’ journeys to and from school are the responsibility of their parents. To assist with discharging this responsibility, John Lyon provides a School Coach Service.

3. Transport on the School Coach Service must be arranged in advance and paid for via online booking system. If you wish for your child to use the School Coach Service on an ad hoc basis, or to vary the details of their travel as a one-off, you should book travel via the website. A charge is levied based on the zone that the passenger boards / alights in.

4. Bookings on the School Coach Service are non-refundable in the event of a student failing to travel.

5. Bookings are to be made online via the online booking system at johnlyon.vectare.co.uk.

6. Each student for whom an online booking has been made will be added to a passenger manifest detailing the service they travel on, their coach stop and what travel has been paid for.

7. It is the parents responsibility to inform Vectare, via the Contact Us form on the website, if they no longer wish for their child to use the School Coach Service. One full Term’s notice must be given by a parent prior to the removal of a student from the School Coach Service or a reduction in the number of journeys made per week by a student.

8. Students who travel on the School Coach Service without permission from John Lyon (i.e. without having pre-booked) will have a standard fare of £20 added to the school account.

Terms & Conditions

9. Students must travel to and from John Lyon School in full school uniform or a full school tracksuit, unless prescribed otherwise by the school.

10. Students should be at the bus stop five minutes before the scheduled time of departure to ensure they don’t miss the service. In the evening, parents should be at the bus stop five minutes before the scheduled time of arrival to collect a passenger.

11. Good conduct is required at all times. Bullying, shouting, use of foul language, dropping litter, playing music, or any other misbehaviour is strictly forbidden.

12. Except when embarking or disembarking, or when asked to move to a different seat in accordance with condition 14, all passengers must remain seated with their seatbelts fastened correctly.

13. Whilst on a School Coach, all passengers must accept without question the authority of a member of John Lyon School staff, transport company official, or school prefect, who may require them to obey any reasonable instruction such as to pick up litter, desist from certain actions or to move to a different seat.

14. Failure to comply with these conditions may result in disciplinary action, including temporary or permanent withdrawal of permission to use the School Coach Service.

15. John Lyon aims for 95% of journeys to operate within the industry window of tolerance of one minute early to five minutes late, however timings may vary due to traffic conditions or unforeseen circumstances. Drivers will not wait past the scheduled departure time at any coach stop.

16. Pupils in Nursery or Reception will not routinely be able to use the Prep School Minibus service. If parents/guardians would like a child of this age to use the service, they should discuss this with the School in the first instance.

Produced

Timetable, route and fare information is correct as of February 2024 but may change in the future in response to demand. Any such change will be promulgated to parents/guardians at the earliest opportunity. This guide is produced for information only. We cannot be held liable for any errors or omissions or for any loss or damages caused, howsoever arising and including consequential losses, as a result of the use of this Coach Travel Guide. Please note that school coach routes are subject to change.