Bus Service
Changes In Travel Arrangements for the Beginning and End of the School Day
Parents must notify the school by 12:00 noon in writing or by telephone of any changes in travel arrangements (for example, a different driver or not going home on the regular bus). Children will not be permitted to change from regular procedures unless the school is notified (ie. calling the school with detail changes).
Arrival or Dismissal of Students
AAS provides an optional bus service. Buses are limited to certain geographical areas and the number of students that a bus may hold. The school may not be able to accommodate all bus requests from students. The first priority in providing this service is to ensure the safety of the children.
It is important that the actual journey for your child be as short as possible, within the parameters of safety and reality of the locations in which people live. To allow all students to arrive at school on time, students should arrive at the bus stop 5 minutes before the scheduled pick-up time. Parents will be informed of the approximate bus pick-up times. The driver has instructions to wait one minute, and no longer, at each stop. Younger students will not be dropped off if there are no parents waiting for them. In this case, students will be brought back to school and parents will have to pick them up.
Although every effort is made to adhere to the regular bus schedule, traffic and weather conditions may cause the bus to arrive a few minutes earlier or later than planned. During the winter months when there is snow and ice, parents may have to bring their children to a main road for pick-up (winter pick-up points), this tends to be the norm if they live in a hilly area or on a narrow street.
Children must take the same bus home daily and will not be allowed to call two different locations as a residence. A child who would like to have a playdate after school with another child who rides a different bus can do so only if prior permission is given via email/letter/telephone by the parents by 12:00 noon of the day in question and provided there is space on the bus.
Each bus has an assigned Bus Monitor for supervision of the students. Procedures and rules have been established to assist us in providing safe transportation to and from school and are printed below. Please review them with your child and encourage children to follow these rules. In the event that infractions occur, parents will be notified (via telephone, email, or note). Repeated infractions may result in suspension or expulsion from the bus.
Bus Departures
Buses depart the school at 15:40 (15:10 on Wednesday).The Elementary After School Activity bus leaves at 16:50 (16:20 on Wednesdays).
Secondary School students may take the late bus due to extra-curricular activities, which leave at 17:30. Please note that the MS/HS late buses do not have Bus Monitors. Students must sign up to use the MS/HS late bus.
Bus Rules
Bus transportation, like school or school trips, incorporates all school rules with respect to community, citizenship and conduct. To provide further clarity on the bus, please note that students are to:
- Immediately follow all instructions from the Bus Monitor;
- Stay seated with seat belt properly fastened at all times;
- Talk quietly and be ready to listen to instructions;
- Not eat, drink, or chew gum on the bus (unless granted special permission – for example a particularly long bus ride due to poor weather might necessitate the need for a snack);
- Keep hands and feet to themselves;
- Not open bus windows unless given permission by the Bus Monitor, or interfere with any part of the bus;
- Be assigned specific seats on the bus at the discretion of the Bus Monitor;
- Print or online materials being read or used must be appropriate and in line with the AAS;
- Core Values and Global Citizenship Statement;
- Behave with respect for others at all time.
It is a condition of the school’s acceptance of a child on a school bus that parents read the above, and accepts the rules for the child and the obligations for the parents. Failure to comply with bus rules will result in a warning. Any subsequent misbehaviour will result in bus privileges being suspended.
For more information and questions about
Bus usage, please contact our
Transportation Manager Zhivko Vichkov at zvichkov@aas-sofia.org
or +359 889 901 916