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Wendy Chamberlain, MP for North East Fife, has welcomed the development of a bus service which serves students leaving their after school activities from Madras College.
Until July last year, Madras College had a unique bus service provided by the Education Service which gave pupils living north of the school a safe route home from their after school clubs.
After the service was withdrawn, parents raised concerns that their children would have to drop out of their after-school activities due to the bus no longer being an option to get home.
Chamberlain raised these concerns with Fife Council who stated they would not be reinstating the service ran by the Education Service. She then raised the issue with Stagecoach who looked to see if adjustments to their local services could be made to accommodate the after-school club timings. After consulting with the MP, the Head Teacher and pupil representatives at Madras College, Stagecoach introduced a new service, the MD17, on 6th January to accommodate these concerns.
Local councillors, including Cllr Jonny Tepp, were also key in pressing the Council on this matter.
Chamberlain commented:
“As a mother, I know how important after school clubs can be for children’s wellbeing. They are a great way to make friends and be part of a team.
“I also know that busy schedules mean that sometimes children have to take public transport to get home if their caregivers are working or unable to pick them up.
“As a result, I am so pleased to see that the Madras’ colleges extra-curricular bus service has been reinstated and that students can now continue their activities.”
1. Full timetable can be found here.