Transportation for Junior Kindergarten students:
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In the summer, families of registered Junior Kindergarten students will receive an electronic message with instructions for viewing your child’s preliminary transportation arrangements through the NSTS parent porta. You will also be asked to review important school bus safety and service information CLICK HERE.
Senior Aged Kindergarten Students:
If your child is returning for their second year of Kindergarten, their student information will be sent directly from the school to Niagara Student Transportation Services. Parents of students with an Ontario Education Number (OEN), which can be found on your child’s report cards, can enter the number on the NSTS website at
www.nsts.ca in late August to view transportation arrangements for the upcoming school year.
First Rider Program
Many children entering Kindergarten have never been on a school bus. It is important that your child learns the proper safety rules of riding a school bus from an expert: their bus driver.
Together with our bus operators, we offer the “First Rider Program” to teach new students the proper way to ride a bus as well as the safety precautions needed on and off the bus. The First Rider Program is in schools. We are hopeful to return to in person delivery of the First Ride program at a community event and will share event details on the NSTS homepage.
We offer the full program virtually! To view the First-Rider School Bus Safety Program
CLICK HERE
Bus Stop Locations
In general, pick-up and drop-off locations are designated at central points. Central bus stops are typically located within 400 metres of a student’s residence. A house bus stop may be provided if a student is not physically able to access the central bus stop.
One Bus Stop Morning and Afternoon
To ensure the safety of your child, students may only have one pick-up and one drop-off location. The pick-up location may be different from the drop-off location, but each must be consistent 5 days a week. The reason for this policy is a consistent schedule eliminates the chance of a mistake being made by one of the many people responsible for the safe transportation of your child.
Must Be Met at Stop
A very important safety practice we have in place to ensure student safety is that a parent/guardian must be with a Kindergarten student at the bus stop. This is mandatory while your child is in their Kindergarten years. The school will equip your Kindergarten student with a “Must be Met at Stop Tag” on the first day of school and it is a parental responsibility to ensure this tag is available and visible to the bus driver.
The bus driver is required to deliver your child directly to the person waiting for him or her. While the inside of a bus is one of the safest ways to travel, the outside of the bus has blind spots and danger zones where smaller children can be out of the driver’s view. We feel that when an adult meets a child, the risk of the child not being seen is greatly reduced. An adult can also offer positive reinforcement of safety practices that can be forgotten by small children.