Scotland’s biggest bus operator has created and launched a brand new online educational resource to support the home-schooling efforts of parents and teachers during the ongoing national Coronavirus lockdown.

A Scotland-wide initiative, First Bus has teamed up with teachers from across the country to develop a resource pack for schools, with the aim of providing primary aged children with a fun filled set of activities focused around buses.

With the Coronavirus outbreak delivering a trying time for thousands of people, the team at First Bus wanted to give something back and support the communities they proudly serve every day with their local bus services across Scotland.

The pack, which is based on the curriculum for excellence criteria, aims to educate kids on the benefits of using public transport, through a series of engaging, educational tasks. Each page has been created specifically around the core educational framework of the curriculum for excellence; literacy, numeracy, creativity and problem-solving.  Each activity is coded to enable teachers to track and monitor how children are getting on with each sheet.

Designed to suit the abilities of children from P1 right through to P7, the pack contains a series of activities to appeal to each age and stage, as well as tapping into children’s love of all things bus. From creating posters on the environmental benefits of using the bus, to writing about a favourite bus journey, a word search, a ‘build a bus’ challenge, an acrostic poem and the opportunity to design a bus, the pack has been created with fun as well as education at front of mind.

Andrew Jarvis, Managing Director of First Bus in Scotland, said: “With much of the UK effectively ordered to stay at home for at least the next few weeks, we wanted to support the thousands of schools, teachers and families who are home-schooling and keeping children entertained during this unprecedented time.

“Just a few weeks ago, it was almost inconceivable that these restrictions would be in place, which only underlines what a challenging, dynamic and rapidly evolving situation the UK faces and one which First Bus is monitoring and responding to day-by-day, hour-by-hour.

“Rest assured everything is being done to keep key workers mobile as the nation comes together to limit the spread of coronavirus. I hope our activity packs will provide another means of helping to keep younger children occupied and is just a small gesture from everyone at First Bus to bring some light relief to families during this difficult period.”

The First Bus educational pack is available to download for free from the following First Bus website links:

www.firstaberdeen.com/kidspack

www.firstglasgow.com/kidspack

www.firstscotlandeast.com/kidspack

They have already been well received by a number of teachers, parents, children and schools around the country.

In the near future, the packs will be available to download from all First Bus UK regional websites.