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At a recent open morning, a parent made a comment that really resonated with us:
For schools, academies, and multi-academy trusts, this highlights a very real challenge. While we live in a connected world where deliveries and online orders are tracked in real time, schools and parents often lose sight of pupils once they leave home for the school gate. For DSLs, transport managers, and senior leadership, this gap represents a significant safeguarding and operational concern that needs to be addressed.
The Daily Challenge
Picture this scenario: it’s 8:15 AM, and the school office begins to receive enquiries from parents: did the bus come early today? Is it running late because of roadworks on the main route? Should they drive their child to school instead, or continue waiting?
Parents make these enquiries because they have no visibility of routes, whether their children have boarded safely, or notifications about real-time delays caused by traffic, information that would give them reassurance during their busy mornings. Without a centralised system to provide this oversight, staff spend valuable time responding to enquiries, coordinating with transport teams, and piecing together information from multiple sources. The situation is not just inconvenient; it is a safeguarding risk and an operational headache.
To bridge this gap, schools need a central place to track pupils, manage routes, and communicate delays in real time. This is exactly what modern school transport solutions like Vectare provide.
The Daily Solution
Founded in 2016, Vectare works with over 200 schools globally, providing award-winning technology and consultancy to solve transportation challenges in the education sector and deliver safer, more efficient, and transparent journeys for pupils, while supporting schools in meeting KCSIE guidance and Ofsted expectations.
Solutions include online booking, real-time vehicle tracking, automatic driving licence checks, and digital passenger registration, all integrated with popular MIS platforms such as iSAMS and the Wonde portal, providing clear, actionable information for schools, trusts, and parents alike.
Visibility: Clear Morning Information
Parents no longer need to wait at a cold bus stop wondering where the school bus is. With real-time updates, both parents and office staff can see exactly where the vehicle is, whether it has been delayed by traffic, weather, or is even running ahead of schedule. Schools gain a single, reliable source of truth whilst increasing parent engagement, cutting down on external enquiries and reducing confusion across the office.
Safeguarding: The Digital Tap That Says “I’m Safe”
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As each pupil boards the school bus, a quick tap or scan of their student card sends an instant notification to parents:
“Sophie boarded the 8:20 bus to Oakwood Primary.”
At home time, another tap confirms her safe journey home. For schools and MATs, every journey is documented with time-stamped records, supporting duty of care and safeguarding oversight.
Action: Quick Responses
To put how Vectare works in context, a Year 3 pupil once fell asleep on the school bus and missed their usual stop. Thanks to real-time tracking, the school office could immediately see which bus the pupil was on and where it was heading.
Staff contacted the parents and bus driver straight away within the platform and were able to resolve the situation safely, taking immediate action to ensure the student’s safety and reassure parents. For trusts managing multiple schools, this level of visibility and control is invaluable for safeguarding and operational oversight.
The Safeguarding Benefits
Beyond convenience, real-time tracking enhances school safeguarding by enabling staff to:
- See exactly which pupil is on each bus at any time, supporting daily safeguarding oversight
- Identify when pupils booked on a bus have not boarded, enabling prompt intervention
- Respond immediately to any anomalies or issues, ensuring children’s safety is never compromised
- Maintain clear, auditable records to support compliance with KCSIE guidance and Ofsted expectations
- Monitor driver licences automatically, with background screenings and scheduled reports to give schools confidence in transport safety and compliance
- Review drivers’ digitally recorded walkaround checks, strengthening compliance and maintaining full, auditable inspection records.
For maintained schools, private schools, academies, and MATs, this kind of oversight is increasingly essential, not just for reassurance but for fulfilling statutory safeguarding responsibilities.
What Schools Are Saying
"We've been very pleased with the service provided by Vectare. The management of our trips is professional and we have achieved substantial cost savings by improving our process." - John Crosby, Director of Finance and Operations
"The Vectare system has streamlined our transport processes, significantly reducing administrative workload and enabling us to plan far more effectively and longer term." - Belinda Forsythe OBE, Director of Operations
Moving Forward with School Transport
That parent’s comment was right. In 2026, it feels outdated that deliveries can be tracked with precision while schools sometimes struggle to know if pupils have boarded their bus safely.
The good news is that technology exists today to bridge this gap. Vectare provides schools and trusts with practical, reliable tools to support families and strengthen safeguarding oversight.
Every child deserves safe travel to and from school. Every parent deserves reassurance. And every school deserves tools that help them fulfil their duty of care effectively.
To find out how Vectare can support your school, download our brochure or get in touch with the team today.