Horsham school launches new sensory bus thanks to business support

St. Robert Southwell Catholic Primary School officially launched the bus on July 12 with an opening ceremony and a blessing from Fr Aaron Spinelli from St John’s Catholic Church in Horsham.

A project that started as an idea during a school council meeting was brought to life with the help of EVM Direct and PVL UK as well as lots of hard work behind the scenes from school staff and pupils, a school spokeswoman said.

She added: “The idea for the sensory bus was born as a result of a termly school council meeting; where the children were asked what they believed would enrich the school.

“One of the children, Ailbhe Curry, raised the issue of how some children can find playtime very difficult and that a safe space to go would be a really good thing for the school.

“Ailbhe wrote a letter to the headteacher and along with other members of the school council led an assembly and helped fundraise for the project.”

At the start of the campaign the school newsletter carried a note asking if anyone knew of a company who may have a bus they no longer needed.

Danny McGee, a parent at St. Robert’s and EVM Direct’s managing director responded and within days, a bus had been sourced and the project was officially rolling.

He said: “St Robert Southwell is a great primary school and like so many other schools in the area, they have to manage budget restrictions.

“The need for a new sensory classroom was impossible for the school to resolve given their funding and space limitations. We looked at this and together with some like-minded local businesses, decided to solve the problem.”

PVL UK then contacted the school offering their services to provide a vinyl wrap for the bus that could be designed by the children.

Managing director of PVL, Nick Broom, said, “When the project was mentioned, we were on board immediately. It’s a great community project that will benefit the educational needs of local children, both now and in the future.”

The school then ran a competition to create a design for the bus, with the winning design being made reality. “It is great to see the School Council’s ideas come to life. We couldn’t have done it without the help of two local companies, their support has been invaluable.” said Mrs. Lisa Cousins, Deputy Headteacher at St. Robert Southwell and project leader, “[The official opening] is the culmination of two years of hard work from our school community and I could not be prouder of the result.”