Every journey accounted for: how Tonbridge School protects its pupils on the road

Every morning, before the first lesson, Tonbridge School’s minibuses are already on the road, collecting boys from across Kent and the surrounding counties and bringing them to the school’s 150-acre campus.

The same vehicles run all day, carrying pupils to sport, activities and trips. For a school that puts the welfare of the child at the centre of how it operates, what happens on those journeys matters as much as anything in the classroom.

Tonbridge was already a VisionTrack customer, with forward and rear cameras across its fleet of minibuses. When the school looked at how to do more for the pupils travelling on them, it chose to extend the system rather than start again.

The upgrade adds three things. In-cabin cameras give a protective interior view that helps look after pupils and supports the staff. Live vehicle tracking means the school always knows where each minibus is, can answer a parent’s call, and can pinpoint a vehicle in moments. Driver behaviour and speed insight show how the minibuses are being driven, so the school can support good driving and act early on anything that needs attention.

Because this involves data relating to children, the school is approaching it carefully. Access to any footage is limited and controlled, and used only when there is a clear reason to look. The technology sits inside the school’s duty of care.

There is a local thread to the story. VisionTrack’s research, development and technical support are based a few miles away in Tunbridge Wells. For a school that values reliable equipment and a team that picks up the phone, an established relationship with a British company on the doorstep counted for a great deal. VisionTrack’s fleet management platform is developed and supported in the UK, meets GDPR, and holds Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO 27001, which matters when the data relates to children.

“Knowing exactly where every minibus is, and being able to see what’s happening on board, gives us real peace of mind. For us it comes back to one thing: the welfare of the boys in our care.”

Helen Anders, Transport Co-Ordinator, Tonbridge School

If a school that’s led the way since 1553 is protecting its pupils with modern, UK-developed technology, others have good reason to follow.

Read the full Tonbridge School story, or talk to us about your own fleet: sales@visiontrack.com / 01246 225 745.