Page 9


All aboard the fun bus! (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8)


She relents, doling them out among the excitable pupils. With just a touch of encouragement, they soon have them somersaulting through the air, dancing, bending and performing the splits. But you can’t win them all, it would seem. Hayden, ten, tears his puppet into bits, so Deborah helps him reincarnate the pile of cardboard into a chicken drumstick and chips.


While most of the children get very involved in the activities, those who don’t actively take part still enjoy watching or listening. “You’ve just got to go with the flow,” Deborah assures.


“What blows me away is how encouraging the kids are of each other. Many of them have even taken on supportive roles. For example, Christabell has really taken to Abraham. She used to sleep all the way through the ride, but she’s become so alert and involved.”


As the bus zips its way through the rush hour, passenger Kurusha, who is non-verbal, is engrossed in a fluffy pink hand puppet. By the time her father greets her when we drop her off at home, she is visibly, heart- warmingly content.


Twins Isaac and Bailey are absorbed in their own little worlds. Isaac walks his puppet on the moon in a fanciful, self-developed storyline, while Bailey has his puppet at the back of the bus performing Olympic manoeuvres. The other kids praise the Year 5 student for his ingenuity.


With up to 12 students per bus, all demanding the artists’ attention, Routes initially proved to be a challenging experiment. But it’s now a fixture at the school and a well-oiled operation.


If there is anything still to prove, the kids and artists often do so in an end-of-year production for parents and teachers. At the culmination of the pilot scheme in summer 2008, Deborah’s pupils performed a song written by composer Ben and his children, which served as a great example of how the artists and children, even on separate buses, can collaborate.


The turnaround has not been lost on the parents. “They come home covered in pen, but they are so proud to show me what they’ve made or done and their mood enhances out of sight. My only criticism is they don’t do it often enough,’’ says Teresa Gormley, the mother of Isaac and Bailey.





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