BUDEHAVEN Commu­nity School, North Cornwall Extended Services (NCAN) and local bus companies have been working together for the past year to achieve later buses calling into the school's Stratton Road layby.

Jackie Walter, co-ordinator of Extended Services at Budehaven School, and Liam Dart, Bude Extended Schools Co-ordinator, explained that part of their role is to help pupils access clubs and activities after school.

Budehaven has many after school clubs and sports fixtures but the problem has always been that pupils then either relied on parents picking them up or they had to walk into Bude to catch buses. What was missing was the buses calling into the school's lit and safe layby.

Earlier in the year, Western Greyhound started using the layby and now, this term, the First buses have also begun using the layby. The bus timetables have now been permanently updated to include the school, and the community are also welcome to catch buses from the layby.

Buses will, however, need to be flagged down once they have pulled into the layby.

As an incentive to get pupils used to using the buses, a small pot of money from the Bude Extended Services budget has been put aside. Pupils will need to save three tickets from their journeys on these later buses, pass them into the school's Stratton Road office and the Bude Extended Services budget will refund the cost of one ticket.

All pupils can access this budget as many times as they wish until the money runs out. It is hoped that more funding will be available in the future to make this a sustainable project.

It is hoped that by improving transport issues, more pupils will have the opportunity to stay on and benefit from after school clubs, activities and services. Also, with improved and new facilities opening to pupils, more clubs and opportunities will be on offer next term.

The buses that are now calling into the layby are:

16.32 (No 128) to Stratton-Poughill via Bude (First bus company).

17.32 (128) to Stratton-Poughill via Bude (First).

16.52 (76) to Bude-Plymouth via Stratton, Red Post and Whitstone (First).

17.52 (76) to Bude-Plymouth via Stratton, Red Post and Whitstone (First).

17.32 (X9) to Bude-Holsworthy via Stratton, Red Post and Bridgerule (First).

17.02 (319) to Bude-Hartland via Stibb, Morwenstow and Welcom­be Cross (First).

17.00 (518) to Bude-Widemouth Bay via Marhamchurch (Western Greyhound).

17.15 (595) to Bude-Boscastle via Widemouth, Wainhouse and Crack­ington (Western Grey­hound).

For more information on buses call First customer services on 0845 600 1420; Western Greyhound on 01637 871 871 or Traveline public transport on 0871 200 2233.