Mathew Hassell, ex CEO and founder of the UK’s leading home to school service Kura, now heads up Studentsafe, which brings US levels of service and safety to pupils travelling around the UK.
Hassell has an impressive line-up of respected educators, software and hardware experts, a management team with more than 70 years combined proven track-record.
Hassell and his team are raising the standard of home-to-school travel in the UK by providing technology that not just tracks vehicles, but that also monitors driver behaviour, provides CCTV inside and outside the vehicle as well as allowing the parents to track & receive notifications, book and pay via an app.
Says Hassell ’more than 1 million children travel to school every day by bus or coach in the UK and yet less than 1% of these children are benefitting from the use of any technology to help make this journey safer. There is a complete lack of any regulation or financial support from government (unlike the USA and other countries) on this subject and schools and parents cannot wait any longer, our children’s safety is too precious.’
Parents are provided with an app to track the journey and receive notifications when their child has boarded or alighted the vehicle, even sending alerts if they have done so at an unauthorized stop or have not boarded at all. Parents can also book, pay and cancel journeys via the app which will help remove administrative headaches for many schools. The StudentSafe driver telematics dashboard delivers live footage. Pre-set alerts are triggered if a driver is not adhering to speed limits, timing at bus stops or is breaking too suddenly. The CCTV helps the driver as the many cameras inside and out remove any dangerous blind spots.
‘Managing School transport can be an expensive business for schools’ Hassell adds’ so we also provide a virtual transport manager solution, enabling schools to make the most of this technology without increasing their administrative costs.’
Hassell believes StudentSafe’s technology will also help reduce emissions as the government heads towards its 2030 ‘0’ emissions target and this is one of the main reasons Fergal Roche, former Headmaster of Northbourne Park School and St Andrews School, Eastbourne and more recently, business leader -has invested in this new venture. Roche says, ‘I have worked in the Education sector for many years as a headmaster, a governor and most recently as a business leader. I know too well how the traffic caused by the school run impacts our children’s health and that of anybody living nearby and of course the environment. This brilliant concept put together by Mathew and his team will reduce the number of cars on the road as parents will feel more confident to use the bus and coach services. They will become safer, more convenient, and greener. I am so excited to be involved in this business at the beginning as there is so much, we can do to improve on the current situation. In terms of safety and reducing emissions, this could be a very quick win for all concerned.
StudentSafe has been built for schools by schools. We’ve collaborated with some of the UK’s top education and transport experts to provide home-to-school transport software and services that we believe deliver world-class standards of safety, are easy to use, that cost less and are good for the environment.
