PUPILS at Queen Anne High face waiting 40 minutes at the end of the school day before they can get a bus home.

Staggered finishing times are being introduced in August but that's posing a problem for 86 students from Crossford, Townhill and Kingseat.

Suzanne Gallacher, who lives in Crossford, told the Press: "My daughter starts at the school in August and was given a letter today stating that with the school closing at 3pm on a Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, only 11 of the 14 buses needed to take them home will be available at this time.

"The three buses that won't be there are QA1 Townhill / Bowershall-blue, QA12 Crossford-brown and QA14 Kingseat-blue.

"These children will have to sit in a supervised study club till 3.40pm when the buses become available."

She added: "I'm not getting at the school.

"I understand that a lot of buses are needed at 3pm but if there is enough to get them up to school in the morning, at the same time as all the schools are going in, there should be the same amount of buses to come home.

"It is ridiculous that children entitled to transport are having to hang about, possibly walking down to Dunfermline to make their own way, at as young as 11 years old."

The letter from Queen Anne states: "We share the frustrations around this issue and unfortunately it is completely outwith the control of the school.

"We will ensure that there is a supervised study club on a Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for the 86 pupils affected."

Another Crossford mum, Carolyne McHale, said a lot of parents were angry and wondering why their kids face an extra two hours a week at the school.

She said: "I'm assuming they won't be made to stay so there is a safety issue when they try to walk home on that horrible path between Dunfermline and Crossford, especially in the winter as there are no street lights."

Fife Council's head of education and children's services, Derek Brown, said the new school week arrangements were agreed between the school and the community to "help ensure that curricular delivery and meeting the needs of learners remains the top priority".

He said: "Following consultation at school level, the council has worked to implement the new arrangements and to ensure progress could be made in providing the school with the timetable sought.

"More specifically, the council has been working to amend transport arrangements to reflect the school’s preferred model and to ensure that the transportation of pupils to and from school can be managed effectively when there is a change to end of the school day.

"For Queen Anne, the new arrangements are in place for August for almost all of the bus routes.

"It has not been possible to put all of the new arrangements in place and we will continue to work closely with transportation companies to consider ways to amend the few specific bus routes that have not yet been adjusted.

"Despite this, the benefits of the new arrangements for our young people are clear and it was felt important to progress these timetable changes.

"To support this the school has well developed plans to provide activities and appropriate supervision for those pupils who will be required to wait for a short period of time until their specific transport arrives, on some afternoons.”