Teen Gets Award For Getting The Bus?
Updated : Aug 14, 2009
A 15-year-old schoolboy attending an outdoor activities scheme has told of his surprise at being awarded a certificate - for catching the bus.
Bobby McHale was one of 920 pupils on the council-run Bury and Rochdale Activity Generation outdoor activities scheme, reports the Daily Telegraph.
He received the award, entitled 'Using Public Transport (Unit 1)' in the post from the AQA the exam board after attending the three week holiday scheme.
The award recognised his ability to walk to the local bus stop, stand or sit at a bus stop, wait for the arrival of a public bus and sit on the bus and observe through the windows.
Bobby, from Bury, Greater Manchester, said some of his friends had also received the qualification, although others, including his younger brother Joe, 13, did not.
"Maybe he wasn't up to it," said Bobby. "It just seems really silly to me. At first I thought I'd got some sort of GCSE early. When I read out the details to the family we all fell about laughing.
"The Bury Youth Scheme is excellent and we get the chance to a lot of different activities but I can't see the point of the certificate at all."
His father Andy, 44, said: "To be honest we are all a little bemused. The Bury Youth Scheme is excellent and I can only suppose this comes from some box they have to tick in order to get funding.
"As part of it Bobby certainly travelled by bus. Maybe it's boosted his confidence because he was nominated as head boy. We think he may go far... so long as he gets the 135!"
Barbara Lewis, Youth Support Services Manager in Bury, said: "This certificate isn't just about getting on the bus, it's about time management, working out bus routes and for some people, travelling alone for the first time."
