Green communities: Evie brings children’s book to life at Lydgate

A team from First Bus in Leeds surprised children at Lydgate Junior and Infant School in Batley with a visit to help its youngest pupils just beginning their education and 11-year olds getting ready to move on to secondary school in September.

A life-size Evie, an electric bus character from Tinyfoot and Evie’s Adventure to Tiny Street, arrived through the school gates to the amazement of the Reception class.

This storybook, published by First Bus in North and West Yorkshire and written in the style of famous children’s author Julia Donaldson, is designed to help young minds begin to understand about reducing carbon and environmental choices.

Pupils from Reception boarded the bus to enjoy a first reading of the book, a colourful tale which takes young readers on a trip where they meet lots of characters and learn about how electric buses can help reduce their carbon footprint and the cleaner air benefits to communities.

Each pupil was also given an Evie ‘plushie’ soft toy to remind them of the day and headed into the classroom with an activity pack including colouring-in sheets, word searches and education resources for use by schools and parents.

They were followed by a group of Year 6 pupils who used Evie for a workshop about building travel confidence including talking with the driver and on board safety to help get ready for using the bus for secondary school in September.