Our famous Sunshine Coaches are provided for schools and organisations that cater for children with special needs.

Having their own coach enables them to plan trips with more confidence. They no longer have to worry about public transport: the costs, timetables or suitability for children with disabilities and those who use wheelchairs.

All of our Sunshine Coaches are used five days a week or more and have an average life of ten to fifteen years. Trips are organised for recreational, educational and vocational purposes, including accessing the mainstream curriculum at partner schools.

This is immensely valuable in allowing inquisitive young minds to explore places they would otherwise never visit, often acquiring new skills and improving self-confidence.

Visiting other schools and participating in the local community brings the dual benefit of improving social and inter-personal skills for the children, as well as developing, in the wider community, a better understanding of, and empathy with, children with special needs. Nearly 6,000 Sunshine Coaches have been provided by Variety – The Children’s Charity and Variety Golf.

All school children benefit from experiences gained on trips out or residential visits.  But for many children with disability, disadvantage or special needs, these excursions are an essential part of their education and personal development.

“Getting on with each other as a group is another valuable life skill that regular trips on a Sunshine Coach help to develop.”

It is not easy for schools and organisations catering for children with special needs to arrange trips out using public transport. The logistics of timetables, costs and the basic lack of suitable facilities for children with disabilities combine to make trips a real headache for teachers and carers.

When a school is given its own Sunshine Coach all these obstacles disappear. Suddenly it’s possible to take children in comfort and safety to experience new places, take part in sport and leisure pursuits, visit interesting and historical places, access the core curriculum at other schools or just have a great day out.

In particular it makes it possible for the children to regularly integrate more into the local community where they can learn valuable communication and life skills that most people take for granted. The increased self esteem and confidence that comes from doing something as simple as buying a drink and a snack in a cafe is hard to imagine but teachers will tell you they see the difference in the classroom.

When children have new experiences there’s more to share and talk about so social and communication skills improve. Getting on with each other as a group is another valuable life skill that regular trips on a Sunshine Coach help to develop.

Thanks to Variety Golf and our many personal and corporate sponsors, our famous Sunshine Coaches have become a common sight on Britain’s roads, ferrying eager children to their next destination.

A Sunshine Coach is a passport to a world of new experiences

• 97% of Coaches are used many times a week and often several times a day

• 86% of the children they carry have physical, sensory or learning disabilities

• 71% of coach use is for educational, recreational and residential trips

What they say…