A BUS company has praised an Otley school's efforts to wipe out any bad behaviour.

First Buses, which runs children to and from Prince Henry's Grammar School, says the school's tough discipline policy makes life easier for its drivers.

And it says the behaviour of the students are amongst the best of all the schools it deals with.

Buses delivering or collecting students to the school are met every day by either head teacher John Steel or deputy head teacher John Dean when any problems are reported and dealt with immediately.

Mr Dean said: "We have five buses in the morning and four in the evening when any problems are brought to our notice and they are dealt with straight away and the students are very much aware of this."

Earlier this month a passenger travelling on an X84 bus from Otley into Leeds complained about the behaviour of some Otley students travelling on the bus. But both the bus company, the school and one of the mothers of one of the students have hit back at the complaint.

Charles Donnelley of First said: "Prince Henry's is a very good school in terms of behaviour. Kids can get exuberant at the end of the school day and it can be distracting to our drivers, but the school does give us a lot of support. I'm not aware of any problems that we've had and certainly, Prince Henry's is one of the best schools that we deal with."

And Shelley Seghetti, in defence of her daughter claimed the girls behaviour had been 'silly' but not unacceptable.

"I am sure that any parent travelling with a young child on the bus thought that the behaviour was unacceptable, they would have said something, which they did not."

Mr Dean said the incident on the X84 bus had been investigated and the school was satisfied that nothing untoward had happened.

But he stressed any reports of bad behaviour were followed up and students dealt with appropriately. The school's attitude towards the buses is part of its positive discipline policy introduced three years ago.

The policy involves students getting rewards for good behaviour, culminating in a school trip to a theme park for all those who get the required number of credits. Mr Dean said: "We've been running positive discipline for about three years now and it has had a dramatic impact in terms of the learning environment. The system was developed by Prince Henry's and is now in about 16 schools across Leeds."