When Rosemary Coles started her morning's journey to college on February 15, she had no idea of the adventure that trip would bring.

An adult student taking a refresher course at Humber, Rosemary's daily journey was a temporary chore for four weeks and this day was the end of that session. So, she was in a mood to wrap it all up as she made her way down the Gore Road. She had been staying with friends in the Hockley Valley while she was doing her studies, commuting back to her home near Lake Erie on the weekends.

Just south of the intersection of the Gore Road and Mayfield Road in Wildfield, travelling in a line of cars heading south, Rosemary could hardly believe her eyes when a car three vehicles in front of her pulled out as if to pass. What frightened Rosemary was the fact that there was a school bus coming north and that the car was going to collide with it!

The driver of the bus had no chance to avoid the collision. As the oncoming car smacked into the bus, the bus swerved across the southbound lane and into the ditch. Rosemary prayed out loud: "Don't roll over! Don't roll over!"

The bus soared across the ditch and came to rest, spanning it. Rosemary pulled over as did one other vehicle, but, much to Rosemary's astonishment, the other drivers picked their way around the scene and drove on.

She looked briefly in the direction of the driver of the car and saw that there were people running to him, so she turned her attention to the bus, which was full of small children, all under 10 years old.

She made her way into the ditch the bus was straddling to see that the lady bus driver had managed to open the door. The bottom step of the rungs into the bus was at Rosemary's shoulder, so deep was the ditch. Just as she was beginning to wonder how on earth she was going to get into the bus, a chap came up behind her and lifted her up.

She clambered to a scene of a driver completely in shock and as many as 60 frightened crying children. Her first job, she knew, was to persuade the driver to turn off the still-running engine of the bus. Next, her concern was to calm the children.

She had to shout several times before they started to realise she was there.

"Hey, hey, that was quite a bump you all just had, wasn't it?"

Bit by bit they recognised that an adult was talking to them, asking them a question, and bit by bit they began to simmer down and listen to her.

"Wow," she said, "that was really a big bump."

Reassured, they all agreed that it was a big bump.

"And do you know what's going to happen next?" she asked.

They all shook their heads, waiting with all their young faith for this adult to tell the answer to her own question. And she did: "Some big fire engines are going to come!"

They all cheered.

"And then do you know what will happen?"

They already knew they did not know, but that she was going to tell them.

And she did: "Police cars are going to come with their sirens all roaring!"

The children cheered.

"You know what else?"

They did not, but by now they were fully ready to hear: "The paramedics will come."

Maybe not 100 per cent sure what those were but sure they were something else good, a good addition to the adventure, the children cheered.

Rosemary explained to them about the paramedics.

"When they come, they will ask you if you are hurt and it is important that you tell them wherever you are hurt," she told them. "Now I am going to come and talk to each of you and I want you to tell me if you are hurting anywhere."

As she made her way down the length of the bus, Rosemary addressed each child. One little boy had bumped his head, but luckily had a hat on. One little girl pulled on Rosemary's sleeve to say that she had hurt her chin where she banged on the seat in front, as had a small boy whose chest hurt. Rosemary reminded each of them to be sure to tell the paramedics.

By now, the sound of the sirens gave proof to her predictions and the children scraped at the windows where they had started to frost up. Their excitement was tangible and their fear was all but forgotten as the number of emergency vehicles and personnel at the scene grew.

A paramedic made his way into the bus and Rosemary relinquished her charges to his care.

She told me: "One of the high spots of the day was the firefighter who stood at the bottom of the bus ladder with his arms open to me when I wondered how I was going to get out of the bus."

The best moment of all for Rosemary was watching the kids as they descended from the back door of the bus a little while later.

"By and large," she said, "they were smiling from ear to ear."

Police told me later that charges against the driver of the car were pending in the case. The bus company was not available for comment.