school transport

[Haha03]

i applied for school transport and it has been turned down as the school is not one of the nearest schools, but the nearest schools which have been listed i believed they don't have any spaces. Does anyone know what i can do next ?

[EdithWeston]

The key question is whether you would have secured a place at a nearer school if you had applied for one.

School transport budgets are incredibly squeezed and very few places (if any) provide more than the statutory minimum. And they are to cover those who have to send their DC to further flung schools (rural with close no school at all, or no offers from nearer schools). What it does not support is parental preference for a distant school when there is a nearer one. So you need to check whether the lack of a nearer place was because you chose a more distant school, or if it is indeed the nearest one that your DC would have qualified for.

The rules are slightly different if you receive certain benefits.

If there is no prospect of funded transport, then you will have to explore other possibilities - can you get a pay place on a school bus that is running anyhow (warning, you get bumped off that if the number of qualifying pupils increases)? What are the public transport options like? Is there a safe cycling route? Can you take them? Can you car pool with other local parents in the same boat?