AIBU to think that if kids have to stay in further education post 16 then transport should be provided?

Our state schools don't have 6th forms so it's 20+ miles to any of the 4 nearest 6th form colleges. On top of that there was a plan to cut the bus service!

I think you should consider yourself lucky to have 5 years free, lots of places don't provide free or subsidised transport.

The LEA provide the funds for under 16s but then they have no funding from government for 16+ transport and the schools can't find the money either.

There are funds available through various charities but you have to do the work to find them.

You could also look into a taxi service, ideally with other parents, a minibus on the same bus route but pre booked might work out cheaper.

Honestly it's such a shame that parents are having to pay for buses just to keep children in FE.

At my sixth form if you live over 2 miles away or have a low income(?) the school helps pay for any travel costs people may need, because people come from all over. I think that's a general thing in my area too.

You said one of your DCs had SEN? Have you looked into a disabled bus pass for them, or is this bus a local school bus and not one that runs through the day that they can't use passes on? For me the disabled bus pass has been a godsend and saved me money.

I agree with OP. Our local secondary school has no sixth form and the nearest college is about 20 miles away. They are all about 20 miles away. So the only option is bus or car. Its a rural area so there arent loads of job / apprenticeship opportunities except hairdressing... I think they should either provide a sixth form or a free bus.

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted oddly the "catchment" school is not the school our children would get paid transport for. As we live on the border of 2 counties and the catchment school is in home county but the closest school is in neighbouring county. It really is not as simple as saying pick your catchment school (incedently we did pick catchment school for dd2 but had to remove her due to bullying)

I agree it should be free. However we have paid for secondary school transport for both ds and dd3 as we didnt pick the 1 school that we would get travelling paid for. The school we picked was 1 mile further. We were "lucky" that dd1 and 2 had it fully paid for (dd2s year was the last they paid for) however when dd1 and2 were at 6th form and ds plus dd3 at secondary we paid £1250 a year for school transport. Was the cost of wanting a say in what school our children would attend. Not right but sadly normal.

So they should be able to get free or very heavily discounted travel to the further school / college.

Thing is, even if my kids very, very rural school had free transport for those who wanted to do Maths, Further Maths and Physics, that would not help those who didn't stay on. School will only accept students who need to resit one out of Maths and English, the next nearest option is another ten miles.

Most LAs are so short of money, they cap transport costs. They put as much as possible into schools. When it was free transport for all, the schools complained. In my LA, parents have paid for post 16 transport since 1990. Before then, FE college students did but not A level students in school so the FE students were penalised. Most were doing full time courses. The travel costs were then applied to all so it was fair for all.

Geneveiva I was not looking down on apprenticeships. I think they are excellent. But advice to the OP was that 16yos do not have to stay in education, they can go into training (and apprenticeships are paid do they can more easily afford bus fare) therefore should not be entitled to free travel.

My point is that a child who wants to Maths, Further Maths and Physics and study theoretical physics at Oxford should not be obliged to take an apprenticeship in accounting, business or carpentry on the basis of bus fares.

Manchester have the same travel policy as London. Our mayor arranged for 16-18 year olds to have free travel. I do have to pay for my 12 year old £8.50 a week because we live 500 metres away from the cut off for free transportation

I think it is outrageous that bus fares dictate a choice between A levels or an apprenticeship for struggling families
Good point

We are not even talking the highlands here, we are on the Beds/Northants border, so still considered the periphery of the south east, yet our secondary school is 7 miles away down country roads without footpaths or lighting - totally unsuitable for kids to walk.

We have no public bus service to our village, this was withdrawn two years ago, although that is a rant about transport infrastructure rather than post 16 school transport.

This is what I mean about people living in a city-centric bubble. The families hit hardest by this are the ones who live a considerable distance fromany schoolnot the families who have several in walking distance but choose one further away.

This - rural catchment areas. You might live in the catchment area and still be 20 miles from school. Education or apprenticeships or other training may all be equally inaccessible. There may not be any option of public transport, and may not have been for decades. It's the school bus or nothing, and if your parents are agricultural workers or in other low paid work, it is a massive cost. Plus decisions about continuing education or apprenticeship training or whatever should ideally be made on what is best for the 16yo in question and what course they are accepted on, rather than it all being prohibitive because of transport costs.

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted our catchment school is the one my DC go to. It's still nearly five miles away. That is the closest sixth form to our home. The next closest is 24 miles away...

This is what I mean about people living in a city-centric bubble. The families hit hardest by this are the ones who live a considerable distance from any school not the families who have several in walking distance but choose one further away.

Our nearest 6 form college is 23 miles away.The bus serves several schools and is full,DD has to leave at 7am and gets back at 6 pm.
It cost £890 for the year and she goes for 4 days.
Apprenticeships around her are very limited unless she wants to be a hairdresser.
Public transport is limited so if she wanted to do an apprenticeship there is no way of getting there.
I am lucky in that there was is a lot of overtime available at work as I couldn't afford it otherwise.

Voting Labour might help make this happen!

If you are on low income they may qualify for EMA which you could put towards transport costs

I'd suggest buying the ticket monthly as daily is a rip off

How many 16-18 year olds who have been in specialist provision for their primary and secondary education are going to be able to access apprenticeships? Not very many.

If it is compulsory to attend education or training and the young adult can only access their specialist provision (which are often miles away from the family home) then transport should be provided. The funny thing is here where I live, young adults with SEN and disabilities get transport back at 19 when they enter the adult care sector to attend specialist day centres.

In most cases SEN and disabilities do not change in that 16-18 age bracket, they are not suddenly able to make the journey safely by themselves.

Transport especially in rural areas to service a number of schools is expensive and shouldn't be free - unless you want to cut a more vital service that is.....

Councils are under enough financial pressure

That's why children shouldn't the allowed to go to schools out of their catchment areas

Blouse, apprenticeships shouldn't be looked down on. One of my old students from a school I worked in a while ago left at 16 and apprenticed with a local carpenter. He moved on to building roof work and now has a successful local business. he has a mortgage, a wife and two kids and he isn't yet 30. Some of his friends are still living in shared student homes in expensive cities, having done graduate training schemes that have failed to live up to the promise of well paid employment with good career prospects. It is very important to want to do any course you study after GCSEs.

It's also much easier in London for school children to just use what transport is already running anyway, ie there is no special bus for school, it's just the regular one that everyone uses. The big cost is laying on transport for the exclusive use of pupils.

"I don't understand why students in the capital can get free transport but this gesture isn't extended for the rest of the country. 16 - 18yr olds in London are entitled to a student oyster card which gives them free travel on all London buses and trams and discounted train prices. Why?"

Because agreement was reached between the London local authorities (who pay for it all) acting together, through the Mayor these days, and the transport providers.

You need to persuade your local authority to spend as much as London does on this. Different LAs have different spending priorities, and you need to make it clear to councillors (especially when there is a local election) how much this issue matters.

Adding to one area of spending tends to mean cuts elsewhere, as LAs are not awash with spare cash. So in startling your campaign, it might be worth finding out what level of discretionary spending still exists (as it could be switched) or other ways to release more cash so extending child transport discounts can be paid for

I agree op. The nearest sixth form is four miles away along a treacherous road. I too will be paying the best part of a thousand pounds for dd to get to school next year.