Anyone know about SEN school transport?

[mimi14]

DS (11) has ASD and is starting at a SEN secondary school in September. He's been accepted for council funded transport, which we're very grateful for. However they've been in touch today to confirm the arrangements and he'll be getting picked up between 8.15 and 8.25. I need to leave at 8.15 at the latest to take DD (7) to school in the opposite direction, using public transport. I don't drive.

DS is very sensible and sticks to the rules to a T. Do you think they would be in agreement for him to be home alone when picked up by them? He'll have a chaperone in his taxi, plus he'll have his mobile phone so can let me know he's been picked up. He is also very happy with this idea and likes the idea of being independent, I just don't know if it would be allowed 😩🤯

Is the Council funded transport shared with others? There may be an option to pick up in a different order, especially if a taxi.

I did ask about that, but he's the last one to get picked up as we're closest to the school. If he got picked up 1st, he would be in the taxi for over an hour as it goes to a town 30 minutes away first 😩

I'm pretty sure it was in our contract about the escort only being allowed to leave the child with a responsible, known adult. However I'm less sure about pick up. With our DD I don't ever see independent pick up being a possibility. There should be a central department for your authority who run it that you can call to confirm.

If that's the case then unfortunately you may have to contact your other child's school and explain she will be slightly late each day. I did think I might have to do this one year but luckily it fit ok.

No I think they insist an adult is there to hand over care and responsibility.

I do relief work on school transport like this. It's a private taxi company that is contracted by the council.

With the older children we rarely see the parent/guardian in the morning. The child comes out the house and makes their own way to the bus. There would be more of an issue if there was no one there at the end of the day; in that instance we would need something in writing that the young person was ok to be left alone - and for me, this has only happened for a 15 year old.

With regard to the morning, so long as the child is ready and comes out on time I cannot see this being an issue. How long are you out of the house for though. There could be (rarely) an issue where the mini bus breaks down or gets stuck in traffic/road works. There has been a very rare instance where we have been as much as half an hour late collecting a child. When this happens we contact the company who let the parent know or contact the parent directly. Hopefully not a big issue but it is worth bearing in mind.

Also, how would he cope if the transport didn't pick him up at all for whatever reason. Would he be able to cope with this scenario if it happened. It shouldn't, it's just best to have contingency plans.

Is he able to lock the front door behind him, remember all the things he needs to take to school? We just had to tell the other school that there's a 50/50 chance every day that our child will be late eveyday as we are reliant on school transport.

No, I don’t think he should be left alone at 11. Does he get transport because his school is over 3 miles away, or because hes not yet safe enough to use a school bus independently? Is there anyone else that can take your youngest to school, or can you get yourself a taxi? If your eldest gets DLA it can be used to pay for one. How late would the youngest be if you had to get the next bus? Perhaps speak to their school to see if they can suggest something.

In my experience (SENCo) taxis were less reliable than a council operated minibus for the SEN children. We had one girl who lived 2 miles from school and was late almost every day because the taxi was always loathe picking her up.

Late, not loathe!

I can't remember if you strictly have to be there (I do remember the clause about them not dropping off without an adult being present which got a bit sill once mine was older). I don't want to panic you, but ours were not always totally reliable, DS was the last pickup most of the time and sometimes they were late getting to him because of traffic, or the other students not being ready, or being too anxious to get in the car or similar - would he cope? Mine used to get very stressed if they were more than a few minutes late. Also if someone else new starts or leaves the group they can rejig the whole thing and you might be first pickup instead of last or similar. It was fine most of the time but it definitely had it's moments. It's good that there is a chaperone, we didn't have that but I did set up a whatsapp with the other parents in our taxi which was extremely useful.

And longer term DS became best mates with his taxi buddies

The child would need to be with an adult to oversee collection in my area.

IME there's rarely any wiggle room in school pick up arrangements- if takes months of putting schedules together. The onus is on the parent to hand over the child and if they can't then make appropriate arrangements. I think in the transition period it is important to have a parent/ adult do the handover.

For the first few days of term DH is off work so that will be OK, it's just after that I'm stressing about.

He's been granted the transport as we live over 3 miles away, plus there is no way I can get to 2 different schools.

He's quite independent, knows how to lock up etc, and like I said he's happy with the idea of being on his own for a few minutes, I just don't know if they would be.

I'll get in touch with them tomorrow and find out. Otherwise looks like DD will just have to be late for school sometimes 😬