Considering a 5 hours per day school run

[Cactusowl]

My son has been offered a place at a lovely school which is around an hour away. It’s an independent SEN school and will suit him so much better than his current mainstream.
We are taking our council to a tribunal in the hope they will name the school on my sons EHCP and therefore pay the fees/taxi. The court date isn’t set until October. I have the option to pay for the school myself so he can start in September, I will have to drive him myself for a minimum of half a term or max 3 years if we lose our appeal.

Has anyone done a long school run like this? Was it manageable and did it get any easier? AIBU to even consider this journey is sustainable?

[Skysblue]

As I read it, the commute for your child would be one hour there and one hour back? If so AND you can find somewhere there to work or do what you do then yanbu.

Five hours daily drive commute doesn’t work. It would wear you out and is unsustainable. If this school matters that much - and you know your child - then I’d probably move house or find something near the school (or at the school?!) to do while child is at school.

Sorry you’re in this situation 😔

[zingally]

I'd say it depends on the child as much as you. 2 hours in the car a day is a LOT, especially for a kid with additional needs. But that is 4+ hours a day driving for you. You'll be dead on your feet within a week.

[ByeClare]

@Zzelda I was contesting your very early on statement that "because its [the LA's] duty is to provide transport to the nearest suitable school"; I think it's important for clarity to add the qualifier "if eligible", even if taken in context with what the OP had written it may have been obvious. Because the duty is contingent on a child's eligibility. I've seen a certain SEN charity get this wrong on by missing out the eligibility qualifier (as I'm calling it here) and saying if a school is named on an EHCP then an LA has to provide transport there.

You said "unless you actually have a child with SEND and had to provide for their needs as well as actually fight for them, you may not be so hot on the actual ground-level practicalities." I've had to do all of that. What was the point of posting it if you accepted that I might have a child with SEND?

Because I got the impression you may not have had to deal with the practicalities I was talking about. I can accept that you may have a child with SEND and still think that you may not have had to organise these practicalities for your SEND child, as not all SEND children require LA-provided transport. It's not all black and white.

Your comments are very much about the technicalities, and not the practice. e.g. technically yes, the government may say that a child can travel up to 1hr 15 mins, but that doesn't mean that in practice that length of journey would not be viable for some children with SEND, or their parents who also have to do the return legs.

[ByeClare]

The practicalities of what that length of journey is like for both the child and mother is relevant because that is what the OP is asking. She's not asking whether it's allowed by law. She's asking whether she's BU to consider the journey sustainable. Therefore people's opinions, feelings and experiences of that are relevant, regardless of what the tribunal may order.

[Diamondnights]

It's utterly doable OP (as your dc is fine in a car/ taxi). Won't be much fun for you maybe but hopefully your dc will absolutely flourish and then it will certainly have been worth it.

[Zzelda]

I was contesting your very early on statement that "because its [the LA's] duty is to provide transport to the nearest suitable school"; I think it's important for clarity to add the qualifier "if eligible"

You cherry-picked only part of what I wrote, @ByeClare, which was " If the tribunal decides that this is the only suitable school, then the LA will have no choice but to arrange transport because its duty is to provide transport to the nearest suitable school." The important word is "this" - i.e. the one OP wants, for which the child is unquestionably eligible.

You made incorrect assumptions about whether I had had to deal with the practicalities involved with an SEN child, and seem to be perpetuating that. When I wrote about the 75 minute maximum, I was correcting someone who said it was an hour, and I specifically used the word "technically"; life is really too short to write an essay on all the exceptions and ifs and buts when offering information on this site. If OP's child were unable to cope with a 75 minute journey I'm sure she could work that out for herself without needing us to tell her, and she's happy that her child is OK with that.

[ByeClare]

@Zeelda, I can see why think I cherry-picked what you wrote but even with it your statement isn't correct. The part I "cherry picked" stands alone, and even if you don't think it did, it's not affected by the 'this'. The LA does not have a duty to provide transport to the nearest suitable school ... unless the child is eligible. It would therefore only have a duty to provide transport to this school because it is over X metres away or because the OP's child's SN means they can't take public transport (which the OP hasn't told us, but is probably irrelevant in this scenario due to distance). At the very best, your statement was unclear and could reasonably be read to mean that the LA has this duty unconditionally, when that is not the case.

I didn't assume you don't have a SN child, I thought it likely you may not, I was 50/50 actually.

When I wrote about the 75 minute maximum, I was correcting someone who said it was an hour, and I specifically used the word "technically"

Untrue. You corrected someone who wrote: "I think that’s way too far for a child and you if you are driving." That poster didn't mention the journey being an hour. However yes, they were going by the OP saying it was an hour each way but that's irrelevant. The OP asked whether that length of school run was sustainable, she didn't specify that she meant for her specifically and not for her child. She asked people if she was BU to "even consider that this journey is sustainable". The poster you quoted was responding to the OP's question with their opinion. It's not your right to "correct" that. The poster could be well aware about the 75 min govt maximum; in fact the poster probably is, as you'll see from their post that their own child is at a special school and other children travel in from far away.

[Majorfluff]

You won't have time for house chores if you spend those hours travelling.

[Calvinlookingforhobbes]

YABVU to think your son should do this. Couldn’t you move?

[ByeClare]

I'll put it another way for you @Zzelda to ensure you understand my point, because I think it's important for people reading to know the correct information.

You said that with regard to the the LA providing the OP's child with transport to "this" school, "the child is unquestionably eligible". Agreed, that's correct. But the LA's duty is determined by this school being the nearest suitable one AND suitably far from the OP"s home as to require LA provided transport. The duty is NOT just determined by the first part, i.e. a school being the nearest suitable one.

What you wrote:
If the tribunal decides that this is the only suitable school, then the LA will have no choice but to arrange transport because its duty is to provide transport to the nearest suitable school.

What you should have written:
If the tribunal decides that this is the only suitable school, then the LA will have no choice but to arrange transport because its duty is to provide transport to the nearest suitable school if that school is X distance away or the child's SEND means they can't walk or get public transport to school.

[Sockwomble]

We have done this quite a few times over the last couple of years because the school transport is unreliable and it has either been take him ourselves or him miss school. It is an absolute killer.

[Polkadots2021]

We do a half hour commute to school and half hour back, twice a day. My husband does the morning and me the afternoons, and even then it's a shag & we are looking forward to the holidays! There's little traffic and it's actually a very scenic drive and it's still tiresome sometimes. You have to also realistically add 20 mins for waiting for your kiddo, faffing around, parking and what have you.

[Polkadots2021]

OP I don't blame you for considering this but I think you and your son would be extremely miserable very quickly. Could you move?

[cakeflower]

I’d just like to comment about the people saying not to start at the school before winning tribunal. We did this - my child started at the independent sen school and then we appealed to get it named on ehcp. We won, and our child now goes by taxi. Actually I think it may have helped our case because the sen school were able to back us at the tribunal with their evidence of our child’s progress with them etc.

[reader108]

Similar experience I paid for seven terms applied for an ECHP appealed and got the school named. First thing in LA educational psychologist report ‘It would be detrimental to remove Ds from’ this school.

[EversoDelighted]

I know several people who have moved their child and then successfully appealed for the place to be named on the EHCP. It's a gamble but there is so much at stake for the child that many consider it worth it.

[Duchess379]

I had to commute from home to work, which was 140 mile round trip. Every day. It nearly killed me! I sustained it for about 4yrs before my circumstances changed & I stopped going into London. I do not recommend it!

[QueenBee52]

I agree.. it's a lot of travel for a kid every day 😩

[goneroguetoday]

Could you be his 1-1 in mainstream until you get the SEN school officially provided

[spongedog]

@Duchess379

I had to commute from home to work, which was 140 mile round trip. Every day. It nearly killed me! I sustained it for about 4yrs before my circumstances changed & I stopped going into London. I do not recommend it!

You did it for 4 years. OP said max would be 3 years.

I am not unsympathetic having moved from a job I loved which had a 45 mile round trip commute - but that could be up to 3 hours per day. Other commutes are more stable.

[vdbfamily]

I have a friend who did this but she got a job as aTA nearby so that she only drive there and back once a day. She was still in need by about 8.30 every night though as so tiring

[Cactusowl]

I thought I’d come back and update. The council have agreed to provide a taxi so I don’t have to do a 5 hour school run each day!

[finallyme2018]

My son has sen and every school he's been in whilst his last school supported him better its still a nightmare. Rather than looking forward to him starting secondary school I'm thinking we've only got another 5 years then he will be free of the he'll. If I thought the was a school that could support him fully and make his life a happier I travel hours to make it happen. If it meant I didn't need to hold my child whilst he is heartbroken as children have been nasty and teacher have glossed over it. Or the days where I break down as the fight for support and people making empty promises are just to much to deal with. Driving that distance would seem nothing if I could witness my child happy and enjoying life instead of existing.

[finallyme2018]

@Cactusowl

I thought I’d come back and update. The council have agreed to provide a taxi so I don’t have to do a 5 hour school run each day!

That's fantastic news so pleased for you both.

[Clymene]

@Cactusowl

I thought I’d come back and update. The council have agreed to provide a taxi so I don’t have to do a 5 hour school run each day!

Oh well done!!! So pleased for you 🎉