To feel hopeless about school transport

[AmericasfavoritefightingFrenchman]

I’m thinking mostly about transport for pupils with disabilities- though I recognise the provision is poor all around. The fact that some counties refuse to transport the littlest reception children on the grounds that school is not compulsory, for instance, is just mean, stingy accounting at the expense of tiny children.

I’m thinking about the unreliability, about the sudden calls in the morning to say ‘no transport today’ which could leave a child stuck at home. And these are children who really can’t afford to miss a day at school, or who have a breakdown at the prospect of missing a day.

I’m thinking about the massive pressure to not be a minute late for meeting transport, applied to kids who actually deserve a medal for facing up to school at all, or to kids who have already gone through three changes of clothes and two showers trying to get ready for a 7am pick up.

Im thinking about kids spending 3-4 hours a day on transport just to get to and from school.

I’m thinking about the contracts that say that involuntary behaviour, if deemed unacceptable, is cause to terminate transport arrangements. Honestly that’s not very different from saying if a baby’s crying is distressing you’ll stop feeding it.

Sigh.

Anyone else feel this way?

It is totally crap. The entire SEN system is broken, but I don't think there is an answer or any quick fix.
Well, more funding is the answer, but that's not going to happen. It just isn't a political priority for any party.

My child is on a route that has been merged this year. There are too many children, the journey is too long, the driver is speeding, the children are late everyday. No one who can actually make a change seems to care they just care about the money saved.

I do feel for the children, but surely the transport should be the parents responsibility?

Children with SEN, if lucky enough to get a special school, often have to travel a good long distance.

My daughter will be starting her new special school in January but its a good 45 minutes away, I don't drive for medical reasons and Dad works hours that aren't conducive to getting her there.

Did you just wake up with this on your mind or is there a story that’s going to come out?

School transport is a joke in England. Parents clog the roads taking their children to school while LAs pay millions in taxi fares for children who are entitled to free transport. Speaking to American friends they find the whole idea of "the school run" bizarre - despite being a car-centric nation, school transport (the classic yellow buses) is considered an essential service.

My DD had a school taxi for a week. She was just turned 8. If I picked her up from school, I would have had to see her teacher before she could be released.

School taxi children (two of them) had to leave the school, walk down the road, find where the taxi was parked etc by themselves. The school wasn't happy, she wasn't happy, we weren't happy but it was the only way to get her to the school the council was insisting she attended.

(We then won the appeal to get her into the closer school with her sister)

@BCCoach lots of areas in the UK do have school buses (especially rural ones). Maybe the 2 mile/3 mile rule needs examining though.

I'm an SEN teacher and most of our children are transported in by taxi. The problems are endless and it's very difficult to get anybody in charge of the transport contracts to acknowledge or care about what is happening.

We've had allegations of inappropriate behaviour from the drivers and chaperones, new taxis and staff arriving with nobody knowing who they are, children being left off the list and forgotten about, the list goes on. We also have a number of taxi staff with little to no functional English who are unable to have even the most basic of exchanges with the children, families or teachers.

The whole thing feels like a safeguarding nightmare and it just isn't good enough for our very most vulnerable children.

Most children here get school transport as we are rural. Almost everyone travels 5+ miles for example to secondary and many travel that for primary too. It seems to work absolutely fine here but I guess it is because almost all the kids use it as opposed to it being a SEN related service.

I am sure it massively varies by area too. But people seem happy or at worst ambivalent here.

DD’s primary is on our doorstep but she will have a 6 mile minimum journey for secondary.

And yet LAs pay a staggering sum for this transport. I know one LA where it’s half of their high needs budget. Half spent on transport not education. Bonkers.

My child goes to the nearest suitable school - it’s over 30 miles away. That’s why the LA pay.

@Bellasbeau but what are you suggesting as an alternative? Due to your children's needs they have to go to a special school.

Surely parents should be happy that they aren't left footing the full bill for transport to and from school?

It would be the same if a parents chose a specialist school for their child, like a special music or drama school, they would have to make appropriate arrangements...

@PuttingDownRoots I'm aware that lots of areas do, but the network is often extremely flakey and often only links bigger villages together. In the US (although I imagine it varies by school district) school buses pick up every child who goes to a specific school, either from their home, or from a common pick up point if there are several children living in the same area. There are literally dozens of taxis queueing to drop off at our secondary every morning, most of them with only one child in, and all paid for by the LA. It's insane.

I don't understand what you mean. You do understand that if your child is exceedingly fortunate enough to secure a special school place (fortunate in that a space is allocated to them I mean) then you take what you're given? There might only be one school in an hour's radius that has appropriate provision for a disabled child. Of course parents shouldn't be paying or organising this transport. It is not their fault there aren't more special schools or that there other children need to be dropped off elsewhere at the same time.

It's fairly offensive to compare a special school for a disability to one for better music provision, if that is what you were saying.

@ladykaleI expect my child to get to school safely, on time and without stress. It’s a pretty basic ask from school transport and currently they are failing in each aspect.

This is exactly the case in areas like rural Scotland and I'm sure some others. You don't travel to the nearest village - the bus stops outside your house to pick you up.

there was only one school that would meet my dc needs, it was miles away. so I then had to take her there and back till she was 5. school transport was a nightmare until she was a teen and got a taxi as she was then the only child in our area going there . that was brilliant.

you can not compare sen schools to "It would be the same if a parents chose a specialist school for their child, like a special music or drama school, they would have to make appropriate arrangements..."
to do so is ableist in the extreme.

At one point I had one child in a specialist school 50 miles away and another in a different special school 10 miles in another direction. These were their closest suitable schoolsfor their respective needs. How was I supposed to get them to school myself?

The special school is not a ‘choice’ for those parents. It is a necessity.

I am sure they would love an appropriate school on their doorstep.

@SacAMain My DD started at nursery based at an SEN school at the age of 2 1/2. It was 15 miles away - there were no other options. Thankfully back in the day the LA provided the transport and continued to do so through school and 6th form until she was 19.
Our DS (2 years younger) went to the local nursery and primary school. It would have been impossible to get DD to nursery/school (a 30 mile round trip and DS to the local nursery/school. I had no family to help out and as he was later diagnosed with ASD, expecting someone else to take him was not a option. I suppose my DH could always have given up work - like I'd already had to do - and we could have claimed benefits and lived off the state instead!

The solution is small specialist schools in every town, rather than huge ones hours away. That’s what would help our children. That’s what would keep the. Part of our communities and seen. That’s what would save them 10plus hours a week on top of school travelling. That’s what would help @RISHI.

I guess that depends. If the only possible space in a suitable school is a 90 minute round trip, should that be the parents’ responsibility? Maybe if it’s a private school or a conservatoire or a space that represents a meaningful choice of some sort? But just an accident of birth that means the child has a disability and the provision is scant? Should the family be disadvantaged or impoverished for something that they didn’t choose? And no, before it’s suggested, not all disabilities, not even all congenital ones, are identifiable in utero.

Thanks @SENteacher12 - I haven’t seen it from your perspective but I would have guessed that’s what it looked like. Scary thought.