Appeal for secondary

[Hazel99]

My son has been offered a school which is 2.7 miles far from my home. My daughter goes to year 2 and there is 3.5 miles in between both school. I'm going make appeal because my son need to change 2 bus and it's going take him more than one hour travel. After he gets of the bus he needs to walk 10 min to school. Plus I need think about traffic waiting for the bus it's going take him 1.5 hour to go school. I personally think it's to much for 11 years. Plus he is not ready to travel by himself because he is scared,worried. He is been crying since I have told him you need to go school by your self. I had to take him Gp today and been referred to specialists to talk to him. As a mum I'm really worried and stressed. Please can anyone give me advice what I could do please.

He could walk in 45 mins.... sorry but it's perfectly normal for secondary children to travel to school independently. It's seems scary when they're in primary but they get used to it very quickly. Practice the journey in the summer holidays if you're worried and encourage him to make his own way to and from primary now that it's lighter.

Like childcare, parents jobs, travel, unless considerably more than 3 miles, not a reason to appeal.

There will be others making a similar journey as such distances are not unusual. Do any of his current friends have the same secondary school? Coukd soneone else take your dd to school so you could accompany him at the start. 2.7 miles shouldn't take an hour to walk and maybe he could part walk, part bus. If you decide to appeal do find other positive things about the nearer school than logistics.

I'm sorry but for that reason alone you will not win an appeal.

I have been there ( twice ) with documentary evidence from several specialists, a diagnosis of AS and various other issues.

Remember that you are not appealing against the school you have been given but for the one that you want.

You can appeal. Travel and logistic issues are not usually enough, though, to win an appeal. The education authority will argue - and the panel is likely to agree - that Y7 pupils usually travel to school on their own, so you will need compelling evidence why your son can't do what most other pupils his age will be doing. (Will the specialists be able to confirm this, in their professional opinion?) The panel will also need to be convinced why a journey of 2.7 miles would take twice as long by bus as it would to walk. That seems surprising.

It's far from certain that you will win the appeal, so you need to think of other options, such as joining waiting lists for other schools. You also need to be positive in talking about the allocated school with your son, as unless a place becomes available in another school or you're willing to home educate, that's likely to be where he'll be going in September. You also need to equip him with the skills to get the bus on his own - you've got several months to practise the journey with him.

By bus it's going take him between 1 -1.5 hour. It's just 10 min walk after you get off the bus.

Is there any reason he can't walk, or cycle?

As others have said, you can appeal, but these arguments won't win you an appeal. Year 7s are expected to be able to do this kind of journey; I appreciate you and he are apprehensive, but that isn't grounds for appeal.

Can you saya more about why a journey of 2.7 miles (which would take 30 minutes in the worst of London traffic) would take an hour or more? Are you in a very rural area with infrequent buses?

DD will go to a London school more than 6 miles away, journey is 2 buses and a walk. We've timed it, it'll take an hour. She's currently at a primary school 2 miles away, it takes roughly half an hour to walk. Sometimes quicker, sometimes slower.

I'm terrified at having to let her do this by herself, but I will NOT show her my fear, she is a quiet and anxious girl but wants to do this for herself. I am proud and hopeful that it'll make her more confident. We will practice and practice and I have found other children who will do the same journey - we will foster friendships in the coming months.
We could appeal for a closer School, but we've made our peace with it now. I've watched so many people go through the draining process and fear that we wouldn't get a better result at the end.

Good luck if you do go to appeal. I hope your DS feels a little better in himself. It is such a hard time for them, and us, realising how much is about to change

I'm guessing the timing is because the OP says 2 buses and I suspect that includes waiting time.

For example, my dc's school is (by coincidence, I've just looked at Google) 2.7 miles away. Even in rush hour it takes only 10 minutes to drive generally.
If I was sending them by bus it would take:
10 minute walk to the bus stop. 5-10 minute (depending on traffic) ride into town. Approximately 10 minute wait for another bus (the buses are meant to be every 10 minutes, but at that time in the morning can be up to 20/30 minutes apart, but may well be travelling in convoy!) 10 minute (round the houses) on next bus. 5 minute walk at the other end. 55 minutes. It is quicker to walk.

It would probably be longer home as the bus from our house is only an irregular ever 30 minutes, so she'd almost certainly have a longer wait in town.

OP. It's perfectly doable. in fact to add to the coincidence my younger one's school is 3.4miles away from the secondary. (and at one point I had an infant school to get to as well, which had to be dropped last, as the only child I couldn't leave to wait, and was in the middle of the schools!)
If you drive it's easy. The secondary school will have library open from fairly early and you can drop early. My trip goes: Leave 8:00, drop dd2 at school between 8:10-8:15 depending on how far away from the school I leave her. Drive back and drop ds at about 8:30 to walk into his school. Both are early but not ridiculously so.
I've once not got ds into school on time in three years by that and that was because I witnessed an accident and had to stop.

If you don't have a car, then see if there's a group walking together (a fair number walk from here) or get him a bike if he's competent and will wear, not carry, a helmet. Otherwise get a scooter.
He'll be absolutely fine and probably love the independence after a few weeks.

As PatriciaHolm says, unless there is some reason why he cannot walk or cycle to the school you will struggle to win an appeal on this basis. You are right that 1.5 hours is too long - government guidance is that the journey should not be more than 75 minutes each way. But this case will only fly if these buses are genuinely the only way he can get to school.