School transport withdrawn

[brightonalfred]

My grandchild has been attending a local Catholic primary school since 5 years old.There is no Catholic secondary school in my area, the nearest being 19 miles away which she has been attending since 11 years old. Travelling by a local bus company dedicated to this journey, she pays £800 per year along with approximately 100 other pupils. We have have just been told that this bus is being withdrawn as from September this year. It is nigh on impossible to get there by other means. Is there any information out there as to the next course we could take?

If 100 children are being affected by this then I would have thought the Head of the school would be trying to stop this happening.
You need to contact the Head and as it's a Catholic school the priest (or whoever is the top person). Get all the parents affected to sign a petition.
Contact your MP.

Write to the head teacher and CC in the local bishop, and head of the diocesan education department. Details will be on the diocesan website.

Which diocese is it?

Why is it being withdrawn?
Is the school currently subsidising it, and it is getting too expensive?
Rather than a petition, I would ask what can be done to keep it open. Paying more may be all that is needed, or parents organising smaller minibuses.

£800 sounds a lot, but I may well not be meeting the true costs.

Who provides the bus? By which I mean who does the bus company have the contract with?

If it's the LA, who provide a bus route far pupils who are entitled to free transport but who sell surplus places, then you are a bit stuffed if the numbers entitled to free transport falls, they move to smaller vehicles and no longer have places to sell.

If it's the school itself, they may be more open to representations by parents, especially if you can get the diocese involved on your behalf

This happened in our area too, it was pulled by the council for funding reasons as few children who qualified for a free bus pass were using it. There are closer schools - but not grammar. The fact that there is no closer catholic school is irrelevant in terms of funding to them.

The parents got together and asked the current bus provider to operate outside the council remit and we now pay the bus company directly.

The local MP lost her seat due to it as the parents were furious.

my kids go to a grammar school where most kids are bused in.

Some of those buses are organised by LA, eg for families from villages who need transport to any school. Some are organised by parents together.
There are regular posts on school social media - anyone interested in transport from xxx place? And then a new bus route is opened.

Buses similar distance to yours cost around £1,000 per year organised by parents.

So I would say it is time for the parents to take control of the bus route together.

Your local MP lost her seat because of the parents at one school? Do you live in a constituency with an incredibly low margin?

Portsmouth