A question about free transport...

[NickNacks]

Are you still eligible if it is your chosen school or only if it's none of your preferences?

It depends
As I understand it, if the nearest school is 4 miles away you get free transport.

If the nearest school is 1 mile away but you request a school place 4 miles away and get it - you won't get free transport.

If the LA can't give you any of your preferred school and allocates you a school over 2 miles away, you get free transport.

Ok well we have a weird situation in that (this is first to middle school change)

We have 4 schools to choose from (in our borough)

Our school is a feeder school into the furthest one and so the one my dcs are most likely to get in to (as all 4 are pretty far)

One school is about a mile (as the crow flies) but it has their own admission policy and it is heavily church parish weighted.

But none of them have a safe walking route of less than 3 miles.

So baffled as this is a large factor in our choice order.

Does your LA calculate the distance by safe walking distance or as the crow flies - may be worth checking?

Whether or not you get transport will affect which school you request?

I would just rank them in order of preference TBH, you don't want to get a school you dislike just so you get transport surely?

LAs have to calculate the distance of a safe walking route not as the crow flies.

If none of the schools have a safe walking route, you'd have a good case at appeal if you were turned down for transport the first time. Is there a school bus for kids in your area to one particular school? If there is, then you might need to apply there as your first choice if you want transport.

I had to appeal to get school transport for my kids, and won the appeal in the end. Your LEA transport team may be helpful (unless you're in my county, in which case they'll be chocolate teapots)

Our neighbouring borough doesn't have schools that we would want to apply to tbh. They also run the two their system whereas we are three so they'd have to move into a junior and then in two years move again to a secondary so that's not an option.

The transport is done by the safest route and baring in mind our obstruction is a river, I don't think this will be called into question.

All the schools are fab except 1 which will be the one out of the four which we won't put on our top three.

tier not their

It might affect whether we put our fav at the top because it's also furthest and one we're most likely to get. If we do get it and aren't entitled to transport them it will cause a bit of an issue (which I'll go into if you need me to).

All 4 schools have school buses which go from our area and other outer areas of the borough.

I don't think the la would be reasonable to expect you to opt out of its own 3 tier system so you should be safe ignoring neighbouring schools. You can also ignore the faith school as you wouldn't meet their criteria. The la could in theory if you could have been offered a space at a nearer school refuse you transport to a further one, however if you wouldn't have got a space anywhere other than the furthest choice then you should qualify no problem.

As all 3 schools are more than 3 miles safe walking distanc away however I suspect that the question of whether you would have got a place at a nearer school is a moot one and irrelevant to your qualification for free transport.

You should however email them to clarify...

For transport purposes the walking distance is what matters. They may use straight line distance for admission purposes but the law stipulates walking distance for transport.

The rule is that they must provide free transport if the school is more than the statutory walking distance from your home unless the LA was unable to arrange for your child to be admitted to a nearer school. So if your nearest school is more than 2 miles away (3 miles if your child is 9 or over) you are entitled to free transport to that school regardless of whether or not it is your first choice. However, if you make a school that is 10 miles away your first choice you may not get free transport on the grounds that you could have got a place at a nearer school, even though you would have been entitled to free transport at your nearest school.

The presence of nearer schools in a neighbouring borough complicates matters. However, as this is not a normal year of entry for those schools you would only get a place if they had vacancies in the relevant year. If they do not, the LA cannot use the presence of these schools to refuse free transport.

That's all very helpful thank you.

I will email (is it admissions or another dept?) them and ask for clarification on their exact policy.

Quip, my LA still assesses distance as the crow flies, putting my DC's outside free transport costs. 1.3 miles as crow flies, 3.1 miles safe walking route. No free transport, even when they were infant age.

Can you tell me more about LA's having to assess by safe walking route, and back it up with correct legislation, as if this IS the case, I will reapply for bus passes, currently costing me £46 a week bus fares to get the DC's to school!

Prh, does that mean my LA are acting illegally on their refusal (even with MP involvement in numerous appeals) to assess for free transport (even with additional evidence that both DS2 and I have disabilities)? Wouldn't be the first time my LA has acted illegally, but they DO use as crow flies even for transport...

I may be putting in another application for free transport then...thank you got the relevant legislation needed.

Time to tear my LA a new one, methinks, considering I have applied and appealed 11 times in 7.5 years.

The relevant legislation is the Education Act 1996 as amended by the Education and Inspections Act 2006. In particular, schedule 35B of the 1996 Act (which was added by the 2006 Act) defines eligibility for school transport in terms of walking distance, which is defined by s444(5) of the 1996 Act as being "measured by the nearest available route". Any LA that uses straight line distance to determine entitlement to free transport is therefore breaking the law.

If you have already appealed their refusal I would refer the matter to the LGO as this is clear maladministration.

Are you still eligible for free transport if you have chosen to move house after you have a school place, if the school is still the nearest to the new house, and is over 3 miles away?

Yes.

Even if it is not the nearest school to the new house you would still be entitled to free transport unless there was a nearer school with places available.