Home to School Transport

[AngusW]

Hi All
in rural Oxfordshire we are trying to fight changes to home to school transport provision that would remove transport to catchment schools. This would have the effect of introducing an element of access to catchment school if you can pay but not if you can't. This strikes me and many others as unfair, divisive and damaging to the education of our young people.
I wonder if anyone form other counties has fought back against such changes and could share any advice on how to get a stubborn county council to change its mind. TIA
Angus

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-24806649

Actually I agree that children should go to their nearest school where possible.

Currently the bus taking kids to DCs school actually stops to pick up outside a nearer school - that is insane

I don't understand what the change proposed is?

Surely there is only one catchment school which lea has to provide transport to for children who live 2miles + away.

Or am I out of date?

the change is that transport will only be for children NOT within walking distance of any school.

So people who live at the very edge of a catchment are being bussed to the school even if there is a school 100 yards the other direction ....

if you look at maps of school catchments there are some real anomalies all over the country

I'm confused too. I think the LEA should provide transport to your closest school only, if it is too far to walk. They shouldn't be subsidising people who have chosen to go to a further away school UNLESS they tried to get to their closest school, but there were no places.

The BBC article doesn't mention catchments - does the who,e county actually have defined admissions areas?

It says that transport will ony be provided if the school (of qualifying distance form the home) is the nearest one with a place. This is the notmal policy for whole swathes of the country already (and I think is exactly the provision required by law).

It is unfortunately difficult for councils to afford to provide services above the minimum required level in the current financial situation.

Frances
the thing is that a lot of rural schools have HUGE catchments : DCs is ten miles across - but the catchment of another school slices through the middle of it
and
recently a new school building has been put within 10 feet of the catchment boundary, four miles from the school ....

catchments are historic and housebuilding goes on all the time

from the BBC article
It added some children received free transport to their catchment school even though an alternative school exists within walking distance.

It's the catchment system that throws this kind of oddness, this change in transport policy would maybe sort things a bit in time as it would mean people look to their nearest school instead of there being a catchment.

Policy seems about right to me. Our area are consulting on this too, and the only concern I raised was the absolute cut off nature of qualifying, rather than a sliding scale. We live just over the qualifying distance away, so my DD gets free transport. Her friends who live a free streets away pay about £2 each way, every day, in bus fares. It might feel fairer if there was a graduated contribution. Although I'm sure there would be loads of difficulties implementing it ...

Agree that it's the catchment system that is at fault here. I don't think we've ever had free transport to schools other than on the legally defined distance/safety criteria where we live other than for RC schools (and that is being withdrawn - a decision which was well supported).

I do think that for existing pupils the transport should remain available though.

The way the Oxfordshire proposals appear to be written raises an anomaly.

A village might be in the catchment area of a school 7 miles away, but be slightly nearer to an over-subscribed non-catchment school 6 miles away. The way it appears to work is that if the child goes to the catchment school, then they do not get free transport, even though there is no way that the child could possibly get into the closes (6 miles away) school, because that is always full from well within its own catchment.

Unless all school catchment / admissions priority rules are re-written at the same time as the transport proposals are implemented, then families will be faced with, effectively, having to pay in order to get a school place at all.

teacher
no, because if you look here
www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/news/2013/nov/school-transport-plans-go-out-consultation
its about children within walking distance of the alternate school

So if you put down your nearest school as your first choice and don't get into it as you aren't in the catchment, and instead get your second choice school which is 5 miles away, but you are in the catchment, would you get free transport?

As per the links here
myconsultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk/consult.ti/transport2015/consultationHome
its the nearest school to home at which a place can be offered
so parents will not be penalised for living near an over full school
BUT
this is Oxfordshire : if you live within walking distance, chances are you'll get in.

I do understand OP's concern. Our nearest secondary is 'idiosyncratic', and basically for a lot of children, rubbish. The next several schools are oversubscribed and then there's another, very nice school, which is 10 miles away but rural so a quick commute away. Perfect for us but...

Unless you can afford £20 p/w bus fare then it's not an option.

I hate the race to the bottom but Oxfordshire's current funding of school transport is way better than most people's.

My walking distance school is so bad that 500 parents cough up to send our kids to schools beyond it!

If they do move the catchment / bus boundary to remove the anomaly it will take about the 30% off the value of hundreds and hundreds of houses

breatheslowly - Yes you would get free transport. In that situation you are legally entitled to it.