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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Can you be offered place in neighbouring LA that you didn't express a preference for?

17 replies

tentoomany · 24/03/2019 23:01

This is a hypothetical question.

If your own LA runs out of school places and can't give everyone an offer, but the neighbouring LA has a surplus, can they do a deal so that you're offered a non-preference place in the neighbouring LA instead? If so, would there be a maximum travel distance, beyond which an offer would be seen as unreasonable?

OP posts:

HennyPennyHorror · 25/03/2019 01:35

They can do that yes. I'm not sure about the max distance but I have heard of people having to travel 6 or 7 miles to take their child to school.

prh47bridge · 25/03/2019 07:41

Yes, they can offer you places in a neighbouring LA. At secondary school level, a journey of up to 75 minutes each way is seen as reasonable.

meditrina · 25/03/2019 07:55

Yes, if you do not qualify for any of your preferences, you will be allocated the nearest school with a vacancy. That can be in a different borough.

Free transport must be provided if the journey is over 2 miles (u8s) or 3 miles (older) assuming there wasn't a closer school where you would have secured a place had you listed it.

What counts as a reasonable journey time depends on local geography - if it's more than 45 mins for primary you might have a arse, but it's not cut and dried.

HomeForever · 25/03/2019 13:29

Our LA with their failure to predict the unprecedented demand told parents of children without places to approach two of the local authorities who had places in some schools. They didn't actually offer an alternative place at that point.

Comefromaway · 25/03/2019 14:05

Yes, its quite common in our area for that to happen.

Spookydollshouse · 25/03/2019 17:03

It's very common. They provide a free bus pass in out area but that doesn't cover the parent. Not sure how much a weekly pass costs for an adult but a daily is £5.

HomeForever · 25/03/2019 18:19

Why would an adult need a pass too?

HennyPennyHorror · 25/03/2019 21:11

Home Well for a lone parent who had to accompany a child to an out of area primary school would struggle badly to find the bus fare.

Comefromaway · 25/03/2019 21:24

Surely it’s only bus passes for secondary children. For primary it’s usually an escorted school bus or similar.

titchy · 25/03/2019 21:32

Surely it’s only bus passes for secondary children. For primary it’s usually an escorted school bus or similar.

Ha ha ha! Nope. In fact London boroughs don't provide anything as all children have free travel anyway.

Henny this is the secondary education topic so unlikely an accompanying adult would be needed!

Spookydollshouse · 25/03/2019 21:54

Comefromaway in our area children above four get a free bus pass.
Only children with SN at special schools get escorted transport .

Plenty of school children and parents on our buses in a morning.

Comefromaway · 25/03/2019 21:57

No school buses. Wow. Even ds’s high school has a designated school bus (rural, not walkable rather than distance though)

To be fair though bus passes here would be pretty useless as public transport isn’t good.

HomeForever · 25/03/2019 22:48

Not everyone going to a bus to school is doing so because that is the only school available, some have made that choice to try to get a place at a school that is further away.

Before we moved house my dd had to catch a public bus to school, our catchment school had a bus but is still isn't free as it is not quite the 3 miles. It isn't a nice walk though (either an underpass or crossing a slip road to a main dual carriageway)

DD's school doesn't have any school buses - you either walk or make use of the fairly good public transport in the area.

SexTrainGlue · 25/03/2019 22:53

"Well for a lone parent who had to accompany a child to an out of area primary school would struggle badly to find the bus fare"

This thread is in the Secondary Education topic.

Spookydollshouse · 26/03/2019 05:54

Sorry that's my fault. I missed that it was in secondary.
Public transport is rubbish here too Comefromaway .
A couple of secondaries have very recently got those yellow buses. Most still don't.
There's no bus at all into the village before nine so the kids just walk into the big village for the bus rain or shine.

Pythonesque · 27/03/2019 18:57

Well I was hearing recently about children near me being offered schools 10 and 12 miles away, and no funded transport at all. For one of the options, no realistic public transport route exists either. A new school is supposed to be opening near here in September, I suspect a lot of their intake will be families that felt they had no choice but to take it, rather than positive choices towards it.

prh47bridge · 27/03/2019 20:51

Well I was hearing recently about children near me being offered schools 10 and 12 miles away, and no funded transport at all

If the school is more than 3 miles away by the shortest safe walking route and there were no places available at nearer schools the council must provide free transport. That is the law. If the children have ended up here because their parents did not apply to the nearest school the council does not have to offer transport. However, if children have ended up here despite parents applying to the nearest school, transport must be provided.

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