School admissions transport help

[Hump12]

We got our result for secondary school admission yesterday. Our first and second choice were schools in our home town that my daughter liked best. We did not put the nearest school (1 mile away) on the form as my daughter did not like it and the other two schools in my opinion are better and also the nearest school is C of E and we are not religious and there was an clear religious element when we visited. We put two grammars as 3rd and 4th choice as she narrowly missed out in the Kent test and we cannot appeal to them if they are not on the form. The school we have been allocated was not on our form at all and is 13 miles away. Having looked into travel it will cost us a substantial amount per year for a school bus. (The allocated school is in a rural location and the opposite direction to where I work so driving her is not an option) If she got a local school she would be driven and the second grammar is in the town I work in so again I could drive her. I cannot figure out whether I will be responsible for the cost of transport to the allocated school if our appeals are not successful. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi OP and sorry about your situation. I'm afraid that, as I understand it, since you did not put your closest school on the list, you will be liable for transport to the allocated school.

Thirteen miles is a bit of a trek - any chance that there might be a place at the nearest school - a one-mile walk would be better and cheaper after all. This is why parents are always advised on MN to put their closest school down somewhere on the form. I realise that this is not helpful for you!

You can go on waiting lists remember, and of course appeal. I would deffo check out where you will be on WLs for all the local schools.

Our previous neighbours had this issue with their DS. The local authority sent a taxi for him each morning and back home.

We are in a rural area and the allocated school with bus didn't give him a place and he didn't get into grammar. She had a job where she had to leave at 7.30 each morning and the school they allocated him didn't allow pupils on premises until 8.

So she told them either he didn't go to school or they sent taxis paid for by the LA

If she would have been admitted to your nearest school if you’d applied there, then likely you will be responsible for arranging transport.

Get your name down on the wait list for the nearest school if you would prefer it to the 13 mile away one.

No wonder we are paying more and more taxes

I don’t think you’ll be eligible for transport in this scenario. You chose not to apply to the nearest school.

The nearest one is over subscribed so I’m not sure how I’d know if she would have got a place? If it wasn’t over subscribed surely the allocated school would have been there?

This is why you should always put your closest school somewhere on the list eve of you don't like it to avoid this situation. People think they can fiddle the system if they refuse but the reality is you carnt . There's always someone who does this every year.

You’d know by identifying what admission category your DC falls into (eg category 3, no sibling but lives in catchment) & finding out whether everyone in this category was admitted or not.

Sorry I’m unsure how this is “fiddling the system”. You go round secondary schools to see which ones you like best no? So due to a post code lottery you think I should have accepted that my daughter has to go to a lower performing school? To be able to appeal for the grammars we had to put them on the form which didn’t leave many other options.

Well yes - that’s why people pay a fortune to be in a postcode area that has better performing schools 🤷‍♀️

If this is the nearest school the council can find for you then surely you are entitled to transport? You have not chosen it over a closer school.

It’s whether she would have got a place if she’d applied as part of the normal admissions round, not whether she would have got a place if she applied now.

Most councils publish data on how far away the furthest child admitted in the distance category lives from school. If that number is higher than the distance you live from school, it’s likely your child would have been offered a place if she had applied and so there is no obligation on the local authority to provide transport to another, further away school.

Not if she would have got in to the school one mile away had she put it on the form. It all comes down to whether there are any nearer schools suitable for the age and aptitude of the child which she would have been offered a place at had she applied.

Its why the general advice is to put a "safe" school as last choice.
You haven't been offered a place as People who did list it, even in last place, got allocated it, even if they lived many miles away.

Some parents think they can fiddle the system by only putting down schools they have no chance of otherwise getting into, on the basis that they have to be given one of them. As you're discovered, this is actually creating a risk that you get assigned to random other school.

I'd suggest putting your DC down on the waiting list of any closer school you think is the preferable to the one you've been allocated, and thinking about if there is anything you can appeal on. Transport generally won't work.

I'm afraid the others are most likely correct.

If you had applied for a place at your catchment (local) school and hadn't received a place then I would expect the council to provide transport if your allocated school was over a certain number of miles away.

Unfortunately you didn't put this school on your list for some reason.

You just need to hope you can appeal for grammars or get a place at a school nearer from waiting list.

I am sure it will all work out but if it doesn't you are liable for the transport costs.

No, but, the system used to be (in my part of Kent anyway) that if you put your nearest appropriate school as your first choice (school 1 say) and you were then not allocated it but were allocated a school that you did choose but required transport to get there (school 2), the LA had to pay for your transport. Same if you did out your nearest appropriate school but were allocated a school you didn’t choose, transport was paid for. If you didn’t put your nearest appropriate school as your first choice, or indeed any choice, and were then allocated one of your four appropriate choices that needed transport you had to pay for transport yourself.

OP’s situation is different to that as she was allocated a school she didn’t choose (that requires transport) but she didn’t put her nearest appropriate school on her form so she doesn’t fit in to the criteria for transport to be paid.

OP, I think the answer is probably that, by not putting your nearest school as your first choice, and only choosing schools that require transport, you have tacitly agreed to pay for transport or otherwise arrange for your child to get there.

Well no, you don’t have to go to an underperforming school because of a post code lottery, your case literally proves that as you have not been allocated the underperforming school.

You instead go to a different school in a different post code if your preferences can’t accommodate you.

My understanding is LA only pays for transport if you ask to go to your nearest school and they don’t take you, but your form made it clear that you didn’t want that school therefore you must have been willing to travel.

Not sure exactly where the OP is in Kent, but that particular scenario isn’t, and hasn’t been, the case here in this particular area of Kent for some years. That’s because, although academy high schools are stating that proximity is still one of their admissions criteria (and usually high on the list after looked after children and siblings) in reality, because they are allowed to run Banding Assessment tests, children living very near to the school may not be admitted even if a child living further away from the school was admitted, if it was the case that the child living closer fell in to a Band that was oversubscribed.
The year my youngest DD started secondary, there were quite a few children in her year group that put the nearest Academy High school as their first choice, knowing full well they were unlikely to get a place there (based on what had happened the previous year when the banding assessment was introduced) everyone knew they’d most likely get allocated the undersubscribed school that was a half hour bus ride away whether they put it second, third, fourth or not at all. What did happen though was they all had their transport paid for by the LA as they couldn’t be accommodated at their nearest school. Must have cost the LA a lot of money, and is presumably still doing so.

@Judashascomeintosomemoney that’s interesting, I hadn’t appreciated the quirks of the Kent system. It should be possible for the council to reach a conclusion on whether OP’s child could have secured a place at a nearer school though, and if not they’ll offer transport I would assume.

Put your name down on the waiting list for all acceptable schools closer than the 13 mile school. This might be a better strategy than appearing for the grammars.
In a few weeks you will be able to find out where you are on the waiting list. Remember that your position can go up or down. There is a forum for 11+ exams. The people on there are very knowledgeable about the data like marks and waiting lists so you may get some clarity on likelihood of a place.

The allocated school is also underperforming hence why we didn’t even go and view it and because of the distance as she gets travel sick on coaches.

clearly I have not interpreted the form correctly and that is my mistake.

we did also do a separate application for a brand new school 3 miles away but didn’t get that either

Plan of action:

• ask to go on waiting list for your local school, and any others you prefer to the allocated one
• think about which schools you want to appeal for, and reasons for appeal. Ofsted rating, GCSE results and travel don't normally figure. You need to be thinking about extra curricular and subjects offered. Though grounds to appeal for grammar school may be different, I haven't seen them mentioned so much, especially when she didn't pass the test
• start talking up the allocated school just in case, there must be something positive to say about it

So what happens if all your choices are the closet schools and you get allocated one fifteen miles away but there is another ten miles away you would have got in but didn’t apply to because you applied to closer ones that you may or may not have had a hope of getting into?