Withdrawal of Free Travel to school proposed.....

[T12ACY]

Don't get me wrong, for DS2 we pay the existing £50.00 a year for the Freedom Pass so he can use the bus in the holidays and at weekends (which meant his free home to school transport was withdrawn, naturally, so saving from that 'pot'). DS3 however would travel for around 2 hours each way on the bus for the revised £100.00 a year, versus KCC existing arrangement of a train & bus pass which takes around 20 - 30 minutes each way. We cannot afford the train fare but it's the only reasonable solution given he is placed in the 'nearest available school for his ability'. KCC word it that way but now want to say he could attend the nearest, even though it would not meet his needs or I have to pay.

What frustrates me is the change to policy which gets imposed on you after you made the choice!!!!!

Would I pay £100.00 a year to get DS3 to his GS? Yes. Is it reasonable on him to spend so long travelling on a bus? No.

The answer in my view would have been to accept a panel deemed DS suitable for a selective education and offered a place at the nearest GS, I feel I am going round in circles here............

hermanmunster I accept other LA's don't do things like this, but in Kent they do and decisions by parents have been made on that basis.

ausvic, by 'wealthier' you include us. We get no benefits, work full time but on modest salaries which doesn't make us 'wealthy'

sherry_d, yes the local comp is always there. Ofsted made for interesting reading about how suitable that would be...........

SSM, DS3 isn't at our first choice GS. He is at the nearest 'available', and as you point out we live in a 'scheme of education' whereby GS's are provided for the more able. In areas of comprehensives, and there are some within Kent, they wouldn't get travel assistance to attend GS. Does this mean KCC will be changing education policy I wonder????

[tiredmum]

In the medway we get free transport if the child attends the nearest appropriate school and it is over 3 miles away. or if you are from a low income family. So if a child passes the 11 plus then there will be a nearest grammar which is deemed the appropriate school for that child - if you do not manage to get a place there the will still get free transport if you accept their second choice appropriate school. The rule is you have to put the nearest appropriate school first on CAF - to get free travel. SOOOO if you prefer a grammar further afield and you put that first then no free transport.

In kent were you getting free transport what ever grammar your child went to if over a certain millage?

[sherry_d]

In kent were you getting free transport what ever grammar your child went to if over a certain millage?

YES, it even covered travel to Medway and other counties to whatever school you fancied including indies too. That part will not change, it will just cost £100 instead of £50. The ones being affected are middle earners getting free transport to nearest grammar or faith school, they have to fork £100 annually now for bus travel. Travelling by rail isnt covered by the freedom pass so those using rail have to spend much more.

[SSM]

In kent were you getting free transport what ever grammar your child went to if over a certain millage?

YES, it even covered travel to Medway and other counties to whatever school you fancied including indies too. That part will not change, it will just cost £100 instead of £50. The ones being affected are middle earners getting free transport to nearest grammar or faith school, they have to fork £100 annually now for bus travel. Travelling by rail isnt covered by the freedom pass so those using rail have to spend much more.

sherry, I think your getting confused between two things.
Like Medway, Kent offer free transport to your nearest appropriate school as long as you have put the closest appropriate school as first choice and the school is further than three miles away. This might be by bus, train or combination of both.

Or you can choose to buy a freedom pass for £50 a year (apparently going up to £100) for the child to use not only to and from school, but whenever they like.

From what I can tell though they can't have both. So even though your child might be eligible for free school travel you might choose to get the freedom pass as they use buses outside of school

[T12ACY]

tiredmum the Kent scheme is on the same basis. What the LA should be sorting out is getting DC in to more local appropriate schools, but if you choose a further afield one you pay. No wait, that is already the case! The ones who will lose out significantly, again because it is already a battle, are those who have to appeal the outcome of testing because they miss out on first round allocation and, like us, have to look further afield.

sherry-d I think you are referring to the Freedom Pass which is an entirely different scheme to encourage DC to travel on public transport at heavily subsidised rates. This is not what I am referring to at all. It is the home to school transport scheme which I am having an issue with being revised.

SSM - was posting as you replied. You are right that you can't have both. DS2 is eligible for home to school but we have opted for the FP, so pay the £50.00 (soon to be £100.00) a year.

[tiredmum]

ah thanks for clearing that up sherry - i have to pay about 500 a year for dd1 who didnt choose most appropriate school! Thats why i was so happy dd2 liked her appopriate school!

[sherry_d]

sherry-d I think you are referring to the Freedom Pass which is an entirely different scheme to encourage DC to travel on public transport at heavily subsidised rates.

I am not sure if I am getting the scheme you are talking about. I put Bennet first choice does that mean in the current scheme of things I could get FREE transport??? I could argue it is my nearest faith school (church of england of course) yada yada. I thought the article in KM was about the Freedom Pass?

Tiredmum have you checked to make sure you havent got anything similar to the Freedom pass in Medway? £500 is a LOT to pay and thats why I think £100 is still fair and its still free for those on low income. I know quite a few kids with Kent Freedom Pass even though they walk to school. It works out cheaper over the year for those occasional bus trips but I am sure they will probably stop getting it now if its £100.

[T12ACY]

sherry_d the consultation relates to 'home to school transport' which is very different to the Freedom Pass.

http://www.kent.gov.uk/education_and_le ... sport.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is the link to the info on KCC website about applying for school transport, which has criteria to meet. You don't get it if you have opted for a school which is further away than another which would be equally suitable. By this I mean; we applied for a GS place at a school about 5 miles away on appeal after DS failed KT. He didn't get a place, it was over subscribed which was a factor, so we applied to the next closest and he was offered a place so get free transport because it is the nearest available selective school. On the other hand as he had failed KT we applied for a comprehensive school (to secure a place if we failed to get a GS place) which was in another town, with this option DS would have not been offered free travel as there was a secondary school within a couple of miles from home which the LA considered would meet his needs.

[mystery]

For those of us who don't know, please can you explain exactly what the Kent Freedom pass is and what it can and can't be used for.

For those who have free transport, the withdrawal of it will be harsh, as it is not made abundantly clear that you are not by law entitled to it. However, the Kent admissions booklet is quite cleverly worded as it uses the word "you may" in respect of entitlement to travel costs to faith schools and some other types of school which are not your nearest.

I applied for free travel to primary school for one of my children when the only VA faith school I could get was several miles away. The LEA accepted my application (after making a few mistakes along the way) and said I could have a free taxi for my child, or petrol money for half the journeys (it assumes I would stay at school all day too!). I have not put in claims for either, but the possibility is there if something went wrong financially for us. The crazy thing was it would have been cheaper to pay me the full cost of the petrol rather than pay a taxi especially for my child, but the way they structure the payments it would have made more sense for me to take the taxi option than the petrol contributions. As it is I take neither.

One can also apply under a means-tested route for school transport. But again, if it isn't the nearest school it's not your statutory right.

Your statutory rights are explained in a booklet from the DfES (or whatever it is called) about school transport. It is then up to your LEA to decide whether to pay anymore than what they are legally required to. A lot of LEAs spend a lot on discretionary transport costs, and it's an obvious budgethead to cut (rather than staff) at this point in time.

I don't know if you have any case in law for an LEA policy regarding non-statutory expenditure being withdrawn, particularly where the word "may" was used.
When I received my letter I knew that it could be withdrawn at any point in time, but that was because I had worked in this area in the past. I'm not sure if it was made clear anywhere other than the word "may" in the admissions booklet.

[T12ACY]

The Kent Freedom pass is a bus pass to use on public transport for under 16's, or those in compulsory education so to the end of Y11. The LA charges an admin fee of £50 but are putting this up to £100 from September. It gives what it says, a bus pass. So for a one off fee DC can merrily travel on the bus any time of the day and any day of the week.

This link is the booklet explaining both types of transport some have mentioned.

https://shareweb.kent.gov.uk/Documents/ ... ort-10.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It outlines the criteria for 2010/11 entry to school and having read it can't see anywhere that the LA 'may' withdraw assistance......