Travel to school for all statutory school age pupils(Reception to the end of Year 11)
Parents have a right in law to state a preference for a school for their child, but that does not automatically carry with it a right to free travel. Every parent has a responsibility to ensure their child’s regular attendance at school and this may involve accompanying your child all or part of the way to school or arranging for someone else to accompany them. Less than 10% of pupils are entitled to travel assistance from the County Council and most families therefore make their own travel arrangements each day.
When choosing a school, the journey there should merit some careful consideration for both parent and pupil. Travel options should be investigated if you are not entitled to free home to school travel. There is a range of travel support that you may find useful when planning the journey to school - for example school crossing patrols and public transport. You may also wish to check with the bus operator to see what tickets and fares they offer or speak to the school to see if they arrange any transport.
Parents need to be aware of problems surrounding parking at schools leading to peak hour congestion and safety issues, and those of non-entitled pupils will need to consider this when deciding on how their child will get to school. Staffordshire County Council would prefer non-entitled children to be able to walk to and from school wherever possible, to encourage sustainable travel and promote health and exercise. Safer routes to school and school travel plans are developed to make this easier for pupils – please contact the school directly for more information. To encourage walking and cycling to school there are a number of initiatives that will be of benefit.
Staffordshire operates Walking Buses which may be able to help if parents are unable to accompany primary aged pupils on the journey to school.
The council also offers Bikeability, a cycling training course designed to equip pupils with the skills to cycle to school.
For more information on public transport please visit our public bus information page or call Traveline on 0871 200 2233
