The Education & Inspections Act 2006 (Section 508B) requires local authorities to ensure that suitable travel arrangements for “eligible children” in their area are made to facilitate their attendance at “qualifying schools”.
Eligible children and young people
The terms “eligible children” and “qualifying schools” relate to the age of the child, the school which the child attends (including cross border schools) and the distance between the child’s home address and the school measured by the shortest available walking route (which may include rights of way).
Walking routes are from where the property meets the adopted road to the nearest available entrance to school grounds as measured using the Dorset Council GIS system.
This GIS system measures the distance from home to school according to the shortest available walking routes.
The term “parent” relates to any person responsible for the child.
Transport eligibility (free provision) is provided to the end of the respective educational year in the following cases:
- if the child is in Reception Year to Year 4 (aged between 4 & 9) and lives two miles or more from the catchment area or nearest school
- if the child is in Year 5 to Year 11 (aged between 9 & 16) and lives three miles or more from the catchment area or nearest school.
Catchment/nearest school or ‘nearest suitable school with places available considering efficient use of resources’
Your postal address will define your catchment school. If another school is the ‘nearest’, this may also qualify for transport eligibility. These schools may be Community, Voluntary Controlled, Voluntary Aided, Foundation/Trust, Academy or a Free School. If you are applying to a school on denominational grounds, you should refer to section 1.1.15 of this policy.
Eligible transport is currently provided to the nearest or catchment area school where the child meets the qualifying criteria. Whilst these agreed areas remain unaltered, schools will continue to have eligible transport provided by the LA.
However, if any school (This refers to all types of schooling including maintained schools, voluntary controlled (VC), voluntary aided (VA), trusts, academies and free schools (Studio Schools and University Technical Colleges included). including where this affects a relevant pyramid or network area, chooses to alter their catchment area or admissions policy, they will need to consult on their arrangements with the LA, as the LA is only legally required to provide transport to the nearest appropriate school. If schools change their arrangements, it will be their responsibility to inform parents.
If the catchment and nearest school do not have places available you may be offered transport to the ‘nearest suitable school with places available considering efficient use of resources’ – this will be decided by identifying the transport options, routes and timings. You will need to contact the admissions team to find out which school in the area would qualify under this category
‘Nearest School’ is assessed on the basis of a straight-line distance between the home address and the school using the Dorset GIS system, using the Eastings and Northings for each location.
Children who are subject to an Education Health & Care Plan (EHCP) will only be eligible for transport if they fulfil criteria in 1.1.1 and 1.1.4 and:
- they are attending their catchment or nearest mainstream school
- or they are attending the closest appropriate base provision
- or they are attending their closest appropriate Special School
The statements in Section I of the EHCP will clearly articulate where the named school differs from that which the Local Authority deems appropriate and there will be clear reference as to whether there is entitlement to transport to the named school based on the criteria laid out above. If the named school does not fit the criteria detailed above, transport will not be allocated.
Please also refer to Section 1.1.12 for further information about eligibility in exceptional circumstances for children with SEND, Disability or Medical Needs.