Education case studies: Transport to/from school

May 1, 2024

• Mitigating Action: Upon moving to a new area, two sibling Service children were placed in different schools. Their mother described the challenges faced in getting both children to school on time. They were provided with a free taxi service for one child, allowing her to walk the other child to school. The schools also offered free after school care until she could collect one child and until she was at home for the taxi to drop off the other child.
• Amending the School Transport Policy: In response to a 2015 decision by the (then-named) Local Government Ombudsman, a council committed to improving its practice by:
  o making sure officers and panels identify at an early stage if the Covenant is relevant to an application;
  o amending its school transport policy to stress that the list of examples it provides (of exceptional circumstances in which it will consider exercising its discretion to provide transport) is not intended as a definitive list, and to clearly invite parents to identify if their circumstances are similar to the circumstances listed;
  o amending its school transport appeal forms to ask parents to highlight any reasons why they may not be able to maintain any arrangements they have put in place for the child to get to school.