LA policies for home to school transport
Each LA in the Diocese publishes a home to school transport policy and scheme annually within its school admission prospectus. The schemes are different and they are administered directly by the LA. Parents have to apply to the LA in which they reside. Some LAs assist with transport to a school in another LA. Some schemes require evidence of church membership. The West Sussex criteria for awarding assistance include reference to journey time. Most schemes award assistance if the child lives within a set distance from the school.
Discretionary assistance for denominational home to school transport
LAs provide a measure of assistance for all children to travel to their nearest school if their journey distance falls within certain limits. In addition, most LAs use their discretionary powers to provide financial assistance to help families who choose to send their children to denominational schools on religious grounds, rather than to their nearest school. However, the level of support has been declining.
Provision of assistance for denominational transport is discretionary, not statutory. Statutory obligations on LAs to provide free transport have led to spiralling costs. LAs have increasingly sought to make savings in this discretionary area. It is one of the few still in LA control.
The importance of denominational home to school transport
Denominational transport is of strategic importance to Catholic schools. The provision was set up in 1944 to enable Church schools to become part of the maintained school system. Many diocesan schools established since then have been sited to aid accessibility from a wide geographical area. They are much more vulnerable to cuts in transport assistance than community schools which take their children from their local area.
The location and size of Catholic schools reflects long standing arrangements with LAs designed to support the efficient use of school places, enabling the exercise of parental choice of a church education and allowing schools to reflect community and parish identities in their intake. There have been recent cases where arrangements have been withdrawn as ‘anomalies’, despite the fact that they originated to enable the school system to function efficiently as well as to allow children to attend a school in their own deanery or diocese. However, most proposals to reduce levels of support for home to school transport are based on arguments of economy. Councils must consult widely before altering their transport policies. It is vitally important that schools and parents take part in these consultation exercises, working closely with Diocesan representatives and making their views known to the Council.
