Education

Stranded by school-bus rules

By Victoria Smith
May 28, 2012

A 10-year-old boy is facing an hour’s walk to school each day as his home is just a few doors outside the borough’s free transport zone.

James Pamphilon’s mother Lindsay, of Foxcote, Finchampstead, was declined free transport for her son to St Crispin’s School in London Road, Wokingham, as she lives 2.9 miles from the school, just 0.1 miles outside the free transport zone.

Wokingham Borough Council’s qualifying distance for free transport is three miles, meaning some of Mrs Pamphilon’s other neighbours in Foxcote would qualify for free transport to St Crispin’s.

The mum-of-two said: “The absurd significance of this decision is that had we purchased a house three or four doors along from ours when we moved here, we would qualify.

“Is it not reasonable to expect to be entitled to free transport if the school you select is the nearest one of the alternatives available to you?

“We also disputed the distance quoted by the council and provided them with screen dumps of both Google Maps and the RAC maps, both of which show that the ‘walking’ distance from our house to the school is three miles, but the council does not accept this.

“Interestingly both Google and the RAC website suggest that this walk would take approximately one hour each way.”

After being told her application for free transport had been declined, Mrs Pamphilon contact The White Bus Company, which runs the transport to St Crispin’s for the council, to book and pay for James’s place on the bus.

Mrs Pamphilon, 39, was told she would not be allowed to do this until August, when all the children qualifying for a free place have been accommodated first.

This means James, who is about to leave Nine Mile Ride Primary School in Finchampstead, is not guaranteed a place on the bus, even if his mum pays the £600 annual fee.

Mrs Pamphilon added: “Surely the whole of the policy needs to be reviewed, starting with the inequitable lack of a facility to appeal against what appears to be a flawed and arbitrary process. With the new rules on the catchment area, one catchment area for all four schools, would it not be more sensible to review the existing policy?”

Brian Grady, strategic commissioner for children, young people and families, said: “Where a parent has made an application for travel assistance and this has been rejected, the parent may, if they wish, have the decision reviewed.

“This is set out in the recently adopted school transport policy. In order not to prejudice the outcome of any such appeals, it would not be appropriate to comment on an individual application.

“Map-based systems are used to measure walking distance in the first instance. These are approximate but will be sufficient in most cases. Where the distance is close to the threshold for school transport eligibility, or there are other grounds to review accuracy, we will use other means.

“Particularly where a parent asks for the decision to be reviewed against this criterion, this may include an independent assessment of both the distance and suitability of a particular route.

“The three miles qualifying distance for free transport is set by Parliament, and the council's policy adheres to the Education Act.

“The Education Act specifies the circumstances where councils have a duty to make home to school travel arrangements.

“In all other cases, parents are responsible for their child getting to school.

“This is explained fully in the Parents Guide to Secondary School Admissions, which was sent last September to all residents with children due to start secondary school this year.

“We understand that Mrs Pamphilon is referring to the bus route serving St Crispin’s School operated by the White Bus Company. The council also purchases passes for children eligible for free transport in order for them to use this service.

“However, it is a commercial matter for the bus operator as to how they manage and prioritise applications for tickets on this route.”

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Most recent user comments 14 of 14

Fluffball, could we afford to buy it from GDFTB, I am sure they have to maximise their profit, houses, meaning more children walking to school from south of the railway line. Agreed though, super site.

Wobbly Bob
29/05/2012 at 12:58

Isn't Woodcray Manor to old Guide Dogs site? That would make far too much sense! It's a superb location for a school.

Fluffball, Berkshire
29/05/2012 at 11:12

Damiano-Emmbrook is about 1/2 mile to Holt for the girls, Forest is a mile (?) up the main road and Crispins is possibly the same across town, so I personally feel the issue would be smaller? Anyway, he doesn't want to Emmbrook of course, he wants to go to St Crispins.

Wobbly Bob
28/05/2012 at 22:50

Suggestion is new School - sited at Woodcray Manor. Great development opportunity as well.

graywok, Woosehill
28/05/2012 at 22:02

@Damiano - looking at a map, I'm not sure that's quite true. 3 miles from St Crispins already covers up to Winnersh Station, and includes all of Emmbrook and Woosehill, as well as Central Wokingham, Norreys, and much of Finchampstead Road (at least to Inchape Ford) and Barkham Roads (to about Bearwood Road) as already discussed. (These aren't technically "catchment areas" but are the "3 mile free bus travel zones" considered in this article.)

But whilst the 3 mile zones of the two schools overlap significantly around the Wokingham area, Emmbrook's also covers up to Earley station and into parts of Lower Earley and Woodley too, which are significantly populous areas. Perhaps they are covered by other schools in those two areas, but I will admit that my knowledge of the location of other local schools is rather poor.

mavdo, Wokingham
28/05/2012 at 17:57

This is presumably for when he starts secondary school and will be 11. I cycled 6 miles each way to secondary school from 11 - 18. Never did me any harm...well apart from one incident with a lorry, but we live and learn!

N1gel, Winnersh
28/05/2012 at 17:37

(moving the school moves the problem. If you shifted the Emmbrook to where this particular child lives, all the kids that live in Emmbrook would be out of the catchment, for example)

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
28/05/2012 at 17:09

@spencer58 - if you mean that an Embrook replacement at Aborfield Garrison would mean this kid could instead attend that school by free bus... well, not necessarily. The current Army base entrance is 2.7 miles from the centre of Foxcote by shortest route, and the current Aborfield Garrison estate is about 3.3 miles away. Depending on where the school is sited, it could just be that a new school here is again just past the 3 mile limit from Foxcote, leaving the family in exactly the same position. Much of the rest of Finch would be in the same position. The downside would be that to get to Aborfield, there are no cycle paths but instead some dangerously narrow 40mph/60mph bendy, country roads.

mavdo, Wokingham
28/05/2012 at 13:57

graywok, I interpret Spencer's comment to mean it's "Barkham Mad" to have all the schools in the north of Wokingham, move Emmbrook to Arborfield so that the (I guess 150+) kids that currently catch the buses from Finchampstead to Wokingham, Bracknell and Reading have an alternative "on their doorstep". On top of the 150+ kids that catch buses, Mrs Pamphilon has identified there are more who cannot catch the bus due to existing legislation. As the bus / time / labour is already paid for, I would hope that Wokingham Council would highlight this obvious failing in Government legislation and reduce the area, a one hour walk each way to / from school for a child of 11 seems a little harsh, regardless of what happened in "my day" which is irrelevant 30 years later. Another option would be like how I interpret many universities which allow access to living in halls for a students first year. If Wokingham allowed all year 7's a bus pass if they live 2 miles from school, by the end of year 7 the students would know who lives in their area and parents would have a chance to organise lifts for 2/3/4 pupils and reduce their cost (£1200 to £2400 in this case). In conclusion I don't think the council can cure all the issues but they (Mr Stanton?) could make large inroads without spending a fortune moving Emmbrook to Arborfield. When the bus contracts are renegotiated this could be introduced.

Wobbly Bob
28/05/2012 at 13:34

@spencer58 - Its not Emmbrook, The clue is in the story.

graywok, Woosehill
28/05/2012 at 12:13

So.... The Emmbrook School needs to relocate to Arborfield Garrison site.....

spencer58
28/05/2012 at 10:55

To avoid any ambiguity, surely it is possible to have a map with a line on it which is a 3 mile range from each school? It will always be harsh if you are just the wrong side of the line, but at least if it is clearly shown on a map it is clear for everyone.

Smiffy, Reading
28/05/2012 at 10:17

Whilst it may be a parent's responsibility to get children to school outside a certain distance, it should be the council's responsibility to ensure that they can do this without a car - not everyone drives, and sometimes the parents will either have to work at the time of drop-off/collection or won't be able to afford the house they live in. But it seems the council just brushes this responsibility off entirely - no help, no suggestions, no assistance.

This assistance could come in the form of - a nearby bus route, school bus or normal bus; cycle ways; assisted car sharing schemes etc etc.

If the family lived on a farm in the sticks then maybe the kid would have to walk a bit to the nearest bus stop, or cycle in, but when you consider how many people live in finchampsted where there are NO bus services before 10am apart from school services, it isn't fair to say to the family "you won't get a free bus, and whether you can use the bus or not is entirely a commercial matter". I'm sorry, but ensuring there are ways for children to get to school is NOT a commercial matter. In major towns and cities, it is easy - there are buses, trains, paths, etc etc. But our area seems dead set on having almost zero local alternatives to the car.

This dismissive nature is typical of politics at every level. Each level dismisses any responsibility until such a time when there is a private company who don't or can't take any responsibility at all. Look at planning - the top level of government says "planning must happen in this way" and then when it doesn't or can't, suddenly it is the responsibility of someone else (local government) to implement what they've dictated - National government promises, but when local government fail to deliver, it isn't the national government's fault. When/if they do, national government has "triumphed" again(!). Same here - local government promises, but when they can't deliver it is a private company's fault.

I hope the council steps up with at least some reasonable suggestions for this family, even if they end up insisting that they can't pay for it.

However, my suggestion for the family - I think there are cycle paths for almost all of this route. Get a bike. It's cheaper than £600 a year, gives excellent independance, and provides brilliant exercise. I cycled for 8 years as a child, despite my Dad driving to work past the end of my school's road.

mavdo, Wokingham
28/05/2012 at 09:40

I had exactly the same problem when my son started there in 1996, as I live in Pine Drive. And even though the bus stopped at the end of our road, he was not allowed on it, even if I paid for him - at least it sounds like there might be that option available eventually to this family. I hated let him cycle along those roads in rush hour and walking was often not an option partly due to the weight of the school bag he had to carry so I usually changed the route of my journey to work so that I could drop him off. Not very green. I was also told before choosing St Crispins as his school, that he would be entitled to free transport - it wasn't until we applied that he was turned down as we were 2.9 miles away. So I guess some things never change!

JuWoo
28/05/2012 at 09:23

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Education

Stranded by school-bus rules

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