Environment and roads

Transport for 5 to 11 year olds

Only a small number of children qualify for free home to school transport - please remember the following.

We have recently reviewed our home to school transport policy and our new policy was applied from September 2003. This new policy is set out below. It applies to children who live in the administrative county of Hertfordshire. If your child does not live in Hertfordshire, you should contact your own local education authority for details of its transport policy.

Children who currently receive free or assisted transport under the previous transport policy will continue to do so while they are attending their current school up to the relevant age. Some children who have a place at a school attended by their brother or sister will receive free or assisted transport. This rule will apply if the brother or sister also receives free or assisted denominational transport under the previous transport policy.

We will provide free transport for the following groups:

We will provide free transport for all children attending their nearest suitable school or educational placement where the distance from home to school is over ‘statutory walking distance’. This means:

• more than 2 miles for children under 8; and
  
• more than 3 miles for children aged 8 and over.
  

The phrase 'nearest suitable school' refers to the nearest available maintained school with places in the correct age range. You should not confuse it with your preference for a particular school.

We will provide free transport for all children attending their nearest suitable school which is less than the statutory walking distance if it would not be safe for the child to walk.
We will provide free transport for all children attending their nearest maintained faith school if they have a place there in line with their parents’ beliefs. This applies to children aged under 8 where the distance from home to school:

• is between 2 and 8 miles; or
  
• is further than 8 miles, and involves a journey of 45 minutes or less.

It also applies to children aged 8 or over where the distance from home to school:

• is between 3 and 15 miles; or
  
• is further than 15 miles, and involves a journey of 75 minutes or less.

We will provide free transport for children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs which says that they need free transport.

We will provide free transport for children in public care who have moved home during the academic year or need to attend a particular school for continuity. In these cases free transport will be considered as part of the review of the child’s needs in time for the beginning of the next academic year.

The following condition also applies to free transport to faith schools:

• Your child or an older child attending the school must have been allocated a place under a faith rule.