School transport post 16 in 2013

TheBees

My daughter is doing gcse's at the moment and plans to stay on at school in the 6th form. She will be one of the first cohort of students expected to remain in education for an extra year. My question is..... Why should i have to pay for a bus pass from september if the government says she must remain in education. This could cost over £300 for ths year.

jess1974

I am in the same boat, my sons transport to college or sixth form in September will be £490 per year !!!!

dundeediva

I don't want this to come across the wrong way but who do you expect to pay for it? The changes to the education leaving age will benefit her and surely you want the best for her. To answer your question, I believe YOU will have to pay for it as she is your child.

loopy-loo73

i have been paying for my daughters pass since she went to high school, she is also doing GCSEs this summer - i will continue to do so when she goes to 6th form college in september
would i rather spend the money on other things? probably but she's my daughter so she comes first - how else would she get to school anyway?!
daft question really ...

claire16c

As she'll be in education won't you therefore carry on getting child benefit so you could use that to pay for it?

What would you rather she did? Drop out at 16??

poet123

Why would this enter your head? Unless you would rather she actually left school and got a job? Your CB will more than cover it.

Folio

Difficult one. Education is SO important and I think keeping kids in school longer is a good thing, but what if the family are living on NMW so the child benefit is already needed for food and clothing?

Own_My_Own

TheBees wrote: »

My daughter is doing gcse's at the moment and plans to stay on at school in the 6th form. She will be one of the first cohort of students expected to remain in education for an extra year. My question is..... Why should i have to pay for a bus pass from september if the government says she must remain in education. This could cost over £300 for ths year.

How old is she ?

That ruling doesn't come into affect until the next school year. So if she is 16 before Aug 2013 then she can leave at the end of June 2013. Meaning if she stays to do her A-Levels then it is her choice.

https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school

Is there nowhere closer to home she could do them ?

silvercar

The original reason for not paying for school transport for 6th formers was that they were over official school leaving age and therefore the decision to stay at school was voluntary.

Paid school transport is generally only available to secondary school when the nearest suitable school with a place is over 3 miles away. It could be that anyone who qualified during secondary school would qualify still when the leaving age changes. Of course it would be reasonable for the local authority to assess whether the current school is still the nearest suitable school, given that it would not be unreasonable to change schools after gcse.

Whether any local authority transport section or even the government department has considered this arguement, I don't know. It could well be that with the pressure on budgets the local authorities will say they have never provided 6th form transport as a right and won't consider it now.

Of course, now that the students are 16, the options of getting to school increase. Less safety worries over accepting lifts, more capable of travelling independently using public transport, cycling etc. A lot of bus companies issue cheaper travel passes for students, so there may be cheaper options than the official school bus.

Own_My_Own

Although we are very lucky that my DDs school is only 2 roads away, so I do not have to pay, I have been thinking about the OP.

Next years(2014) pupils may well get they travel paid for, or subsidised, as they will have to stay in education. But I would much rather my child be going up this year, even with the cost's.

Every child that applies to 6th form this year, is doing so because they want to learn, want to further their education.
next year there will be pupils who are doing it because they have to.

I would rather pay this year, knowing everyone in my dds class wants to be there, than not pay and think that some in the class were being disruptive.
Because if they have to stay in education, I cannot see how the school can make this pupils leave. And I doubt they will be able to have banded A-Level classes.

silvercar

Own_My_Own wrote: »

Although we are very lucky that my DDs school is only 2 roads away, so I do not have to pay, I have been thinking about the OP.

Next years(2014) pupils may well get they travel paid for, or subsidised, as they will have to stay in education. But I would much rather my child be going up this year, even with the cost's.

Every child that applies to 6th form this year, is doing so because they want to learn, want to further their education.
next year there will be pupils who are doing it because they have to.

I would rather pay this year, knowing everyone in my dds class wants to be there, than not pay and think that some in the class were being disruptive.
Because if they have to stay in education, I cannot see how the school can make this pupils leave. And I doubt they will be able to have banded A-Level classes.

Will the existing schools have to keep pupils on? SOme pupils will be better suited to GNVQs and the like, if a particular school doesn't offer them, can they direct the pupil to study elsewhere? Many schools round here are setting certain standards to allow pupils to take 3/4 A levels - generally requiring at least 5 B gcse grades, if pupils don't meet this they are directed to NVQs and the like.