Should my daughters school let her finish early

burtons

My daughter starts back to school on thursday and she needs to use public transport but since covid the buses in my area changed to hourly and the last bus from town to my house is 15.25 so should the school allow my daughter to finish early so she can catch the bus from school to town then catch the 15.25 bus home.

jon81uk

Is there no special school bus service?

bradders1983

Last bus on a weekday at 3.25?!

Where is this, somewhere extremely rural? And if so, then surely there is a school bus provision if she is in catchment area? What distance are we talking here?

Pollycat

What have the school said to your request to allow your daughter to finish school early?

silvercar

Local authorities are responsible for the cost of travel to from school if the school is the nearest school and over 2 or 3 miles (depending on age) from your home. If there isn't public transport available then, if she qualifies they should be providing transport.
Contact the local authority school transport department. Is she the only one in this situation?

gettingtheresometime

Whilst I appreciate every LA is different, a friend's son finishes at 2.30pm.

Spendless

What time does the school finish? How early will she have to leave? What is the alternative to get home if she can't catch the last bus from your town to home?

burtons

bradders1983 said:

Last bus on a weekday at 3.25?!

Where is this, somewhere extremely rural? And if so, then surely there is a school bus provision if she is in catchment area? What distance are we talking here?

We have a school 5 minutes away (Walking) but my missus wanted her to go to a welsh school which according to google takes 52 minutes to walk 2.3 miles or if going by car it takes 12 minutes for 3 miles. Before covid the first bus from town to my house was 8.35 and the last bus was 18.35 but not many people used the bus so when we had lockdown nobody was using the bus so they changed the times from 9.25 until 15.25. We've asked the school and we are waiting for the headmaster to get back to us.

bradders1983

Right so by choice she a) isnt even at her nearest school, and b) its in a different LEA area?
In which case the rules Silvecar posted dont apply here I suppose

How old is your daughter? With all due respect that isn't a huge distance although maybe not if she is 5! How old is she?

Spendless

Unless parent was catching the bus through to the school and accompanying child back prior to lockdown, I'm assumming child is old enough to catch a bus alone unless there has been changes in work patterns or lifts since March?
I do sympathise, my own daughter is caught with a similar issue with her out of area college and changes to the train timetable, her options are arrive 2 hours too early, arrive slightly late or make a 3 hour journey for what is usually a 20 min train ride.
I guess the Head's reply may depend on how much time child will miss and what school year they're in.
Options may have to include switching to the nearby school, assumming they have spaces and child is in a school year where this is feasible. 

bradders1983

If she is old enough to catch a bus alone, then she is old enough to walk a couple of miles tbh. Or at least walk to a place nearby where there is a better bus service?