Should my daughters school let her finish early

Mrs_Soup

Is the school not doing staggered end of day anyway to stop them all having to leave at the same time?  How early would she have to leave? Sounds like it could be very early if its actually the second bus that has restricted times.

bradders1983

You say the school is only 2.3 miles away yet necessitates 2 buses, of which the 2nd bus of an evening is the issue.

How far away from your house does the first bus deposit your daughter after school?

haras_n0sirrah

How about a bike either accompanied by a parent if primary or on unaccompanied if secondary
I doubt she is the only child from your area-is a car share an option?

silvercar

burtons said:

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 said:

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?

I falsely assumed you were in England. No doubt there will be special concessions for attending you nearest welsh language school. There may well be an obligation to provide transport by the local authority; though again the 2/ 3 mile rule may come into play.
That said it stands to reason that with fewer Welsh language schools about, more pupils have longer travelling distances than the average and I doubt your child is the only one affected. The Headmaster should be aware and be involved with the liaison with the local authority on transport provision. 

bradders1983

They may be in England and she goes over the border to a Welsh one? Is that even an option for children?

This palarver may only be over one mile though, it really depends how far the first bus deposits her from home.

silvercar

Here you go:
https://senedd.wales/research documents/faq16-010 - school transport/faq16-010-web-english.pdf
Basic rule is free transport provision to nearest suitable school if over 2 (primary) or 3 (secondary) miles.
Add to that that individual local authorities can go over and above that on a discretionary basis, generally for faith or Welsh medium schools, so you need to find out what your LA policy is. From the link, "Welsh medium schools that are not the nearest suitable schools - local authorities and Welsh Ministers have a duty under the Learner Travel Measure to ‘promote access to education and training through the medium of Welsh’ when deciding which schools are most suitable for learners in their area;"
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Your original question was more about the provision of transport, rather than who funds it. So we have side tracked slightly. If you can show that a provision should be made, then who pays for it may be a secondary argument.
The bottom line is that the head is not going to want a lot of children sloping off early, so if there are quite a few in the same position, there may be pressure to sort out the issue. If there are only 1 or 2 children effected he may be agreeable to leaving early. As a parent, this as a temporary measure may be fine, to miss the last lesson and the social departure from school every day is not something I would be happy with every day.
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I'm also querying what age a child is that you are happy for them to take 2 buses to get home but not walk 2.3 miles.
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The absolute bottom line is that it is a parent's responsibility to arrange transport their children to and from school.
  

burtons

silvercar said:

Here you go:
https://senedd.wales/research documents/faq16-010 - school transport/faq16-010-web-english.pdf
Basic rule is free transport provision to nearest suitable school if over 2 (primary) or 3 (secondary) miles.
Add to that that individual local authorities can go over and above that on a discretionary basis, generally for faith or Welsh medium schools, so you need to find out what your LA policy is. From the link, "Welsh medium schools that are not the nearest suitable schools - local authorities and Welsh Ministers have a duty under the Learner Travel Measure to ‘promote access to education and training through the medium of Welsh’ when deciding which schools are most suitable for learners in their area;"
----
Your original question was more about the provision of transport, rather than who funds it. So we have side tracked slightly. If you can show that a provision should be made, then who pays for it may be a secondary argument.
The bottom line is that the head is not going to want a lot of children sloping off early, so if there are quite a few in the same position, there may be pressure to sort out the issue. If there are only 1 or 2 children effected he may be agreeable to leaving early. As a parent, this as a temporary measure may be fine, to miss the last lesson and the social departure from school every day is not something I would be happy with every day.
-----
I'm also querying what age a child is that you are happy for them to take 2 buses to get home but not walk 2.3 miles.
-----
The absolute bottom line is that it is a parent's responsibility to arrange transport their children to and from school.
  

She's 13. The problem with walking home from school is part of the route is walking through woods and with the dark weather coming it's not ideal. 

burtons

bradders1983 said:

You say the school is only 2.3 miles away yet necessitates 2 buses, of which the 2nd bus of an evening is the issue.

How far away from your house does the first bus deposit your daughter after school?

1.5 miles away.

bradders1983

Right, does that 1.5 miles involve walking through the woods you mentioned earlier?  Surely the 2nd bus goes on a road, is that road through woods?

1.5m isnt very far for a 13 year old to walk otherwise.

silvercar

burtons said:

She's 13. The problem with walking home from school is part of the route is walking through woods and with the dark weather coming it's not ideal. 

The problem with drip feeding information post by post.
She is 13, the school is under 3 miles away. Forget everything about being the 'nearest suitable school' or 'nearest school'. I think you are on your own with this problem. My previous comment "The bottom line is that the head is not going to want a lot of children sloping off early, so if there are quite a few in the same position, there may be pressure to sort out the issue. If there are only 1 or 2 children effected he may be agreeable to leaving early." is what you need to focus on.
I can see it may be an issue in the very last weeks of term, but at the moment I wouldn't have thought it is that dark at that time in Wales.