Introduction
Unless your child qualifies for free school travel assistance, it is the parent’s and carers’ responsibility to get them to school.
We will provide free school travel assistance to children who attend their designated transport area or nearest school. And live more than the statutory walking distance of 2 miles for children aged under 8 and 3 miles for children aged 8 years old and over from that school.
It is your responsibility to check which school is your nearest or designated transport area school before applying for a school place.
The school ‘designated transport area’ and the school catchment area can sometimes be different so please do not automatically assume there will be entitlement to travel assistance to your catchment school. Please email schooladmissions@somerset.gov.uk to check if you are not sure.
The schools that currently have different catchment and designated transport areas are:
If a place is allocated at a school which is parentally preferred and which is beyond the statutory walking distance but this school is neither the nearest nor the designated transport area school and at either of which places would have been available at the time of application, then you will be responsible for making your own travel arrangements and for all travel costs in getting your children to school.
For starting and transferring school applications for the year of entry the following applies:
- If you made an on-time application and did not include either the nearest or designated transport area school as a preference, there is no entitlement to travel assistance to any other school including in cases where a school place has been allocated which was not included as a preference. This is because had a preference been made for the nearest or the transport area school a place would have been offered.
- If you have not moved house but made a late application and did not include either the nearest or designated transport area school as a preference or these schools were already full from the first round, there is no entitlement to travel assistance to any other school. This includes in cases where a school place has been allocated which was not included as a preference. This is because had an on-time preference been made for the nearest or the designated transport area school a place would have been offered.
Finding out if you are entitled to free school travel assistance
If your child is entitled to travel assistance, you will receive an email within 6 weeks of your child’s school place outcome. If you do not receive an email this means your child has been assessed as not being entitled to free school travel assistance. Please do not apply for school travel assistance in the meantime.
Travel assistance entitlement is only assessed to the designated transport area or nearest school over the statutory walking distance of 2 miles for children aged under 8 and 3 miles for children aged 8 and over.
If you wish for your child’s travel assistance entitlement to be assessed under low-income grounds, you will need to make a separate application. You can do this on our Home to school transport page.
Accepting an offer of school travel assistance
You will be sent a link to the medical needs form with the email offering travel assistance for your child. You must fill this out by the deadline given to accept the offer of travel assistance and to inform us of any medical needs your child may have. There is no guarantee that travel assistance will be set up for the start of the academic year if your form is returned late.
School travel assistance entitlement to schools that have changed their catchment area
Designated transport areas for schools match the catchment area for that school as of September 2012. If an admission authority has changed the catchment area for their school, there is no automatic change to the designated transport area. Designated transport areas are set by the local authority and can only be changed following a full public consultation.
Payseats
Since January 2020, we have had to comply with The Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations (PSVAR) regulations. These are accessibility regulations which cannot be met by most of the Somerset transport providers with their current fleet. The regulations prevent us from offering seats on a paying basis on vehicles over 22 seats which are not PSVAR compliant.
You can apply online for a payseat and you will be notified of the outcome before the start of the academic year, but it is highly recommended that you have alternative travel arrangements in place.
Full information on all home-to-school travel assistance provisions, including low-income transport, faith transport and exceptional transport, is available.