All councils across the country must make home to school travel arrangements for eligible children to attend their qualifying school.
The relevant qualifying school is the designated school for the child’s home address or the nearest school with places available. It must also provide education appropriate to the age, ability and aptitude of the child and any special educational or access needs the child may have.
Eligible children are those who are aged under 16 years (transport entitlement includes pupils up to year 11, the year group for 15 and 16-year-olds) and who:
- cannot walk to school because of their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem
- cannot walk to school safely because of the nature of the route
- live outside ‘statutory walking distance’ from the school (two miles for children under eight and three miles for children over eight) and
- are entitled to assistance on low-income grounds
Read our guide to school transport for children with SEND.
We’ve also published guides to applications for SEND primary school transport and applications for SEND secondary school transport.
How are decisions to provide transport made?
All requests for transport are considered on a case-by-case basis. Parents and carers may be required to provide information to help officers reach a considered conclusion on whether there is a duty to provide transport. It should be noted that the duty to provide transport assistance changes when students enter post-16 education.
Disagreeing with a decision
If you remain dissatisfied with a decision you can ask about details of the two-stage appeal process available to you.
Independent travel training
We also offer an independent travel training program. This is a free scheme to help young people throughout Devon learn how to develop the skills required for safe, independent travel.
This could include road safety, telling the time, how to use a bus pass, appropriate social behaviour and strategies for solving problems.
If a child currently travels to school or college on assisted transport and would like to travel on their own, then their own independent travel trainer could help. Find out more about independent travel training.