Assessing entitlement
In all cases, a child/young person must be attending the nearest suitable school (or one of the three nearest suitable schools under the extended rights eligibility). This is defined as a school that has spaces available that provides education appropriate to the age, gender, ability and aptitude of the child, and appropriate to the child’s EHCP where one exists.
Types of suitable schools considered under this policy are:
- community, foundation, trust, voluntary aided and voluntary controlled schools
- academies or alternative provision academies
- free schools
- community or foundation special schools
- non-maintained special schools
- pupil referral units
- maintained nursery schools
- city technology colleges, city colleges for the technology of the arts and university technical colleges
- Independent schools where this is named on a child’s EHCP or is the nearest of two schools named.
For mainstream applications processed during the normal school admissions round, a school will be determined as having a vacancy if a place would have been offered according to the allocations made on the national offer day, assuming the parent either made or could reasonably have made an application. For applications made after the normal admissions round and those made during the school year, a school will be determined as having a vacancy if, at the point of processing the child’s school application, a place could have been allocated to the child.
When a child cannot be offered a place at the nearest school to the home address, the Council will, subject to the criteria set within this policy and the qualifying distance being met, provide assistance with travel to the next nearest school with space to admit. For travel arrangements to be provided in this instance the parent must provide evidence that they have applied for and been refused a place at the school which is the nearest school for their home address and any other schools closer than the school offering admission.
Where a school operates on multiple or split sites, the assessment of nearest qualifying school will take account of the sites used to prioritise admissions (as defined in each school’s admission arrangements), regardless of which year groups are educated at which site or which site a child might attend.
How walking distance is measured
Walking distances are calculated using the shortest available walking route from the home address to school. If families believe that the walking route measured is not available to walk they should request a review of the route.
The legal definition of an ‘available walking route’ is a route along which a child, accompanied as necessary, can walk with reasonable safety to school.
Where a school operates on a temporary site and that school’s permanent/current site is deemed to be a child’s nearest qualifying school, the home to school walking distance will be measured to the school’s temporary site to determine if the child lives over the statutory walking distance and is eligible for travel assistance. Eligibility will be reassessed at the point a child ceases to be educated at the temporary site.
Distances will be measured using the Council’s CapitaOne System (and supported by other Council GIS systems) from the address point of the pupil’s house to the nearest school gate available for pupils to use when measuring to a school, as set by Ordnance Survey.
Route safety assessment
Where a parent/carer believes the assessed walking route to be unsafe, they should write to the Travel Assistance Team outlining the aspect of the route they believe to be unsafe. The identified aspects of the route will then be review by the team. Review of the routes will use the ‘Road Safety GB Guidelines on Assessment of Walked Routes to School’ to assess suitability.
Extended Rights
Parents who believe they meet the Extended Rights criteria and are therefore eligible for assistance with travel to school must include with their application evidence of the child’s entitlement to free school meals or the family’s receipt of maximum level of Working Tax Credit (WTC) with their application form.
A child who has been assessed as eligible for travel assistance by meeting the Extended Rights criteria will have their entitlement reviewed each academic year to ensure that the child continues to meet the necessary criteria.