Introduction
This document describes the policy for home to school travel assistance for all children and young people aged 0-25 years. It explains the responsibilities of parents/carers and Cumberland Council regarding school transport, as well as how to apply for school transport and the criteria applied to determine eligibility.
Policy aims
Where children and young people are eligible for transport assistance, our policy recognises that one size doesn’t necessarily fit all and that different families have differing needs. We also want to make sure that young people are best prepared for adulthood.
The policy will:
- provide a range of available support to meet differing needs
- support some young people with SEND to travel independently
The policy explains how we decide who can get travel assistance and what help is available for children and young people with SEND. It applies to children attending:
- mainstream schools and academies
- specialist units in mainstream schools and academies
- special schools and academies
- pupil referral units (PRUs)
- sixth-form colleges
Home to School travel assistance aims to:
- support those most in need
- promote principles of independence
- provide the most cost-effective travel assistance
- promote and encourage the use of sustainable travel
As a Council, we expect the service delivered to be of a high standard. All children and young people who travel under this policy can expect that those standards will be monitored and maintained.
In this policy we have referred to children of statutory school age (5 to 16 years) as “pupils”, and those over statutory school age as “students”.
Only people living in the Cumberland Council area will be considered for school and college transport assistance.