A governor from an Esk Valley school has raised concerns about the changes to North Yorkshire Council’s home-to-school transport policy and the potential impact on pupils from villages in the Esk Valley.
An Esk Valley school governor has voiced concerns about the impact of school transport policy changes on the ability of local children to access Whitby secondary school.
North Yorkshire Council has moved from its previous ‘catchment’ system to now only providing free transport to a child’s nearest school.
The council says it needs to make the change to help address a £48m budget shortfall.
But critics say the change is causing unnecessary disruption, uncertainty and inconvenience to hundreds of families — and have questioned if the new policy will actually save the authority any money.
Joanne Kevan is a governor at Castleton Primary School she says the councils new policy has made it "impossible to predict which secondary schools local children will now attend".
She highlighted the case of one family in Castleton for whom Whitby does not appear at all within their five nearest schools.
For other families in Castleton and Danby, Jo Kevan noted that the top three nearest schools can vary depending on the specific address. This, she contends, could lead to a situation where "a cohort of five children from a primary school could very well each end up getting a place at five separate secondary schools".
The school governor warned that this uncertainty could have a negative impact on the number of families who choose to live in these Esk Valley villages potentially leading to a "devastating effect on the viability of these small rural schools".
Jo. Kevan also expressed concern that Whitby School could see fewer students in the future due to the policy change affecting other feeder schools.
She suggested that Whitby School might be "effectively forced into subsidizing or funding transport for those affected by the policy" and expressed a concern that the policy could mean a reduction int eh number of pupils for Whitby school as more Esk Valley pupils start attending other schools deemed to be nearer to their homes.
In response to these concerns, Amanda Newbold, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for education and skills, explained that the council has a "duty to provide homeschool travel for eligible children of compulsory school age" in accordance with legislation and statutory guidance, which in most cases means to the nearest school. She stated that the council adopted the new policy as part of efforts to manage it's current spending of over £51 million a year on home-to-school travel.
Amanda Newbold clarified that while "parents have the right to preference any school of their choice when they apply for places... they don't have a right of free of charge travel arrangements to any school".
Amanda Newbold pointed out that across the county, "about one in three children don't attend their catchment secondary school and around 45% across the county don't attend their catchment primary school".
Amanda Newbold reiterated that the council's policy change aims to reduce the cost of home-to-school travel and will lead to a reduction in eligibility over time. She also mentioned that following feedback during consultation, the council has extended the entitlement to free travel for low-income households to cover a greater distance for secondary schools than the national requirement, aiming to provide those families with more meaningful choices.
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