Noobag06 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Hello everyone Does anyone know about or have experience of Local Authority travel assistance for vocational school? Our LA (Kent) has a duty to pay travel costs to the nearest secondary school, which is not a specialist classical ballet training centre, so I was hoping to explore the "gifted and talented" angle, as advised by one of her vocational school ballet teachers. As we understand it, this situation comes under the SEN umbrella. We live roughly 80 miles from school, and travel up and back to drop off and collect her by train twice a week, as she comes home at weekends. Any thoughts or experience would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesinthefirelight Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 It's generally only children with an EHIC plan attending the nearest suitable school that get transport assistance. In my area they have cut the faith & grammar school travel assistance provision also. Kent specifically state that sending a child to a selective school is a parental choice & doesn't qualify for transport assistance. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 If your child is in receipt of a MDS award, you may be able to get travel support too, depending on income. There are bits to fill in in the MDS form if you want to claim. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 2 hours ago, Picturesinthefirelight said: It's generally only children with an EHIC plan attending the nearest suitable school that get transport assistance. In my area they have cut the faith & grammar school travel assistance provision also. Kent specifically state that sending a child to a selective school is a parental choice & doesn't qualify for transport assistance. as others have said if it's MDS then MDS might or the school might help given many LAs currently appear to refuse to pay for transport to Grammar if your child passes the 11+ (esp if there are comps just as close) or if want your child to be indoctrinated in a faith school ( both of which used to happen in various places) , i doubt you'll get much luck from the LA as they will either say - it;s MDS responsibility or take the attitude that if you are self funding you can afford transport , also is it only weekly boardign or is that a choice ? In the days of schools having control over admissions even if a school was GM or an Academy they supported heads of good comps who said ' no 11 + failures' even if they were in an area that had transport to the comp ... i had a friend at school who moved into a grammared area of the county from otuside the county and his parents did their home work becasue he was borderline to get into the grammar 11+ wise and instead opted for the nearest 'good' comp , the LA paid for his travel fro mthe further point on the standard school bus route to the comp becasue that was his allocated school but his folks still had to get him the 5 or so miles o the start of the bus route ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 I think the MDS travel allowance may not cover weekly boarding.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peanut68 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 going a little off the point here - sorry - but have to say I'm jealous of your 80 mile train trip.....ours is 270 miles so a roundtrip is 540 miles with no practical train route possible....an awful lot of hours...an awful lot of petrol....an awful lot of costa coffees....it's the extra hidden costs such as these that are really hard to finance! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon2 Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 5 hours ago, Peanut68 said: going a little off the point here - sorry - but have to say I'm jealous of your 80 mile train trip.....ours is 270 miles so a roundtrip is 540 miles with no practical train route possible....an awful lot of hours...an awful lot of petrol....an awful lot of costa coffees....it's the extra hidden costs such as these that are really hard to finance! And an absolute killer for exeat weekends. All day Friday and Sunday spent travelling so you can both return to school/work on the Monday exhausted. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 Do you have to always return home? When dd was at Vocational school we sometimes made it into a weekend away for us all. Perhaps you could look out for suitable hotel offers nearer to the school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noobag06 Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 Hello Thank you for your replies. It would have been a 400 mile round trip for us, had we taken up her other vocational school offer, so this was a better option for various reasons. She has to return home at weekends as it is weekly boarding only. The school isn't part of an MDS, hence the exploration of other funding options. DH spoke to the decision making department at the LA on Monday, who confirmed that this is something we CAN apply for, on the grounds that it is the nearest school to us that meets her needs. I just wanted to share that, in case it helps others in similar situations or anyone who is thinking of applying this year, and I will update after the result of the appeal as well. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peanut68 Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 (edited) On 04/10/2017 at 07:37, Pas de Quatre said: Do you have to always return home? When dd was at Vocational school we sometimes made it into a weekend away for us all. Perhaps you could look out for suitable hotel offers nearer to the school. Generally we drive the 2.5 hours to stay with Grandfather as better then the 6 or so home!! Plus can use his washing machine & he cooks the best Sunday Roast lunches ever (at 89!!) Have also discovered the merits of getting points on credit card to stay free/cheap at various chains....but takes a while to add up. Prem Inns etc never seem to be cheap when/where we need to be even when I look months in advance though do need to explore perhaps a bit further afield...The real killer is for the family not to all be together as brother still has school so only one parent can go up to get there for 4pm on a Friday...sigh. But - she's happy & doing great so all good!! That's great if you get some travel assistance...be interested to know outcome.....I suspect for us they will say other schools are closer (well, yes, RBS is was not successful when auditioned for yr 7....so does this make her current school the closest to fulfil needs I wonder?? Might have to look into this so thanks for the heads up & good luck! Edited October 11, 2017 by Peanut68 added to 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noobag06 Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Just to let anyone who's interested know, we had our appeal this morning and they have decided to uphold it. So it is worthwhile applying, as it seems that it is a discretionary award. It will run until DD reaches the end of year 11. This makes a big difference to us! I also felt that the members of the panel who heard our case were sympathetic towards talents in the Arts (as they should be). 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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