Guide: Primary school transport
- Introduction
- Whose responsibility is it to get a child to school?
- Will my child get free school transport?
- How do I check if my child is eligible to apply for free school transport?
- How are distances measured?
- What if my child lives at two addresses?
- Code of conduct
- Applications
- Moving house
- Transport to faith schools
- Appeals
- Route safety
Introduction
You can request a place at any school for your child, but your child may not necessarily be entitled to free school transport. It is very important that you check whether your child will be entitled. If they are not, you will need to think carefully about how your child is going to get to the school you prefer for the whole time they will be there.
Your child will be entitled to free school transport to the nearest school to your home address, or the school designated to serve your home address, as long as it is more than two miles away from your home by the shortest walking route. You can find out which school serves your home address at School designated areas.
Where children live within walking distance of the school (2 miles) and it is considered that the walking route to school is unsafe then transport will be provided.
School transport is only provided at the normal times at the beginning and end of the day. If your child begins primary school on a part-time basis then they may be entitled to free transport for the journey to school.
The below document was designed for printing purposes only, and with that in mind will not be fully accessible to someone using assistive technology such as a screen reader.
The information contained in this guide is also summarised in the Transport for primary school pupils leaflet.