School Transport and Appeals
- If your child has been awarded a place at the nearest appropriate school, you may be eligible for free transport.
- The
nearest appropriate school can be your nearest non selective school,
your nearest denominational school, or your nearest grammar school.
- If you applied for the nearest appropriate school and it was full, then the ruling applies to the next nearest and so on.
- The criterion in Kent & Medway is three miles for a secondary school, and two for a primary school. In Kent the distance is measured in a straight line, in Medway it is the shortest walking route (which excludes for example the M2!).
- Medway has a list of some schools in their admission booklet, where free transport applies.
- Medway parents living on the Hoo Peninsula have had considerable success with appeals for transport to Medway Grammar Schools (not necessarily the nearest) and if relevant to you, don't be put off. I am happy to support parents for such appeals.
- In both Kent & Medway, appeals against transport
decisions are initially to a Panel of Councillors, and there are
successes each year, often on grounds of wrong measurements. Medway appears more flexible for 'exceptional circumstnaces'. However,
the new method in Kent of measuring distance for most schools in a straight
line between home and school, rather than previously by the shortest
walking route, will simplify decisions and reduce chances.