Parents call for steps to improve school transport

About a fifth of pupils at Brayton Academy will live outside the school's catchment area from September

Parents who run a car sharing scheme to ferry their children to and from secondary school have urged a council to step in and tackle the lack of transport.

The children live outside the catchment area for Brayton Academy, near Selby, North Yorkshire, and do not qualify for home-to-school transport.

The parents who operate the scheme to chauffeur 55 children to and from school have warned the number of pupils using it will double in September.

North Yorkshire Council said parents are responsible for the travel arrangements and costs outside the qualifying distance.

Jennie Fenton, from Kelfield, chose to send her son to Brayton Academy in Selby knowing there would not be a school bus.

She said she was told “things were in progress” for a bus, but two years later they are no further forward.

Jennie Fenton is one of a number of parents who are part of the car sharing scheme

For pupils living in the villages of Hemingbrough, Osgodby and Kelfield the designated school is Barlby High.

However, Mrs Fenton said she did not want her son, who is now 13, to attend as it had been rated as 'inadequate' by Ofsted in 2021.

Inspectors had found that there was frequent bullying and homophobic abuse at the school.

Barlby High has made improvements and was rated as 'requires improvement' in 2023.

The Hope Sentamu Trust, which runs the secondary school declined to comment.

Mrs Fenton said parents ferrying their own and other people's children did raise concerns.

“There is a level of anxiety that comes with car sharing," she said.

"Not necessarily with my driving, but I’ve got three other people’s children in my car."

She warned the issue would become worse at the beginning of the next school year when they believe 50 other parents will join the scheme.

It is estimated that from September about a fifth of the school's 590 pupil will live outside the catchment area.

'Massive cost'

Rebecca Foster, from Barlby, is a child minder who also takes her two children and others to Brayton Academy.

She said there was a limit on how many pupils she could take in the minibus she drives.

“The school has never been against extra transport, acknowledging it is needed, but it’s funding it which is the issue.

"It’s just a massive cost,” she said.

John Manley is another parent who is affected by the lack of school transport provision at Brayton Academy.

“Given that most of us would want the best for our children, we are unfortunately having to take the hit and overcome these logistical barriers in getting our children to school,” he said.

North Yorkshire Council’s deputy leader Gareth Dadd said it was “parental choice” if they did not want to send their children to a school which is failing or requires improvement.

“It is the job of us and the job of the school to raise the standards of that school, as well as to deal with the cause of the problem, rather than the effects of it,” he said.

The Rodillian Multi Academy Trust, which runs Brayton Academy said they are aware of the transport issues faced by some students and would continue to work with the local authority to come up with a solution.

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