We provide help with transport for children who meet certain eligibility criteria, for example children who:
Please note, home to school transport is only available if your child attends the nearest suitable school.
View our secondary school catchment map.
If you choose to place your child outside this area you will be liable to organise and pay for your own transport.
We kindly ask that all parent/carers applying for school places for the 2025-26 academic year read the new policy before applying.
We encourage parents and carers to thoroughly read our policies and code of conduct for our full list of eligibility criteria before applying for home to school transport.
Upon submitting your application, you can expect to receive an outcome within 20 working days.
All transport applications received in time for the new academic year will be reviewed between June and mid-August. If your application is successful within the published deadlines, you will be contacted before the start of term. You will be given:
For those applying within academic years, applications can take up to 20 working days to process.
The majority will continue to receive 'free' travel assistance at their current placement.
Those on one-year awards, such as extended rights and discretionary awards, will need to reapply for the upcoming academic year. Eligibility will then be reassessed by transport officers.
You will be contacted before the start of term with the specifics of your route and notice if any of your child's route details have changed, including route name and/or operator.
If you are not entitled to free transport, you can apply through the vacant seat payment scheme (VSPS).
The scheme enables parents to purchase vacant seats on vehicles at a subsidised rate. There is also provision for exemption from fares when pupils are receiving free school meals or parents are on qualifying benefits.
Please see our vacant seat payment scheme policy before applying.
With effect from 01 September 2024
Please note that due to new DfT (Department for Transport) guidelines, we can no longer accept any VSPS applications for vehicles over 22 seats.
This means that if your usual transport to school is a coach (over 22 seating capacity), any spare seats will no longer be available through the VSPS scheme.
Please note there is no guarantee we will have vacant seats available.
Seats allocated under the scheme may be needed by pupils with a statutory award. If this happens, we will give you at least two weeks' notice of the seat being withdrawn.
As a council service we aim to meet your expectations. Should you be unhappy with our service or feel we have made a mistake in processing, you can have this reviewed through our complaints process.
You can appeal to the home to school transport team to be reviewed by the appeals panel if:
All appeals should be sent in writing to us via schooltransport@n-somerset.gov.uk.
Please submit a written request to the home to school transport team via email within 20 days of receipt of your offer or refusal. A senior officer will then review your transport decision.
Your request needs to include:
Please note, a senior officer will have 20 working days to review the decision in line with policy and respond.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the stage 1 appeal, you can escalate this to stage 2. This next stage is a further impartial re-consideration of the case.
If you wish to escalate to stage 2, you will need to submit a written notification via schooltransport@n-somerset.gov.uk of your decision. This will need to be done within 20 working days of receiving the outcome of the stage 1 appeal.
An independent panel will review the case within 40 working days.