Transport to School

School Transport – School Year 2018/19

Due to the Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) school transport policy changing in 2015, most students now have their school transport entitlements determined by this new school transport policy, whereas students commencing Year 11 still have their transport entitlements determined by the former transport policy. In summary they are as follows;-

Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 & Year 10 students – Students in these year groups have their transport entitlements determined by the new school transport policy. Free school transport is only provided to students whereby Burford School is the nearest school to their home address. If Burford is not the nearest school to the home address then school transport places need to be paid for, subject to their availability.

Year 11 students – Students in this year group have their transport entitlements determined by the former school transport policy which will be the final year for students with these entitlements. In most cases students in this year group, whose circumstances have not changed, will be entitled to free school transport to the end of Year 11.

Sixth Form students – Students in the Sixth Form are required to apply and pay for school transport if this is required.  Places are subject to availability.

Free school transport places – Entitlements are determined by OCC, normally through the school admissions process, and free transport passes are issued by them.

Financial support in cases of hardship –  Limited funds are available to provide financial support for school transport to families with students in Years 7-10 who may be experiencing financial hardship. Applications for financial support need to be made in writing to the Headteacher. Each case is considered on an individual basis and within the funding available which can vary from year to year.

School transport paid places – Pulhams coaches are the main provider for school transport routes serving Burford School. As a priority they are required to ensure places are provided on their routes for those students entitled to free school transport as determined by OCC. On routes whereby there are spare seats, after allocating free school transport places, these can be sold to students as a paid place. Applications for a paid place need to be made directly to Pulhams coaches via their website www.pulhamscoaches.com Pulhams primarily operate routes that commence from within the former school catchment area. The cost of a paid place for 2017/18 was £690 per student per school year, rates should remain at a similar level for 2018/19. On routes that have extended pick-ups, beyond the school catchment area, the current cost is £875 per student per school year.

Other transport providers, Rebound Coaches and Angela’s, operate school transport services from Carterton (outside of school catchment area) to Burford School, as private operators. Applications for places on these routes need to be made direct to either provider.

School Late Bus Service

The school provides a late bus service to provide a means of transportation for those students who attend after school activities on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. (Please note there is no late bus on Wednesday and Friday evenings.)

Students wanting to use the late bus need to sign up for a late bus pass at either break or lunchtime at Reception on the day that they need to use the service.  At 2.00pm passenger lists are finalised and, for insurance purposes, cannot be added to.

If students, subsequently, do not require their late bus pass they must inform Reception, as their non-arrival may delay the departure of the late bus.

After school activities commence once the normal school day has finished at 3.00pm and run until 4.30pm. Late buses arrive at 4.30pm and depart from the school at 4.40pm.

The school provides two late buses. One bus travels north from Burford and the other one goes south. Each bus visits the majority of drop-off points covered by the normal daily school buses These are primarily within the boundary of the original school catchment area.

The service aims to ensure that students using the late buses do not have more than an hour’s travel time, so the last drop-off is aimed to be no later than 5.45pm however, drop-off times can vary each night depending upon how many students are travelling on each late bus and where they need to be dropped off.