North Yorkshire Council has been accused of causing chaos and confusion for parents by using two different systems to determine school admissions and free home-to-school transport eligibility.
The issue was highlighted this week after a mistake in key council documents was seized upon by campaigners as evidence that even council officers are confused by the policy change.
The papers setting out the council’s school admissions policy stated that parents choosing a school other than their ‘catchment school’ would be responsible for transport under the terms of the school-to-home transport policy.
The authority was forced to make last-minute amendments after it was pointed out however that its controversial new policy on school transport was based on a pupils’ ‘nearest school’, not the catchment school system.
The mistake was spotted by Liberal Democrat councillors after the papers were made public ahead of a full council meeting on Wednesday.
At the meeting, Lib Dem group leader Bryn Griffiths also pointed out the “bizarre situation” that the admissions form asks parents to include their catchment area school as one of their five choices, but the home-to-school transport policy requires parents to list their schools in order of nearest first, if they want free transport.
It is understood this has caused confusion for parents in several areas of the county, including the villages of Barton and Croft-on-Tees, where the catchment school is Richmond School, but all five nearest schools are in Darlington.
In response, Councillor Annabel Wilkinson, executive member for children and young people’s service, said a clarification had been issued for parents on the issue.
She added: “We do always encourage families to make use of all five preferences and to include a catchment school if possible.”
The councillor said parents should consider both the admissions policy and the home-to-school travel policy when determining their preferences.
She added: “If your extremely unusual scenario occurred where the top five preferences for admissions are all out of county and they are the nearest five schools, but none of them are able to offer a place, then we as the council will be obliged to offer a place and this will be a factor in the eligibility assessment for transport when we look at the nearest suitable school with places available.”
A spokesperson for the School Transport Action Group, which is campaigning for a return to the catchment system to decide on free school transport eligibility, said it “beggared belief” that the mistake was not spotted by officers or council chiefs.
“This latest confusion highlights how ridiculous it is to have a school admissions process organised around the well-established catchment area system, with what is now a totally disconnected school transport policy based solely on distance. If the people who write the policies are confused, what chance do parents have?
“The two systems absolutely must return to being interconnected or pupils are going to fall through the gaps.
“North Yorkshire Council has created total chaos and left families in the lurch.”
Richmond councillor, Stuart Parsons, leader of the Independent group on the authority, said the Liberal Democrats should not have alerted the authority to the mistake.
He added: “The admission policy as printed would have contradicted the home-to-school policy and would have allowed true choice for parents and young people.
“The Liberal Democrats by highlighting this fact to the Conservative administration allowed them to continue with their destructive policy.”
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