Families in a Huntingdonshire village have pleaded for help from the council over the “unsustainable” cost of the local school bus.

Parents from Somersham organised a private bus to send their children to Cromwell Community College in Chatteris due to a surge in demand in 2019.

They said Cambridgeshire County Council refused to help with the £300 per child per term charge as the school is not considered the nearest choice for some pupils.

A spokesperson said the local education authority provides school transport to secondary aged pupils who need to travel three miles or more to attend their catchment school. 

The distance to a school is measured by the shortest available walking route.

Parents claimed they are now forced to spend thousands of pounds a year for the service, despite some families in the village qualifying for free transport.

Sarah White spends £600 per term to get her two children to school and claimed her catchment school, Abbey College, is further away than Cromwell Community College. 

She told The Hunts Post: "It's a ridiculous amount of money to pay because our catchment school is actually further away in terms of the time it takes to get there. 

"Depending on where you live in the village depends on whether you get a free bus for your child to school, so while everyone goes to Cromwell Community College, half of us have to pay and half don't.

"There are children that are going to schools they don't want to be at, or the parents don't want them to be at purely based on the cost of getting them to school."

She warned that the cost of the bus is having a significant impact on villagers, with some parents even considering changing their children’s school.

In a letter shared by a parent with this newspaper, the county council said a “geographical split” existed within the village, which enabled some pupils to receive travel assistance.

While most students receive free transport to Abbey College and St Ivo School, there are addresses that are geographically closer to Cromwell Community College, the letter confirmed.

Chloe Glover* said the struggle to find close to £3,000 a year to send her two children to school is becoming “increasingly challenging”.

Geographically, her home is closer to Cromwell Community College, but the council lists her catchment school as Abbey College.

She said she was considering taking the “difficult decision” to send her youngest son to Abbey College because paying for three children would be “unaffordable”.

“You can’t keep finding £600 every term for the bus, especially in the cost-of-living crisis, and sending three children would just not be sustainable long-term.

“The cost of the bus has increased significantly over the last two years, and it’s got to the stage where I feel like I have to choose which child to send to school.”

Sacha Flack said she was so concerned about the situation that she put her property up for sale to ensure her children would fall into the school’s catchment zone.

Mrs Flack claimed she could likely be faced with fees of £1,000 per child per year by the time they started secondary school in 2029.

She added: “With us having family already in Chatteris, it would be so reassuring to us that our children would already be familiar with the area and know locations they can seek out in case they missed the bus.

“However, we cannot currently afford to send him with prices as they are."

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire County Council added: “All secondary schools in Cambridgeshire are academies and set their own admissions criteria – including catchment area.

"The catchment school for the whole village of Somersham is Abbey College in Ramsey. However, for parts of the village St Ivo Academy is the nearest school, while for other parts of the village Cromwell Community College is closer.

“Pupils who do not attend either their catchment school, or their closest school are not entitled to transport assistance. We are aware that in many cases private bus services are available but we have no involvement in the pricing of those services.”

* Some names have been changed

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