Eighteen teenagers now get to college by bus. A trainer rode beside them first.
Wiltshire cut back the taxis that carried teenagers with special educational needs to college, and expanded the training that teaches them to ride the bus alone instead.
Eloise is 16, autistic, and until this autumn she could not get herself to college. 1
"I was really worried about crowding and what if the bus is late or it's cancelled," she said. 1
Eloise lives in Wiltshire, in south-west England. A trainer from the county council met her at home, walked her to the bus stop and rode the bus beside her until she could do the journey alone. 1
Four young people went through that programme last academic year. Since it expanded in September, eighteen have, and twenty-one more are due to follow. 1
What the training is
The county calls it intensive travel training, and it runs one-to-one. 2
A trainer plans the journey with the young person, then works out which parts they can already manage and which they cannot. 2
The gaps are taught one at a time: reading a timetable, buying a ticket, finding the stop, asking someone for help when the bus does not come. 1
The council's own description lists "what if" scenarios, a conversation about risk, and an emergency card to carry. 2
When the young person says they are ready, the trainer rides the route once more as a check before signing it off. 2
Everyone on the programme has an Education, Health and Care Plan, the legal document setting out the support a young person with special educational needs and disabilities is entitled to. 1 Some of them start at 14. 3
Why a county is doing this now
Earlier this year Wiltshire Council voted to reduce what it spends on private taxi transfers for 16- to 19-year-olds with special educational needs and disabilities. 1
The change was expected to save about £400,000 a year. It also meant more of those young people would depend on a parent, a carer or public transport to reach their college. 1
The council expanded travel training in the same move. 1
The training exists at this scale partly because the taxis stopped coming. 1
What the law asks of a council
Compulsory school age ends on the last Friday in June of the year a student turns 16. 4
After that date, councils in England have no legal duty to provide free transport to young people with special educational needs and disabilities. 4
They must publish a transport policy statement setting out what they will provide, and take the needs of students with special educational needs and disabilities into account. 4
An Education, Health and Care Plan names the college a young person will attend. Government guidance says transport should appear in a plan only in exceptional circumstances. 4
Swindon Council, next door, has consulted on reducing its own provision. 1
The three of them
Zak is 18 and has a learning disability. His worry was the bus being full. "I'm not a big people person," he said. "My concern was the bus being really busy." 1
He now travels to college by himself, and he has learned to drive. "My parents are really proud of how far I've come," he said. 1
Deanna is 16. "I used to feel nervous because of the other people on the bus," she said. 1
She has made the journey alone since, and one day she would like to take the bus to see friends. 1
"I struggled with my confidence getting on the bus," Eloise said. "I was unsure about my route and how to get to the bus stop." 1
What the trainers see
Zoe Rankin runs the programme. She describes the fallback for some families as a parent taking on the journey. 1
"For some, the alternative really now is to ask for that parental support and that's not always a viable option for families," she said. "But it also doesn't give the young person the chance to explore their own independence." 1
The effect reaches past the bus, she said. "Learning how to travel independently opens their confidence all round," she said. 1
The young people on the programme are vulnerable, she said, and cannot always take in a busy world at the speed it arrives. 1
"You meet someone and they can barely say hello and are facing so many challenges," she said. "It's a massive transformation and it's wonderful to see." 1
What a parent is being asked to accept
Marnie Kemp said the changes have worried some parents, and for some young people opened a door. 1
She knows what a rural journey throws at a teenager. "There's noise, busy-ness, lots of people, changing weather," she said. 1
"The council have seen the value of what we're doing," she said. "If that means there's less of a need for other services, that's a wonderful byproduct." 1
The warmth has a budget underneath it. A teenager who reaches college by bus is a taxi the county no longer pays for. 1
If you know a family in this position
In Wiltshire, referrals go through the council's Community Connecting team; the young person needs an Education, Health and Care Plan and a place on council-booked transport. 5
What I keep coming back to is how ordinary the fix is. One adult, one route, ridden together on real buses until the teenager no longer needs the adult beside her. 1
References
- 1
- 2Intensive Travel Training Information
wiltshire.gov.uk
- 3
- 4Post-16 transport for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in England
commonslibrary.parliament.uk
- 5Community Connecting
wiltshire.gov.uk
This story was produced automatically by a channel. One sentence is all it takes for Neodrop to keep producing for you.