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Education | News


Bus pass rise to go ahead


APETITION signed by more than 3,000 people urging Kent County Council (KCC) to re-consider an increase in the cost of the Young Person’s Travel Pass has not had the desired effect. The signatures were gathered


after the announcement that KCC is to raise the price of the bus pass by £20 to £270. The hike is designed to meet the


cost of increases to bus fares, as the concessionary scheme’s costs to the council can change each year. KCC has offered to help families


by spreading the price, splitting payment into two half-yearly passes at £135. There is no change to the cost of


the scheme for families on a low in- come. They will continue to pay £100 for a year or £50 for half a year.


Although the transport commit-


tee debating the issue earlier this month, county councillors have de- cided not to reverse the rise, de- spite the petition started by Snodland parent Nicola Hibbard. In a statement to the committee,


she claimed “every child deserves the right to their most suitable ed- ucation without discrimination”. Nicola started her crusade by drumming up support on Face- book.


She said: “This has caused ex-


treme hardship for many families all across Kent, who work ex- tremely hard in an already tough economy. “Many of these children go to the


most suitable school for them and every child deserves the best edu- cation that they can achieve. “Many of the children sacrifice extremely early mornings and late evenings, tackling an incompetent, unreliable failing bus service for their right to a high standard of ed- ucation.” One angry father of two from


Loose now faces a bill of more than £500 a year. He said: “People pay their taxes


and then face even higher financial hurdles in trying to do the best for their children.” KCC Labour group leader Gor-


don Cowan said the total cost of sending children school by buswas “a lot of money for normal families to find without it being put up fur- ther”.


More pressure for places


THE number of youngsters needing a place at primary schools in the area has leapt for the ninth consec- utive year. But, while applications for places


in Kent rose by 591 to 18,006, the county council says 15,705were of- fered their first choice of school – up 762 on last year. Roger Gough, the council’s cabi-


net member for education, ac- knowledges that local authorities across England face significant challenges because of a lack of pri- mary school places. However, he said: “In Kent, the combination of careful planning and close working with schools means we are able to sustain a high proportion of chil- dren starting at a school of their preference.We also continue to see improvements in the quality of Kent primary schools with 86.4% rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted.” He went on: “Unfortunately, a small minority of pupils have not


been given a school of their prefer- ence and I would like to reassure parents that a specialist KCC team is on hand to help.” In February last year, it was an- nounced KCC would receive an extra £92m to help address de- mand for extra school places until 2018. The funding from the Depart-


ment for Education is in addition to £27m already allocated for the 2015-17 period. The cash boost was announced


after the county experienced a “sig- nificant increase" in the demand for primary school places. An esti- mated 15,000 extra primary school places will be needed by 2020. New primary schools are being


built across Kent, including the Lan- gley Park school. For details of how to appeal go to


www.kent.gov.uk/primaryadmis- sions or call the admissions team on 0300 412121.


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