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Petition over plan to cut faith school buses
March-based parents of pupils at St Fisher High School are concerned about plans to axe a free bus service to the venue. Photo: David Lowndes/Peterborough ET
WORRIED parents and staff at a Cambridgeshire primary school are preparing to launch a petition against plans to scrap free transport for faith school pupils.
The ET reported back in November last year how Peterborough City Council plans to withdraw free school transport for pupils at four faith schools in the city from September 2012.
Council bosses say the decision is being made as they look to cut costs and fall in line with new government legislation.
However, the move is set to have repercussions for pupils at the city’s four faith schools – St John Fisher Catholic High School, in Eastfield; Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School, in Bretton; St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, in Eastfield; and The King’s School, in Park Road, Peterborough.
The move has also angered parents and staff at All Saints Primary School in March – which serves as a feeder school for St John Fisher.
Around 30 children in the March area currently use a bus service to St John Fisher High School and the school says that several of their current pupils who want to go there may now be forced to look elsewhere against their will.
Hannah Orbell, a teacher at All Saints’ Primary School who has a daughter at the John Fisher School, said she was organising a petition against the plans.
Ms Orbell said: “There is a strong feeling among parents and staff here that this will create big problems and that’s why we’re starting a petition – I just hope it’s not too late.
“Because we’re a feeder school for John Fisher several of our former pupils who live in March use this service.
“The bus is free and gets the children from the centre of March to within the school gates and back safely.
“Around 30 children currently use the bus and it gives their parents great piece of mind.
“Scrapping the bus would have a big knock-on effect for our school because several of our year six pupils want to go to John Fisher when they leave here.
“But this decision could force them elsewhere and have repercussions on their education.”
Sean Hayes, headteacher at St John Fisher Catholic High School has also criticised the plans.
The proposals are currently out for consultation but look set to go ahead.
All Saints School have also made a plea to any local bus companies interested in taking over the service to contact them on 01354 659000.
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Contact our news team by email eteditor@peterboroughtoday.co.uk, telephone 01733 588719, on Twitter - @peterboroughet or use our Have Your Say form
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Comments
There are 12 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
big bad boris
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 10:33 AMFaith schools are 'personal choice' and as such they should pay for the transport. Faith schools emphasize differences between children. our education should be secular like the french system, education of the children is the important thing not their PARENTS religion.
HollygoLula
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 11:07 PMThis is one area we should learn from France...totally secular education system.
keen reader
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 01:39 PM#9, if you are worried about your child having to move school in year and are so bothered about the transport stopping in 2014, why not move them now?? I do not understand these "faith schools" as most of the children that go to St Thomas Moore Primary can not speak English up on entering but they are there on their religious beliefs??? They do not and can understand the Catholic religion so how is there admission up on faith? If a parent wants a child to go to a specic school then they should be prepared to travel and do the "43 mile" round trip twice a day. When you have children it is your responsibilty as a parent to transport them to where ever you want them to go. If you choose them to go to a gymnastic class or religious studies class 30 miles away you would not expect there to be transport laid on whether you have to pay or not??
AG75
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 01:28 PMFirstly, I would like to point out that this is not a FREE bus and it is a bus that is run by Cambridgeshire County Council not PCC to take children to a feeder school. Paying for a bus pass is not the issue here. The issue that the bus wont run any more from sept 2014 and that when this bus stops some children will be starting year 10 & 11 and that as yet the Council have not informed the parents of any plans to stop it. I am sure you will agree that children having to move schools in Year 11 would not be a good idea for obvious reasons. We would love to take our children to school but a 42 mile round trip twice a day is just not practical. All we want is a bus that goes to the school gates and back again at a competitive price and we will pay for it. None of us expect to get something for nothing.
Donttellhimpike
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 12:48 PMI don't understand how attending a faith school entitles you to a free school bus. Is this a case of unjustifiable privilege for the children of parents with a strong inner conviction about the unprovable? Doesn't seem fair somehow.
Veyron7
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 11:54 AMMy daughter has been attending one of the faith schools since Sept last year and we do not receive free transport. She has to travel on a public school bus which I pay for or I take her in my car. I am a single parent on a low income and find it ridiculous and out dated that this scheme existed in the first place. Like the others have said, we are all affected by rising costs so the group complaining should just have to get on with it like the rest of us and think themselves extremely lucky to have enjoyed this perk for so long.
NicLab1
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 10:35 AMEveryone is struggling with rising food bills and petrol prices. If parents from our four faith schools cannot afford to get their children to school, then they should send them to thier local schools. (If their local schools are not good enough, the local parents should help support their improvements by putting faith in their local schools). I am sure God will not punish them for it. Then maybe children on the doorstep of Peterborough Schools can walk to schools nearby, solving traffic congestion problems in the process.
Maddy
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 01:14 AMNon christian Peterborough schools do not rely on PCC funding remove the free buses make it a level playing field.
sg76
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 09:19 PMI can understand how the parents aren't happy about being financially disadvantaged, but instead of just whining about their privilege being removed, perhaps they could try and justify why taxpayers should in the first place be subsidising their children to be indoctrinated in their superstitions? Scrap the divisive and unnecessary faith schools and they could go to a local school and save some money.
Gwendoline Horseradish
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 07:41 PMOf course they should be helped. Hold on, they're all white and English. In that case, no way, well done PCC!
rogerandrew
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 06:25 PMwell put JJ Carter
J J Carter
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 06:07 PMI fear the parents\children are of the 'wrong sort of faith' to interest the PCC
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