Before you complete an application form, we strongly recommend that you read our Home to School Transport Policy.

If you are not sure if a child is eligible for free transport, the Pupil Transport Team will be able to advise you.

You can contact the team on 01803 207688 or by email: cstransport@torbay.gov.uk.

Eligibility

School transport is generally limited to children attending their designated or nearest school and when one of the following applies:

• For a child between 5 and 7 years: if their school is more than 2 miles from their home.
• For a child between 8 and 16 years: if their school is more than 3 miles from their home. 
• The pupil cannot walk to school because of a special educational need, disability or mobility problem. 
• We determine that the walking route to the child's school is unsuitable for pedestrian use.

Home to school distance

We measure the distance from the nearest entrance of the home to the nearest gate or entrance of the school. We measure the shortest available safe walking route using digitised mapping.

Paignton Community and Sports Academy

For pupils attending Paignton Community and Sports Academy (PCSA), we measure the distance for transport eligibility from the main Waterleat Road site.

Children from low income families

Children from low income families have additional entitlements.

'Low income' is defined by either:

• children receiving Targeted Free School Meals or
• the family receiving the maximum level of Working Tax Credits

Children receiving Expanded Free School Meals do not automatically qualify under the Extended Rights criteria.

Children from low income families are eligible for free transport when one of the following applies:

• The child attends their designated or nearest primary school which is within 2 to 3 miles of their home.
• The child attends one of their nearest 3 secondary schools which is within 2 to 6 miles of their home.
• The child attends St Cuthbert Mayne School because of religion or belief and the school is between 2 and 15 miles from their home.

Exceptional circumstances

If you send your child to a school that is not the closest suitable school, you are responsible for arranging and paying for transport.

We may provide transport in exceptional circumstances under our discretion. 

For more information on exceptional circumstances, please see our Home to School Transport Policy.

Apply

You can apply for transport assistance for your child by completing an application form. You need to apply each year for transport assistance.

Before submitting your application for assistance, please make sure that you have read our Home to School Transport Policy.

  Apply for school travel assistance

What happens next

It may take up to 20 working days to review and process your application. If we agree to provide transport, it may take a further 10 working days before transport is put in place. During this time, you are responsible to make sure your child attends school.