Pupil facing a 6-mile trek to new school
A SCHOOLBOY faces taking four buses a day to school because all the secondaries nearer to his home are too full to take him.
Earlier this week the M.E.N. reported how education chiefs have warned that Rochdale could be facing a school places crisis if two ‘desperately-needed’ new schools are not built.
Now a mother has described how her son faces a 12-mile daily commute after he was rejected from three local high schools.
Claire Hollinshead, whose 11-yearold son, Daniel, currently attends Holy Trinity School in Littleborough, says he has been left devastated by the prospect of being separated from his friends.
She claims her son will now be forced to catch four buses a day to attend Kingsway high – some six miles away – after he was rejected by first choice Wardle Academy, and two other schools, Hollingworth Academy and Todmorden High School.
The mum-of-two says Daniel will have to set off an hour-and-a-half before school starts as there is currently no direct bus service from their house to Kingsway.
Following an unsuccessful appeal for Wardle Academy by his parents, Daniel has now had to see the school nurse with symptoms of stress and anxiety, his mother claims.
“He is not doing great. Daniel has never shown any anxiety or issues and then we took him to see the school nurse for something else shortly after our appeal. She did a stress test which came back quite high,” Claire told the M.E.N.
“He got all upset saying that he felt stressed and anxious since finding out he couldn’t go to school with his friends and will have to catch four buses a day – it’s awful,” she said.
“For us it’s not just about the distance. Yes, I am terrified that my 11-year-old will have to catch four buses a day on his own when he has never had to do that before, but it’s also about him having people that he can make friends with or travel to school with.” Academies are not maintained by the local authority in which they reside and have the ability to set their own admissions policy. Chief executive of the Wardle Trust, Graham Wright said: “Prior to becoming an academy in 2013 we were a Foundation school and, as such, we were our own admissions authority not under the jurisdiction of the local authority. “Prior to academisation the policy stated, as now, the ‘shortest safe walking route.’ At this time we were not full and it is only in the last three years that we have been oversubscribed.
“As the school’s representative at appeals, it has been heartbreaking to hear of the position that many parents have been left in.” Claire Hollinshead, Daniel’s mum