£900k taxi bill as timetable goes mobile
COUNCILS are paying nearly £1million a year in taxi fares to transport children to classes not on offer at their own schools.
North Lanarkshire Council spent £290,499 of the £91 ,76 paid out nationwide in the last school year on such journeys.
The figure is more than double the next highest council, Renfrewshire, at £11 ,099.
However, North Lanarkshire said it ran a scheme that actively encouraged pupils to take subjects at other schools.
Danny McNulty, headteacher of Our Lady’s High School in Cumbernauld, said about 100 pupils travelled to take both vocational and academic courses.
Among them is Caitlyn Slevin, 16, who travels two miles to St Maurice’s High School three times a week to study for a National 5 qualification in make-up artistry. She also attends a beauty class at Cumbernauld College and drama at Greenfaulds High School, while studying for National 5 qualifications in English, maths and travel and tourism at her own school.
She said: ‘It really benefits me to be able to do this, as my school doesn’t offer all of the courses I want to do. My dad doesn’t drive and if I had to go on public transport, it would take me too long and I would miss things.’
A council spokesman said the programme allowed pupils to expand their skills and study for vocational courses while learning the core subjects at their ‘base’ school.
However, opposition politicians blamed the teacher recruitment crisis faced by Scottish schools for cutbacks in classes.