Buses to a school for pupils living in Reading are due to be axed in the coming years in cost saving measures.
Chiltern Edge School in Sonning Common serves pupils in the village, the surrounding area and Caversham.
The school has a cohort of more than 200 pupils who live in Reading borough, with the local authority paying for buses taking them to and from school.
But the amount of buses Reading Borough Council pays for will be reduced and progressively axed altogether over the next three years.
Currently, four buses travel between the RG4 postcode in Caversham to Chiltern Edge.
Buses to the school were originally funded by South Oxfordshire District Council, but the contract for bus services was given to Reading Buses in 2022.
The company was contracted to provide a fourth bus in 2023/24 to take 260 pupils to and from school.
But the council administration wanted to change the policy to provide school transport to the River Academy in Richfield Avenue which opens this September.
The Maiden Erlegh Trust took over Chiltern Edge in 2018, and will run the River Academy when it opens.
Furthermore, the amount of Reading pupils attending Chiltern Edge is set to go down from 260 in 2023/24 to 164 in the 2026/27 academic year.
Councillors were asked to remove free transport entitlement for pupils attending Chiltern Edge, but ensuring transitional protection for currently eligible pupils remain for the next three academic years, including those starting there in September this year.
The reduction in demand for buses is expected to begin in September 2025, with an expected reduction of between one and two buses a year.
The expected reduction in buses to the school in Sonning Common will save the council £90,000 per year from September 2025.
The decision was made at the council’s adult social care, children’s service and education committee on Monday, July 22. It was reached following a consultation with parents and the Maiden Erlegh Trust.
Brian Grady, the director of education for Reading said: “There was a substantive engagement with Maiden Erlegh Chiltern Edge parents.
“For me it showed the importance and utility of comprehensive engagement, because the more we engaged and consulted with parents, and the more we understood their lived experience, the more we understood that our policy is robust enough to protect those parents in terms of their entitlement.”
The policy states that if a pupil qualifies for travel assistance, they will normally be awarded a bus pass. The council has a statutory duty to assist pupils aged five to 16 to get to school.
The policy states that travel assistance will be provided free of charge for those pupils of statutory school age who are travelling over the statutory walking distance to/from the nearest open entrance gate of their nearest suitable school.
Pupils are normally required to use public transport and will therefore be provided a free bus pass to use the buses.
The council will only provide travel other than a bus in exceptional circumstances, such as disability or when a child’s education, health and care plan (EHCP) stipulates that they should be provided alternative transport.
