Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Parents in Carmarthenshire are being urged to make sure they have applied for transport for their children moving up to secondary school in September. Children are usually eligible for free school transport if they live more than three miles from their designated or nearest secondary school. The criteria is set by the Welsh Assembly Government. Transport applications forms were included with the package of information issued to parents of year six children as part of the transfer process for children moving from primary to secondary schools. Executive board member for transport Councillor Philip Hughes said: “This is now the last chance for parents to make sure their children’s school travel arrangements are in order. “It is a massive logistical operation and the support of parents is vital as they must make sure applications are made in good time.” Anyone who may have forgotten to submit their application is being advised to do so immediately, or risk not being able to get on the scho...

School pupils are being given a final opportunity to express their views on school transport. Carmarthenshire Youth Council (CYC) is working on a School Transport Campaign to help young people get to school safely. Research showed that the majority of young people rely on buses to get to school and many are faced with walking up to 3 miles on a daily basis. The CYC found that young people could be paying up to £7.50 a week for transport and this was a concern for some families with more than one young person at school. Peter Morgan, CYC member said:“Although the journey to school on foot can only be 5 minutes, for many young people attending Carmarthenshire Secondary Schools they have to walk along narrow pavements that can be dangerous especially in bad weather. “During the winter months young people have to face walking in the dark, along with rain, ice and snow, all of which make already dangerous journeys even more risky; we don't think it’s fair to simply ignore these pupils.”...