Lark Grange, Bury St Edmunds, parent Kathleen Andrews speaks out about bus woes in getting her sons to St Benedict's Catholic School

A parent has spoken of the impact of a bus service being reduced on her two sons getting to school.

Kathleen Andrews, who lives on Lark Grange, Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds, said her sons Oliver, 16, and Elliot, 13, used to get the Stephensons 384/385 bus to St Benedict’s Catholic School, in Beetons Way, but last year the part of the route including the school was axed.

Bill Hiron, MD of Stephensons of Essex Ltd, said the numbers using the route dropped ‘dramatically’ post-Covid and they were forced to reduce the service so it could be operated by one bus.

Suffolk County Council (SCC) said they funded an extra bus for the first half term in September 2021 to give students time to arrange alternative provision, but did not have the budget to make this a permanent arrangement.

The reduction of the service left Mrs Andrews’ family in the ‘not ideal’ situation of her sons having to cycle to St Benedict’s, which is more than three miles away, across the busy town centre.

She said she felt it was not a particularly safe route for children to cycle to school, but wouldn’t necessarily feel more comfortable about her sons walking, which would take more than an hour.

“Without a doubt it was extremely stressful to try and find a way around [the problem] as we are not in a position where we can just change our hours at work,” she said.

After reading the Bury Free Press story about another Lark Grange parent, Melissa Taylor, who had struggled to secure bus transport for her daughter to Thurston Community College, Mrs Andrews wanted to share her story of bus transport problems for schoolchildren.

Imogen Senior, headteacher of St Benedict’s, said she was not aware of any other parents struggling particularly with the route from Lark Grange.

“We provide one minibus service to try and support some of our families where the bus services are really tricky but we have been unable to recruit a second driver to extend this service any further,” she said.

Beetons Way was already very crowded with buses, so part of the school and local authority travel plan was to encourage cycling, she added.

Mrs Andrews said the family, who Are willing to pay for bus travel to school, had previously been told they didn’t qualify for a school bus place.

The SCC spokesperson said most of Lark Grange was just over the three-mile limit to qualify for secondary age transport from St Benedict’s, but SCC policy around transport to school was based on the nearest provision, in this case Sybil Andrews Academy.

“Travel to a faith-based school is a matter of parental choice and not a statutory obligation, so we would not provide a service on that basis,” they said.

Mrs Andrews added: “They assume you will go to the school closest to you. It seems great on paper, but it’s not always what works for families.”