Parents to meet council staff at venue near Banbury over ongoing 'spare seat' row

The parents will meet this Thursday (May 4) at The Warriner School to discuss further options if their children’s mode of school transport, the WA17 bus, and their seats on the Spare Seat Scheme, are withdrawn this coming September.

Parents and members of the campaigning group Save Our Bus Seats have arranged the meeting with council officer Martin Goff to find solutions to the problem that has been causing concern to parents since they received a letter in January informing them of the withdrawal of their school transport.

One concerned parent, Sarah Obinna, works as a teacher at Longford Park Primary School, and her husband works for the NHS, so they are unable to change their working shifts in order to take their teenage daughter to school.

Sarah said: "As a teacher, I can't change my shift, so if I was needed to take my daughter to school, not only would I be contributing more to environmental damage, but it would also impact my career.

"On the WA17, it's not just parents like myself; there are other key worker parents, people that work in local prisons, teaching assistants, GPs, and other NHS staff, so there is a wider impact on key services in Oxfordshire if that bus is removed.

"It’s really sad, given that in the pandemic we were told we were vital, and now they will remove a bus service that not only affects young children and their education but also the environment and has a huge impact on keyworkers."

While many of the parents are still hopeful of the council making a full U-turn on the issue and guaranteeing seats on the buses, they are also keen to come to a practical compromise that will ensure their children can continue at the same school.

Sarah added: "We are trying to look at alternatives; we met the councillors last week at the Marlborough school, but they are not able to show us any successful models that they have carried out elsewhere.

"I really hope the council has thought of alternative solutions and spoken with bus companies before the Warriner meeting. We have always said that as parents, we are happy to pay a bit more and meet with them around the table, but they are just not providing enough information and options."

Another parent deeply concerned over how their child will be getting to school in September and the consequences of potentially having to find his daughter a new school for her exams and final year is NHS worker Grant Cawte.

Grant lives in Upper Heyford and sends his daughter to the Warriner School, 11 miles away from the family home, because she was not given her first or second choice schools when the family applied in 2019.

He said: "My daughter will be going into her final and taking her GCSEs, so for her to change schools, form new relationships with teachers and classmates, and take her exams could cause a lot of stress for her and us."

Grant hopes that the meeting at the Warriner will produce a solution to his and similar families' anxieties over where their children will study from September onward.

He said: "The council is now starting to respond to us, and while they may be saying that they are working with schools and having positive engagements with parents, this is actually all coming very late in the day. At this moment in time, there is no bus or transport for my daughter or my son to get to the Warriner next year."

A spokesperson for the county council said: “For those affected by a reduction in spare seats, the county council will continue to work very closely with parents and schools to identify the options for pupils to make their journey to school. An update on this work will be provided to Cabinet when it discusses the response to the Scrutiny Committee report on May 23.

Kevin Gordon, director for children’s services at Oxfordshire County Council, said: “We are really grateful to all the parents who have worked hard to develop solutions and we very much hope to continue that close working relationship with them. We are looking forward to working intensively with Warriner School in Bloxham and Marlborough School in Woodstock.”