School travel

Kent's Sustainable Travel to School Strategy

From 2007, the government has placed a new duty on local authorities through the Education and Inspections Act to assess the transport on offer and to develop a strategy to encourage an even greater level of sustainable travel.

To find out more about sustainable travel, you can view Kent's Sustainable Travel to School Strategy (PDF, 5MB).

Public transport information

For detailed information about public transport serving your school or college, you can visit our recently improved 11-19 school travel website. This site now provides detailed information and interactive maps for all KCC secondary schools and 16-19 colleges.

In addition, you can plan your journey using public transport or find out more information and route maps to general public transport information available from the planning your journey section of our website.

Assistance with transport

The Children, Families and Education directorate allocates pupils to schools, and determines which pupils are eligible for free home to school transport.

You can apply for a school place online and find out more about arranged home to school transport, including transport for children with special needs, by visiting the Education and learning section of the website.

Young people in years 7-11 living in Kent can also apply for a Kent Freedom Pass, allowing them to travel on any participating public bus at any time, including weekends and school holidays.

Walking to school

Walking to school is a great way for children to take exercise, whether as an individual, or as part of a larger group. KCC works in a unique partnership with Medway Council and the Kent and Medway Walking Bus Group charity to provide a range of initiatives to help you walk to school.

Visit the Walking Bus or Walking initiatives sections for more information.

Cycling to school

Cycling is a skill and evidence from Europe suggests that people who regularly cycle to school as a child, will go on to cycle as an adult.  Lots of information about cycling and specific information about cycling to school can be found by visiting Explore Kent.