Eight hours, twelve buses... it's a mother of four's school run

The council has refused to help her move two of her children to the same school to lessen the burden and she has been threatened with court action if she does not keep up the demanding routine.

Mrs Abbas's three children, Mehvish, 13; Kiran, seven; and Eliyza, six, each attend different schools and their mother has to travel with them after they suffered bullying on the route.

Her 12-year-old daughter Sumera is in limbo after she finished primary school earlier this year and has not been offered a place at a local school.

Despite repeated appeals to Bradford Council, officials have refused to help Mrs Abbas transfer her children or even help her out with their transportation, which costs 50 a week.

She said: "We have to get up at 5.30am to get the first bus and by the time we have done all the stops and I've got back home again it can take about three hours. I have got really bad arthritis in my back and it makes me waddle when I walk so by the time I've got home after the morning I am absolutely exhausted, it's so tiring.

"Then I have to go back out again in the afternoon and pick them all up. They can't do any after-school activities or go to the mosque. The whole thing is upsetting me and it's upsetting my children as well. It takes longer to get back in the evening, sometimes five hours, and after a day at school they're just shattered."

The problems began for Mrs Abbas and her children after they moved home in May of last year, having been on a waiting list for a new house for eight years.

They were offered a four-bedroom home, a vast improvement from the two-bedroom house which saw the four children crammed into the same room.

But Mrs Abbas was only given a week to make a decision so took up the offer only to discover she was unable to move her children to closer schools.

The only place she has been offered for her daughter Sumera is at Appleton Academy in Wyke, which would see her trek in the opposite direction to the location of her other children's schools.

After rejecting that place, she was told she would face court action or a visit from social services if she did not either take up the offer or home-school Sumera, who now has not been in a classroom for two months.

Mrs Abbas said: "At our old house, Sumera and Mehvish could catch a school bus, and lKiran and Eliyza went to the same school which was only a 30-minute round trip away. When we moved I was offered places at two different schools by Education Bradford and they said if I didn't take them they would take me to court for not providing my children with an education.

"I called up the council and explained the situation, telling them what my journey was like and they just said that moving house wasn't a good enough reason to switch my children to a school nearer by.

"I thought if I sent Kiran to Newby then that could help me get a place for Eliyza there as well but my appeals have failed.

"It would make a huge difference even for two of my children to be at the same school or to at least have some sort of financial help with it."

Mrs Abbas has to take two separate buses to get 13-year-old Mehvish to Belle Vue Girls' School, a further two to drop Eliyza off at Springwood Community Primary School and another two to drop Kiran off at Newby Primary School.

Kath Tunstall, Bradford Council's strategic director for children and young people, said: "We are unable to talk about individual families but we continually work with parents and carers giving advice and support to help resolve school place issues, wherever possible. This year, 96 per cent of pupils within the district were offered one of their preferred choices for a primary or secondary school place."