Mum’s 12 buses a day to get daughter to school and back

A leeds mum faces having to take TWELVE buses every day - and a double round trip totalling four hours - to ensure her young daughter gets to school and back.
Melissa Stowe with children Olivia Sheard, 4, and Daisy Sheard, 8 monthsMelissa Stowe with children Olivia Sheard, 4, and Daisy Sheard, 8 months
Melissa Stowe with children Olivia Sheard, 4, and Daisy Sheard, 8 months

Melissa Stowe, 22, from Methley, will have to take three buses to drop daughter Olivia, four, to her new school in Allerton Bywater from September, and three buses to come back.

She will have to repeat the exhausting two-hour round trip - along with eight month old baby Daisy and her pram - when she collects Olivia at the end of the day.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Miss Stowe, who does not drive, had applied to get Olivia into the reception class at her nearest school in Methley, which is just 10 minutes walk from the family’s home, but it is massively oversubscribed and she lost an appeal. The school where Olivia has been offered a place is 4.7 miles away by road, but school places are allocated ‘as the crow flies’.

“We did two test runs of the journey and Olivia was completely exhausted,” Miss Stowe said. “It’s crazy.”

Paul Brennan, Leeds City Council’s deputy director of children’s services, said: “We are aware that a number of parents in Methley have expressed concerns about securing places at local schools and we are working hard to address this.

“This year has seen us managing an unusually high demand for places in the area which we anticipate will fall next year. We will continue to talk to local schools about possible expansion and will do all we can to support parents to get places in a good school as close as possible to their home.”

Related topics: