|
Northumberland County Council are urging post 16 students to apply early and apply online for their school travel pass to guarantee it will be ready for the start of term in September.
Free student travel is provided by the Council to full time post 16 students attending High School Sixth Forms, Further Education and Specialist Colleges on weekdays during term time providing certain criteria is met.
For students to qualify for the pass they must be attending a full time course for at least 12 hours per week at the nearest place of study offering their course of study (or one deemed similar to it by the County Council). This place of study must also be at least three miles away from the student’s home.
Applying for the travel pass online makes the process much more efficient. Students can fill in the form quickly and will be given an e-receipt to let them know their form has been received and how long it will take to process their application.
Students who know where they will be studying in September can apply for their pass now and if they do so before 20 July, they are guaranteed to have it by the start of the school term. For those that apply after that date, we will process the application as quickly as possible but advise the pass may not be ready for 1st September.
Councillor Simon Reed, executive member responsible for infrastructure and environment said: “Last year we received around 3,500 applications for passes with almost half of these coming in at the end of August, putting a great pressure on our school transport team and causing students to be disappointed when passes weren’t ready in time for the start of the school term.
“For this reason we are urging students to apply as soon as they can if they know where they are intending to study. We will of course endeavour to process all the applications as quickly as possible and applying online will make this easier and more efficient for everyone involved.”
For more information and to apply for the student pass online go to www.northumberland.gov.uk
For those students who do not have internet access, paper forms are available by writing to The Integrated Transport Unit, County Hall, Morpeth, NE61 2EF or by calling 0845 600 6400.
|
