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Safer travel

Independent travel training

“I like being able to go to college and back home on my own. I would recommend other people to try and do it and become more independent and confident.”

“I really enjoyed travel training. I learned how to handle money and became more confident in using public transport.”

“It’s much better going on the bus because you can sit and talk to your friends.”

“When we saw him walking home on his first unaccompanied journey, his face beaming we knew we had made the right decision. We would not hesitate in recommending this service to any other family in a similar situation.”

Independent travel scheme

Independent travel training is a structured programme designed to teach students who have special educational needs or who are particularly vulnerable how to travel independently.

Designed to be run within schools or colleges, our independent travel scheme has been running for a number of years and has continued to expand.

The support given to young people is flexible to meet their differing needs and each step is authorised by parents / carers. Therefore, the training can take varying lengths of time depending on the ability and experience of the individual

The route learned can be to school, college or work placement and the skills learnt are transferrable to allow young people to become more independent in their leisure time.

• Primary school
  Work begins with classroom based activities in year 5, moving onto road safety training, and if required, bus journey to and from school in year 6 in preparation for the move to secondary school. Work is usually carried out by school staff supported by the Independent Travel Team.

• Secondary school
  Involves learning the home to school journey often in small stages. Alternatively, if more basic road safety work is required this is normally carried out by school staff.

• Independent in a month scheme
  This scheme operates at Ravenscliffe High School and Sports College.
  
  Young people are intensively trained to become more independent in a month; work can also be undertaken to learn routes to leisure activities in addition to the home to school transport journey. For further information contact Jason Oldroyd.

• Summer scheme
  During the summer holidays any young person with special educational needs who is not quite ready to undertake the journey independently to their next step in education can become involved in the summer scheme. This takes the format of intensive training during the holidays, learning the route to their next place of learning.

• Yellow buses
  Often the first step towards independence.
  
  All pupils are allocated a seat, seat belts must be worn, CCTV cameras are installed and the same driver is used. In addition, some of these services for example at Ravenscliffe High School and Sports College also have escorts on and can operate more localised pick up points.

Contact

If your child needs support to travel independently, is apprehensive about the journey to a new school or moving on to college, we can help:

• Name
• Ann Exton
• Email
• ann.exton@calderdale.gov.uk
• Telephone
• 01422 392551

or

• Name
• Jason Oldroyd
• Email
• jason.oldroyd@ravenscliffe.calderdale.sch.uk
• Telephone
• 01422 358621.

Nominated for The MJ Awards| in 2011 The Independent Travel Scheme achieved Highly Commended.

Please note: if your child attends an Academy, the cost of the independent travel team support will need to be met by the school prior to training taking place, unless they already travel on specialist transport provided by Calderdale Council.

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