Choosing a primary or secondary school.
For the majority of people who live in Burley in Wharfedale or Menston, choosing a primary or secondary school can be a daunting proposition. There’s lot’s of things that parents consider, Ofsted reports, distance to school and free school transport amongst others.
The decision to go to one school or another is a highly emotional and difficult decision to make, and that decision could end up with a family paying transport costs, so you need to carefully study the entry criteria set by Bradford Council.
Making an informed school choice.
There are two extremely important website pages which will assist you to make an informed choice, the general guidance web page and perhaps more importantly the guide for parents web page.
The most important of these 2 pages is the guide for parents page. Halfway down this page you’ll find a link to the ‘School Finder.’ This link allows you to see the exact distance from your home to school, however, be aware that yor closest school might be outside the Bradford District, for example Prince Henry’s Grammar School or the Guiseley School. Neither of these schools are shown on the interactive ‘School Finder,‘ so what should I do?
The best advice I can offer you, should you have any doubt about your closest school, or about Home to School Transport, would be to email schooltravel@bradford.gov.uk. Your email should state the child’s name and address, asking what the Council considers to be the nearest secondary school for transport purposes to your address.
Calculating the distance to school.
The ‘School Finder’ calculates the straight line distance from a given address to school, not the driving or walking distance. Here’s how you can do this quickly and easily:
- On your computer, open Google Maps. If you’re using Maps in Lite mode, you’ll see a lightning bolt at the bottom and you won’t be able to measure the distance between points.
- Right-click on your starting point.
- Choose Measure distance.
- Click anywhere on the map to create a path to measure. To add another point, click anywhere on the map.
- Optional: Drag a point or path to move it, or click a point to remove it.
- At the bottom, you’ll see the total distance in miles (mi) and kilometers (km).
- When done: On the card at the bottom, click Close
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