Who Is Eligble?
Your child will be entitled to transport assistance if there is no suitable school within statutory qualifying distance of your home, or if they have been refused a place in all ‘suitable’ schools within 3 miles from your home (it’s 2 miles for primary).
What Does ‘Suitable’ Mean?
According to the Education Authority Website:
The term ‘suitable school’ has a precise definition in legislation. It is a school in one of the recognised (i.e. grant-aided) categories of Controlled, Integrated, Irish-medium, Maintained, Denominational or non-Denominational grammar or bi-lateral schools in any of the above categories. For the purposes of eligibility for transport assistance the grammar stream of a bi-lateral school shall be treated as a grammar school and the secondary stream as a Post Primary (Secondary) School. No other definition of ‘suitable’ is permitted within the current arrangements.
It does not accommodate the fact that you would like your child to go to a single-sex school, if there is a closer grammar.
Check If You’re Eligible
Cutting to the chase, thanks to the Education Authority’s tracker, it’s quite straightforward to check if your child is eligible for transport assistance, by clicking on the Eligibility Tracker button above and filling in :
- School Year (Yr 8 for 1st form)
- School Name
- Pupil’s Gender
- Pupil’s Postcode & House Number
- Make sure you select Yes below map to confirm address
- Agree to Terms & Conditions
- Click on Submit
Result 1 – Straightforward – You Will Get A Bus / Rail Pass
See example in the green picture above. As there are no closer schools of the same category within the qualifying distance to home, this person will get free transport assistance (bus or rail).
Result 2 – Maybe – If You Applied To The Other Schools Shown
See example in the orange picture above – in this example, an application was being made for travel assistance to RBAI and the result basically suggests that ‘if the child had applied to Methody but their application was not accepted’, then yes, they would be eligible for assistance from home.
Result 3 – Inconclusive
See example in the purple picture above. In this example, the application is too complex to be straightforward and so, the advice returns to contact your local EA Transport Office to discuss further.
Apply For Transport Assistance
After school allocation letter and once you’ve determined if you’re eligible, the next obvious step is to apply and to do this, simply click on the button above and fill in the online form (when the system is open to receive requests).
More about The Transfer Tutor (Multi-Award Winning Online Quizzes)
The Transfer Tutor’s Online Quizzes provide a fun and interactive way to learn and practise Maths and English questions which are directly aligned to both the AQE and GL specifications.
There are many, great features including (but not limited to):
- Quizzes broken down into specific English and Maths topics, to allow for focused learning and the ability to hone in on areas of weakness.
- Mobile friendly and works on any internet device.
- ‘Hint’ option supports the child’s learning. For example, in question about calculating area of an irregular shape, the hint will say, “Break it into two” – enough to keep the child going but teaching them for future, similar questions.
- The Leaderboard at the end makes the child feel like they’re playing a game and having friendly competition.
- Good use of colour and graphics which makes it exciting.
- Parents receives a progress email at the end to let them know how their child did.
Google Reviews
Check out the Google Reviews to read what other customers felt about The Transfer Tutor.
How To Buy
Simply choose the licence you need depending on the length of time you need access, click on the blue box, pay and then you’ll be off within minutes.
For any further questions, please contact me or check out the Frequently Asked Questions page.
All of these are a one-off payment until they expire – so no additional costs.
Try It Out:
To give you a feel for the quizzes, why not try out the quick fire free quiz by clicking on the button below (no need to register or pay, so don’t worry). This will hopefully let you see how the questions work – or more importantly, let you see if this is something that would inspire and encourage your child to learn.
Social Media Links – Keeping Up To Date
Follow or like The Transfer Tutor on your social media channel of choice and ensure you never miss a beat with the whole transfer process, handy tips, advice, special offers and competitions.
Click below for your preferred channel or search for @TransferTutorHQ wherever you are.
Free Facebook Group
You may have read in the reviews about people referring to the Facebook Support Group and this is certainly a great place to keep informed, ask questions, get support and keep up-to-date with anything happening in the transfer space.
It’s free to join but please ensure you have a genuine Facebook profile picture (ghost pictures are not approved as not deemed authentic) and then simply click here and answer the simple questions -> Join Facebook Group.