An 11 year-old girl due to start secondary next month can't go to the school she wants because the local council won’t pay for her transport, say her parents. Samia Shearman attends a Catholic primary in Abergavenny and has a place at the feeder Catholic secondary, but it is 18 miles from her home.
As practising Catholics Matthew and Feodora Shearman want their daughter to continue her religious education. They say it’s discrimination that Powys Council won’t pay for school transport, but the authority said they turned down the request because it did not meet their policies.
Samia has just finished year six at Our Lady and St Michael’s Primary, in Abergavenny, the nearest Catholic primary to the family home in Crickhowell, Powys. As there are no Catholic high schools in Powys the Shearmans applied and got a place for their daughter to attend the nearest one to their home, which is 18-miles away in Torfaen local education authority.
