Free school trips for under-fives

Four-year-old primary school pupils in Oxfordshire can now travel to school for free, after the county council granted extra funding.

Free bus journeys were previously only available to pupils from the first term after their fifth birthday.

The authority says it has been able to extend the scheme due to "careful handling" of its transport budget.

The funding coincides with the first full-time places for four-year-olds in primary schools across Oxfordshire.

The county council commissioned an independent survey to gather parents' views.

'Environmental sense'

Results of the survey, carried out in 2007, indicated that 81% of parents of children aged between two and six supported the policy change.

Pupils who live more than two miles away from school will now be offered transport from their first day of school rather than several months into the year.

Michael Waine, cabinet member for schools improvement for the county council, said: "For families with more than one child of school age, it makes no common or environmental sense to allow a scenario where one child travels in to school on the bus, while the younger sibling follows in the car with the parents."

About 200 four-year-old pupils who took up full-time school places across the county this week are expected to benefit directly from the new scheme.