AN OSWESTRY school has pledged to look again at its transport costs after parents saw fees almost double.

A parent, who died not wish to be named, has hit out at a decision by The Marches School in Oswestry to nearly double its private transport costs without "explanation or apology" this week.

The parent said they received an email from the Morda Road-based school's administrator staff stating private travel costs would be £1,125 per year – payable over 11 months – for one child and £900 per subsequent child.

It would be £1,062 for pupils travelling with Lakeside Coaches.

This, according to the parent, was a jump from £660 for the 2021/22 school year. They said that increase was a "shock", but the lack of alternatives and offers of help was hard to swallow.

"This came out of the blue and there wasn't a warning about this," the parent said.

"We just had the email off the admin at the Marches marked about the bus transport for next year.

"This will have been a shock to a lot of parents across the school.

"They are not measuring the shock of the current cost of living crisis and then this, having to work out how there going to get their kids to school.

"You can accept that costs are going up but not enough to justify this.

"The fact that there was a two-week deadline, and if you didn't reply that your kid needed transport then they would just assumed they didn't.

"It's quite mercenary – it's a case of 'this is happening'.

"It would be different if it was £100, you could cope with that but it's £600 and there's no help or support from them on how you might able to pay.

"The cost of fuel might have doubled but it's still not enough to justify the prices they're charging per child on that bus, though I can't say for certain because they haven't told us.

"It's added to the trusts issues that I have with the school since my child started going there.

"We urge them to have a rethink over the price or at least come up with ways to help parents pay.

"Otherwise my child and others won't be able to get to school – I don't think the school has pupils' welfare at heart."

A spokesman for the Marches School said the costs will be reviewed again.

They said: "We are reviewing our bus service including routes and costs over the coming days.

"This will allow us to clarify to our parents/carers with clear communication, the exact position of our bus service and costs for the next academic year”