Independent travel training
What is independent travel training?
Travel training supports children, young people and adults to get more out of life through learning the skills and building confidence to use public transport safely.
Why learn travel skills?
Young people have told us that being able to travel independently brings a wide range of benefits:
- It gives a boost to their confidence and self-esteem.
- It is an important life skill which opens up a wider range of education, work, and leisure opportunities now and in the future which young people can access without needing a parent or carer to accompany them.
- It can reduce the number of journeys young people take by car and help them to be more active by walking some or all of the journey to school.
Where young people with SEND are eligible for travel assistance to school, this may be offered in the form of a bus pass rather than via a place in a council provided vehicle for young people in Year 9 and above.
How can I access Travel Training?
Portsmouth special schools and the City of Portsmouth College offer travel training as part of their curriculum provision, so as a first step talk to your education provider about what is available. Portsmouth’s Access and Entitlement Team can also signpost local provision.
The Seekers Social Travel Club provides support to families of children with SEND and helps young people to travel more independently. They meet in Cosham on a Wednesday afternoon from 4.00 – 5.30pm.
Enable Ability have also offered independent travel training to young people to help increase confidence when travelling alone for a number of years. They will be running a programme for young people aged 10-17 on a Saturday in September and October 2026 through the Portsmouth Teenage Project. Read more details about this project here.
What do young people say about travel training?
A quote from a young person who has taken part in travel training:
For our travel training we go to places we want to go and do walks and bike rides and catch up the bus. And if our parents are busy and we need to get back from school we can get the bus. I feel loads happier now, more confident.
And we’ve also had some very positive feedback from Vicky Clucas who ran the programme at Trafalgar:
Despite only having 3 students join us this year, it was a very successful week and we are confident one student will now be independently walking to and from school and another student will be able to confidently ride the bus. The parents were all very positive and happy with the knowledge and skills the students learnt.
The video below shows some of the activities that take place during travel training with Enable Ability.
Other useful contacts
If you attend City of Portsmouth College, please contact the college.
For further details about Enable Ability’s travel training, please email James Donougher at portsmouthtp@enableability.org.uk or call 07857 328390.
If you have a visual impairment please contact the Vision and Hearing Team.
For anyone over 18 not able to access any of the above, Community Connectors could help. They do not offer travel training, but they do provide short term support to build confidence with getting out and about in the community, either with walking or using public transport.
They have two eligibility criteria: the individual needs to be over 18 years old and be able to get out of their homes independently. Visit the Portsmouth City Council website for more information.
Resources
Parents may also want to help their child develop the skills for more confident travel. The resources below, reproduced with thanks to Southampton City Council, may be helpful.
