Travel for schools
Benefits
Free off-peak travel for school group visits to educational, cultural and sporting venues in London.
The scheme gives free travel on:
- Bus
- Tube
- Tram
- DLR
- London Overground
- Elizabeth line (excluding between West Drayton and Reading)
- Most National Rail services within London Zones 1-6
Can my school register?
You can register if your school is:
- In a London borough
- Officially open and operating for the duration of the traditional school day 08:30-15:30
- Teaching the National Curriculum or Further Education subjects
The scheme is open to state, independent and academy schools.
Summer schools run in association with local education authorities can register. You may need to provide evidence in your application, such as an Ofsted report.
Nursery schools can also register.
How does it work?
Register your school
To register your school for the scheme, email us a letter on your school letter-headed paper, confirming:
- Your school wants to join the School Party Travel Scheme
- Your school follows the National Curriculum or a substantially similar programme
- The London borough your school is in
- Your schools Ofsted Unique Reference Number (URN)
- Name and address of the school, including postcode, telephone number and a school email address
- Your school will abide by the scheme's terms and conditions
Email your letter in pdf format to schoolparty@tfl.gov.uk
Terms and conditions
By participating in the scheme, you're accepting the scheme's terms and conditions. It's your responsibility to read these before applying for travel.
Number of trips per school
A maximum of 2 trips per child, per term are allowed.
One trip consists of an outward journey direct to the destination and a return journey directly back to your starting point.
If a school has taken more trips than permitted in one term, all future applications for that term will be rejected.
Group size
A minimum of one adult (aged 18 or over) and maximum of 2 adults for every 10 children (aged under 18).
You can include up to 60 children and 12 adults on each application.
We recommend that you limit your group size wherever possible. This will help ensure safer travel on our services.
If you need to travel with more adults, they'll need to pay adult fares.
If you're from a nursery school making a trip with children, one adult for every 5 children can travel under the School Party Scheme.
If you're a special educational needs school and/or making a trip with children with special needs and need to travel with more than 10 adults, call us on 0343 222 1234 Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00 (charges may apply).
Using your tickets
When you apply for tickets, we'll check which services are available for your time of travel. We may need to stagger your travel time to make sure that it's safe for everyone and there's space for your group and other people.
This may mean that your whole group may not travel at the same time.
School Party Travel tickets are only valid:
- At the specific stations and/or bus routes shown on your ticket
- On the date and times shown on your ticket - if you turn up early, you may be asked to wait until the time on your ticket
- For the number of children and adults shown on your ticket
You must print the tickets and show them to staff when you travel. Confirmation emails, photocopied tickets or photographs of tickets will not be accepted.
If you do not have a printed copy of your original ticket, your ticket isn't valid for travel under the School Party Travel Scheme. You may be asked to pay for your journey(s) and your school may be suspended from the scheme permanently.
Places to visit
You can apply for free travel to educational, cultural or sporting venues that support the National Curriculum. These include:
- Animal parks and zoos
- Areas of cultural interest (e.g. Chinatown)
- Artists' studios, arts centres and design studios
- Buildings of architectural or environmental interest
- Cinemas, concert halls and theatres
- City Farms, commons, heaths and parks
- Film studios, galleries, museums and print works
- Sites of archeological, environmental or religious interest
- Sporting venues, playing fields and indoor leisure centres. You can also be spectating or participating in sport
- Occasional venues which support an area of study but take place for a limited time
Recreational trips, such as trips to theme or amusement parks, are excluded.
If you have special requirements for your trip, include these on your application. We'll aim to accommodate where possible.
If it's unclear how a proposed trip meets the criteria above, we may contact you to discuss your trip. If we feel your trip does not fit the criteria, your application may be rejected.
Help from staff
When travelling with a school group on the London Underground, London Overground or the Elizabeth line, speak to a member of staff at the gateline on the day before you start your journey.
They can confirm your planned route and contact your destination, and interchange stations to check there are staff available to help you as part of our turn-up-and-go assistance service.
It's also helpful for our station teams to know that a school group is on the way, especially at popular stations/locations e.g. Kew Gardens, South Kensington.
School groups will be refused free travel if they attempt to travel:
- without a valid ticket
- on a date other than the date on the ticket
- with more children or adults
Journey times
Start your journey after 10:00, where you can, to avoid the busiest times. School Party travel is permitted Monday to Friday at the following times:
| Service | Journeys must start no earlier than | Must begin the final leg of your journey by |
| Buses and trams | 09:30 | 16:30 |
| Tube, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth line and National Rail | 09:50 where journey starts in Zone 1 or 2 | 16:30 |
| Tube, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth line and National Rail | 09:30 where journey starts in Zones 3 or 9 | 16:30 |
If you want to travel before or after the times above, you'll need to pay for all your travel.
Apply for tickets
You must apply at least 14 days before you want to travel. You can apply up to 3 months in advance.
It's best to apply early as we may have to reject applications, particularly where multiple school groups want to travel to the same venue or event.
If you do not enter the correct station or bus route when applying for ticket(s) it may delay your application.
Plan your trip by using our journey planner.
Travelling on National Rail
If your trip includes travel on National Rail services you can book your tickets through us. On your application you must tell us the exact time of the train(s) you want to travel on.
Travelling to a new venue
If your venue or event does not appear in the drop-down list when you apply, you can suggest it. It may take up to 7 working days for us to decide if it can be added.
Apply online
Apply on your School Party Travel Scheme account.
Apply by email
If you're a nursery school, you can only apply by email :
- Complete the application form
2. Scan and email your form to schoolparty@tfl.gov.uk
We'll email your tickets to you when your application is approved.