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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

Going to school on the bus

13 replies

OhWesternWind · 21/01/2011 12:55

My dd is currently age 8 (year 4) and wants to go to school on the bus. The bus stop is directly outside our house and stops at the other end round the corner from school with just one quiet road to cross. The main
ishoo is that she would be in the house by herself for half an hour or so before the time came to get on the bus as dp and I both work. (At the moment she goes to a c/m with her younger brother).

She is very sensible and mature, is allowed to go to the local shop etc by herself and has a lot of common sense and confidence.

We have said no, no bus yet. But what's the consensus on what would be a suitable age for this? Year 7 secondary school is on the same bus route just a different stop.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

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Abr1de · 21/01/2011 12:59

If it's the school bus to the primary I think you should definitely do it. If she is sensible and knows the rules about being home alone and is confident, she will be fine. Set an alarm clock for her so she knows when to leave the house.

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OhWesternWind · 21/01/2011 13:01

Just to clarify, it's a normal service bus, but pretty quiet as it is just through the villages. It's maybe a ten minute journey.

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bigTillyMint · 21/01/2011 13:06

I'm sure she would be fine on the bus and getting to school, but would you be happy leaving her in charge of locking the house up?

Could she start with coming home on her own?

DD started with coming in on her own - about 15mins max before me - and I started letting her lock up very occasionally when she was in Y6. Both she and other friends have had difficulties getting the door to lock and got quite worried about it.

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OhWesternWind · 21/01/2011 13:13

Thanks for your answers, it's good to have some other people's thoughts.

Coming home is actually more difficult as there are two main roads to cross, one at the school end and one at home end, neither of which have pedestrian crossings, so from a road safety point of view going to school is the easier one.

I know she can unlock the door so I will try her out locking it and see how she goes. My main concern is that she will get reading and forget to go out for the bus even with an alarm!

What happens if your children/their friends miss the bus or it doesn't turn up for some reason? Do they ring school and just get on the next one?

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Abr1de · 21/01/2011 13:15

Ours were provided by the school but yes, they are trained to ring and tell the school what is happening. I have always encouraged friendly relationships with school secretaries so that they feel happy to ring up and tell them the problem.

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throckenholt · 21/01/2011 13:22

are there any other kids who go on the bus locally ? Could she go to their house to wait for the bus ?

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OhWesternWind · 21/01/2011 13:28

There aren't any other children going to their school locally that I know of, as our dcs don't go to the local school in the next village but to a (better) school in the next village to that. There are neighbours, and in an emergency there would be people next door or just along the road that she knows and could go to for help, but it seems a bit too cheeky to get her to wait there, like treating them like a cheapo childminder, so I don't like to ask.

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LetsEscape · 21/01/2011 13:31

I think year 6 is a really good time to start travelling to school alone in preparation for secondary school. Crossing the road worries me more than travelling to school by bus. I crossed London alone at 8 years old going to school by tube and walking but there were many other children who did this at that time. I'm not sure what the school would say about it though?

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bigTillyMint · 21/01/2011 14:52

I'm always at home before they leave in the morning, so this has never been an issue for us.

If you are also concerned about her missing the bus, I would say perhaps you need to wait until she's a bit older - maybe Y6 would be best. It's a big responsibility for her to get herself out and lock the door safely, unless you are certain she could cope with it. Also, does she have a mobile phone so that you can check with her if she'a OK, and vv?

Why don't you give her a try-out one day a week with the neighbours on alert incase of a problem?

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bluegiraffe · 21/01/2011 17:12

used to be

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bluegiraffe · 21/01/2011 17:12

*allowed even!!

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Abr1de · 22/01/2011 14:46

There is no legal age limit for leaving children unattended at home in the day.

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OhWesternWind · 24/01/2011 07:41

We've found a solution to this - one day a week DD has orchestra which means she needs to be in school early, so can go to wait for the bus at the same time as dp leaves the house. So she can do the bus thing without the locking up.

We had two bus practices on Saturday - the first time, when luckily I was at the back of the bus keeping an eye on her, she did everything perfectly, even rang the bell, but then for some reason didn't get up to get off the bus! Second time she went all by herself, I followed in the car and she got off and walked round to school no probs. So Thursday it is!!