Walking to school alone - advice please

All this. She wouldnt just be walking herself, its more than that.
If you were wfh and were there to wave her off from the front door for a 10 min walk it would be different but you are leaving well before she'd be headed to school 2 streets away.

What happens after school OP? Presumably you are at work so where us she til 4.30/5 or whenever you get home?

I have a DS the same age and for me it's not just the walking to school bit- presumably your DD will be at home without an adult for a bit first, then she will need to know when to leave on time, then walk to school by herself. I guess it depends on how much your DS will be at home with her before they both leave the house and if he leaves before her, will she know when to leave. My DS wouldn't be ready for that but it may be your DD is more mature. Can someone do a practice run with her?

I'd also be concerned that in the winter she'd potentially be home by herself just as the sun is coming up, again it depends on how happy you are leaving her in the dark. I do think that's a bit young but it depends if your DS is there too.

I think she is safe to walk to school but it's unacceptable that your ds is being so unhelpful. Why should you be unnecessarily worrying when there is someone who can walk here there. Put your foot down.

Pay him a small amount? I mean, you shouldn't have to, but alternatives are way more pricey in £ or favours....

In fact, not only is year 5 absolutely fine, but our primary school actively encourages it from year 5.

Totally normal where I live (Scotland) for children to walk to school from younger than 9 - even from P1. My own certainly two did.

But if you are in England then there seems to be a vastly different culture on this.

I think it's fine for her to walk on her ownvin year 5, not sure what others posters are worrying about!

I’d think the walking is fine but would she have to be by herself at home and lock up if your Ds leaves before her and you’re at work? I think 9’s too young for that.

Absolutely fine.

The school will call you straight away if she doesn't get there. So no call means she's fine.

My DC started walking home from school in Yr5. We practised it, talked about any friend's houses on the route that are "safe houses" that they could go to if there was a problem, talked about never getting in a car with anyone (even if you know them) and they had a smart watch with tracker (xplora is the brand we chose - lots of parental controls) so they could call me if they needed anything.

I checked with the school what their policy was about it - the class teacher even walked them to the gate the first time to check they were okay - and from Yr5 it was fine.

Everyone is different, and circumstances all vary of course - but it has been really good for their independence.

I don't think it's awful or anything but I wouldn't be letting my 15 year old make the choice because he couldn't be bothered. She should start walking alone when she feels ready and you agree. Tell DS he absolutely will be taking her and the longer he moans the less likely you are to decide she could go alone at a later time.

I would say year 5 is perfectly fine for a streetwise child with the location of the school as you describe.

2 streets away no tricky crossings I would let her. My kids school allows kids to walk themselves from p4 so around age 8.

My DD walked to school in Y5 and Y6. She went with 2 friends, very safe area (as any can be) and all the parents agreed.

I don't have blanket rules on what is/isn’t acceptable. Very much context dependent.

Schools can refuse to release children at the end of the day without an adult to collect them...but they can't control if you let your DC walk to school.

The schools round me add the child to a list and if the child isn't there at registration then the parent is phoned immediately. So you wouldn't be told she'd got their safe but you'd know if she hadn't.

All the kids round here walk from y5 but we have a middle school system. School would call you if they didn't make it just like if they were off sick and you didn't phone in. Or put a phone in the bottom of their bag with a tracker app.

Me too.

My 9 year old walks to school with a friend. I drop her off at friends house, and friends parent checks they are fine when she drops her younger child off. I wouldn't be letting her walk from home (whos locking up the house?) herself, without someone able to confirm shes arrived

This would be very much the norm at our school, kids are walking themselves from 8/9, years before they get phones at 11/12.

On the route to school there are so many families and kids walking to school, it would actually be hard to go wrong, it isn't like going on a walk at a random time of day.

Practise with her first, spot some familiar faces each day or see if she can call on someone to walk together. She'll be fine.

I have a 9 year old roughly the same age. She takes herself to and from school. Small
village too, just the one residential road to cross. School
says they can do it from Yr5, so she does.

Would your eldest still be at home when you leave and be responsible for locking up etc? If so, I don’t see a problem.

if she doesn’t arrive at school, they’d be in touch pretty quickly.

My school allows walking to and from school from year 5. Most people live within 10 to 15 mins walk.

Can you talk to the school about allowing a non smart phone that she hands in every day? That's what ours does.

However I admit I would probably opt for telling ds to sort his attitude out in reality and or try and incentivise him somehow into not treating it like it's the worst thing in the world!

If she is 9, isn't she just going into year 5? My sisters and my friends DCs schools allowed children to walk in alone from year 5 (my DCs are younger so I have no experience) . Maybe just see if they have a policy? Also if its on same road as sons school can he like walk behind her and keep an eye if he doesn't want to walk with her.

I know I'm much older and times have changed but I walked twenty minutes to school when I was in year 5 and 6, including crossing an enormous junction. I never had any trouble.

The school will ring if she doesn't turn up

I'm guessing your 15 Yr old feels "uncool" walking with her and it impedes his social time before school

Isn't there another family local she could "tag along" with?

I think at 9, closing in on 10, it'd be fine for this walk though. Presumably she'll be off to High school this time next year and would be walking alone anyway