To think Year 4 is too young to walk home from school alone

They're not saying your child must walk home alone

Exactly. The OP and most of the replies make it sound as if they think the school's mandating it! If you don't want your Y4 children walking themselves home, carry on collecting them. The school's merely giving parents a choice.

Mind you, I'm an old codger who walked alone (suburban) from age 4.

They've possibly been reminded that it's not actually their call when a child walks home alone (unless there are genuine safeguarding concerns).

They're not saying your child must walk home alone, they're leaving it - as they absolutely should - up to parents to decide.

I have 6 kids, four absolutely could have walked home at that age fine - one of them would have taken longer to cross the playground from school door to gate than gate to our house as we literally lived opposite the gate. Two couldn't - one because of where we lived when they were that age, and one because of their impulsiveness.

I walked to school alone at 7 y.o. in the 1980s. 20 min. walk, rural area around a small town where everybody knew everybody. Not in the UK, but elsewhere in Europe. All the kids walked alone to school and came back home alone with a housekey (parents at work). Nobody has ever disappearred and there was no phone. The world has changed so much...

I’m in Scotland where the schools have no rules around this sort of thing, after P1 anyway.

My youngest is 8 (P4). We live 1km from the school, couple of small roads to cross but generally pretty safe. I meet her about 2/3 of the way to the school, so she gets to walk a little bit by herself, but I feel she’s a bit young to walk the full way. She loves this little bit of independence.

I think it's good they are allowing it if the parents consent.

I live in a different country where children routinely walk home alone from age 6/7 so y4 sounds fine to me. Obviously you have to take the route and the child's maturity into account, so it makes sense to allow parents to make the final call.

In many European countries children walk to school from around 7. In the UK we are outliers in our attitudes to children’s independence.

We have also become much more protective in the recent generation. My DH walked himself to and from school from younger than that and it was completely normal.

Our school allowed it from Year 4 if the route didn’t involve a busy road - the head felt it was a parental decision and for the right child and the right route a healthy way of building independence. Our Dd walked from year 4 (she is sensible for her age and it is a short walk in a safe area with no busy roads). For other children it would not have been safe and their parents made their own decisions.

If it isn’t right for your child that’s absolutely your call, but that doesn’t mean it’s inappropriate for every other child.

Mine were fine to walk home at that age. I have 4 quite close in age though so sometimes I was walking the route either younger siblings or they were walking with siblings etc.
They were allowed out to the park at that age though without adults, or to the shop.

Depends on the child and the route. Mine would be entirely capable of it, and we have no roads to cross. But emotionally I suspect he would struggle, there is a big difference between having a loved one collect you or walking alone.

So lots to consider. Don’t sign the consent form if you don’t want to.

I think y4 is a bit young yes. My ds1 is y6 and I started letting him walk home during the summer term of y5. We live about 20 minutes walk from the school. Some parents allowed it from earlier, others later.

Mine has just started walking home in year5. I wasn’t comfortable with it last year due to the busy road outside school. We did lots of practice last year on safely crossing it and she’s being really sensible this year. I do think it should be year 5 upwards but appreciate that like others say it depends on the child and their particular route home.

My DD did start walking home alone in the summer term of year 4. She walked most of the way with friends, we live in a village and it’s a few minutes walk with no major roads to cross. Depends on the child and location I would say.

To all the people who think it is always too young. Did you not walk home from school yourself by the age of 8,? Everyone did in the 70s.

Not where I live. There have been some very disturbing incidents.

My SIL literally lives next door to the school.

this is one of those situations where the only answer is “it depends”

I personally think it’s too young in today’s world, but understand some children will be fine while others aren’t. I know children who have done this and I’m 50/50 on whether I agree with it or not as most of the parents I know that have done this I’ve raised 🤨 about some of their parenting or they outright couldn’t give a shit and the children are extremely neglected. There are some that make sense, live extremely close, with line of sight etc.l

I offer to take a friends dd because, as with her eldest I don’t feel comfortable seeing her walk off on her own, she can either cut through a large park or take a longer route that still has dark spots in winter and is renown for boy racers where there have also been fatal car accidents were it’s the pedestrians who have been injured or killed. Mums reasoning is there are no roads to cross, mum is one of those extremely flakey people who has never been on time for the school run and now feels she dosnt have to do it.

Imagine how annoying it must be though, if you live 5 doors down from school but still have to get your shoes on and lock up and go out and do the school run. You don’t have to consent.
I wouldn’t want my 8 year old walking home alone either but I would if we lived very close. His year 6 brother has been walking home alone for a year. Was locked out for about half an hour this afternoon and knew what to do.

But then I'd also be happy letting mine walk to the local shop, or to play with kids on the green. There's lots to suggest that being allowed this sort of independence reduces anxiety and mental health issues in kids
It doesn't do to message to them that the world they live in is too dangerous for this, thats what makes them start getting anxious over everything.

Definitely depends on the route and the maturity of the child. Ultimately they are leaving it go the parents to decide as they will have the information.

Mine too, but it is totally dependent on circumstances.

. I think children that young need to know someone is there for them, even if that’s a CM or after school club staff.

The point would be they'd be walking home to a parent who's working from home, who mightn't be able to do the school run for that reason but would be in at home.

Actually there's an increasing body of evidence that children need this sort of independent activity involving some risk and responsibility much younger, the way they used to. In switzerland kids of 6 walk to and from school.

Ds walked home alone from 6. I’m not going to say I was completely happy about him doing that, but I thought it would probably be ok, and it was. Different child, different route and I might have made other choices. It seems sensible to me that a school doesn’t put barriers in the way of parents who for various reasons need to consider this.

Depends on the area and the child.

Ive an 8 year old in y4, he's sensible. We live in a village, school is all of 5 minutes away and the route doesn't involve any major roads to cross etc. He'd be fine walking to school I wish to goodness they'd let him.

DD is year 2 so I appreciate my view may change but that feels too young to me. Our school allows it from year 6 and I could see allowing year 5 as well (maybe from Spring) but year 4 seems quite little still. Very few routes have no significant roads to deal with.

Depends on the child and the route. Mine managed from year 4. We live very close to school in a village though.

It does seem very young not to have an adult meeting them. Even if it’s a quiet area and the child is mature, they’ve got the rest of their lives to go everywhere alone. I think children that young need to know someone is there for them, even if that’s a CM or after school club staff.