should I be concerned about a one-and-a-quarter-hour commute to secondary school?

DD had this sort of journey at first. It is too long. She left home at about the same time yours would be leaving, and didn't get home until nearly 6 (problems with connections between bus and train, fine in the morning but hell in the

every other child from here going to that school was taken in by car, so she was alone, and would have waited for nearly an hour on an almost deserted train platform in the middle of nowhere, where the office was often closed....

Year 7 is stressful and pressured enough. Take her in until she's got used to it. See what other kids are doing. See if you can arrange for a group to travel together, set up a school run among other parents.

teandthorazine My DD1 has a 60 mile round trip every day. It's fine. She loves her school, she enjoys the school bus journey, she doesn't like getting up early every day but she says it's worth it.

I left home at 7am, had a 2 hour journey to school and the same in the evening. Did this from Y7 to upper 6th form. It was fine - half the journey was on public bus half on a school bus. It made me very aware that time and getting up in the morning mattered and there was always the weekend to sleep in and veg!

Here in Milton Keynes hundreds of children go to either Bedford or Aylesbury to senior school. My daughters leave the house at 7am to get to the bus stop. The bus leaves at 7.15am. This seems to be 'normal' timings for all of these children and the majority of them seem to cope very well. I have known a few that couldn't cope with the travelling and have moved schools, but they are in the minority.

Is it 15 mins walk to bus stop, 30 mins on bus, 15 mins walk other end and leave home 15 mins early just to be on the safe side? That seems long to me. I have heard of children being able to do homework on the train, but it is far more difficult on a bus.

Is there no alternative? Is there any way of combining your commute to work with DD's commute to school? Could you drive her to the bus stop in the mornings and at least shave 10 minutes off the journey? Are there other families living locally, with children at the same school to make lift sharing a possiblity?

It's OK, kids have 70 minutes each way. They got used to it. Chance to do homework and catch up with friends

My DCs have an hours commute. DD actually gets an earlier train than she needs and leaves the house at 7.15 and gets home at 4.30. DS leaves at 7.50 and gets the same train home.
It has never been a problem at all even when they stay late for after school activities.

I had an hour and a half commute to secondary school from the village I lived in.

Dont.

My DC s is about 45 minutes door to door, for a school 10 miles away, but in our case this was my/their choice as it is not our catchment school.

It is a rural school and has one of the largest catchments in the country. There are children in school who do that kind of commute so it is considered normal. One of DDs friends has to get 2 buses, I would hate to have to think of my Y7 DD doing that.

The biggest problem is after school activities, I still have to collect my DCs 2 or 3 times a week.

I think that's an early start, and it impacts when they want to stay after school for things. My dd1 leaves home at 7.30, but that's because she collects various friends on the way, and they chat and walk together - I still try to fetch her (when work allows) if she's stayed for something after school that her walking buddies haven't though.
However, it doesn't look as if you have a choice! (I was assuming you were going to ask if it was worth it for a better school!). It may be that once she starts, you'll find there are other parents who might also be able to do a couple of journeys, even if it's on an informal lift sharing basis, and she doesn't have to do all the journey herself.

My secondary school was 20 miles away. I used to leave the house, walk a mile into town to bus stop. Bus left at 7.15am and used to get into the city at about 8am. I then had another mile long walk to school.

I used to return home about 5.15pm, I loved the independence, used to sometimes catch a later bus home if I wanted to hang out with friends after school.

That said, the school I went to wasn't the usual local high school so had no friends where I actually lived. My whole social life was 20 miles away so my friends would come and meet me at the bus station in the morning and we would walk to school together etc.

I never found it tiring, it was just the way life was. I guess I was out of the house from 6.50am-5.15pm but it set me up for life as I'm still a morning person and up at sparrow-fart each day now :)

Well, it's not ideal but if it's the nearest school I don't see what you can do about it, and presumably others will be in the same boat. My school commute was about the same when I went to secondary and TBH you just get on with it. We all used to do our homework on the bus home (or sometimes on the bus in the mornings ) and once your DC makes friends who are going the same way it won't seem so bad - you know how teenagers can chat endlessly about nothing. Maybe they'll get a mate who gets a lift in and has a spare space in the car??

IMO it's too long, but I'm sure others will disagree!

I'm currently embroiled in a similar 'discussion' (hemhem) with ds's dad who thinks it's reasonable to expect an 11-year old to do an 60-mile round trip every day for school. My argument is not so much the travelling itself but the impact on tiredness, ability to then do an hour or more of homework once home, impact on friendships, after-school clubs etc. It's way too much.

I would move if it's an option.