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Original poster

Is it too much to let a child travel 50 minutes to school?

84 replies

mehesdfds753 · 04/05/2020 12:06

May I ask this question?

We are looking for a new house. The purpose is preparing for my oldest son's potential secondary school next year.

If things go according to our plan, the child is expected to study at an independent school at Year 7.

However, due to the housing budget, it is most likely my child will need to use public transport to go to school. It looks like he will spend at least 45-50 minutes to travel from home to school.

Subject to the actual location, he may need to use the rail station and then use the bus to go to school.

And we know that in real life, many children will simply walk to their secondary school.

So is it too much and cruel to ask my child to travel that far?

My sincere thanks,

OP posts:
Baaaahhhhh · 04/05/2020 12:48

Seems pretty normal. DD walks 5 mins to train, 5 min on a train, changes to another 5 min train, 15 mins walk to school the other end. So half an hour, in theory. With connections, cancellations, and delays, she often has to wait 20 mins somewhere, so she regularly has an elapsed 1hr + journey.

Malmontar · 04/05/2020 12:43

No, that's quite a decent time.

HandfulOfFlowers · 04/05/2020 12:41

Lots of people do this so your child won't be the only one, but personally I think it's much nicer for them if they don't have that in their lives from age 11. That's why we have chosen a secondary school that is a short walk away, but it's a personal choice really.

PatriciaHolm · 04/05/2020 12:38

I think the time is fine, I'd be more concerned about the reliability of the train. Could you take him if there are problems/strikes etc?

Goggle1968 · 04/05/2020 12:36

No. My secondary school commute was this long using a bus then about 20 min walk. Don’t think my parents even considered it when I was Young it was just want we did!

MangoesAreMyFavourite · 04/05/2020 12:33

DS has the same - takes the train and the bus. He loves it. He has his bus/train group of friends and is closer to them that others in his class.

If there are a lot of children doing the same/similar then he'll be fine.

Bumbers · 04/05/2020 12:21

I went to an independent school and my journey was usually over an hour, although it was on a school coach not public transport (is this an option?). The majority of people had similar commutes, with some significantly longer. We used to chat/read/sing/do homework on the bus!

ooooohbetty · 04/05/2020 12:17

Doesn't sound excessive to me. Lots of children get public transport to school.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 04/05/2020 12:11

Before we moved, the Primary school children had up to 45 minutes each way on the school bus, and Secondary children up to 90 minutes to the school bus (Catchment schools, not Private). That length of journey is pretty normal in a lot of areas.

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