How long is your DC's journey to school?

@Squidsister I agree. Especially about the type of drugs

30 minute walk - just over a mile.

Lots of her classmates have 5 mile + commutes on bus, some much further on train. She's at a grammar with no catchment.

Friends' kids who live locally all go to non-selective which is less than a mile away.

:-) pretty much agree with what you’ve said Squid. DD is at an out of area State Secondary with a performing arts specialism - DD got a musical place after a singing audition and musicality test. It academically outperforms the local school and most importantly, suits our DD who loves the choirs & opportunity to develop her singing.

Pretty sure they aren’t all angels and teenagers are teenagers. Perhaps the residents in the road outside DD’s school say exactly the same! The only point I was making is that familiarity can bring more ??. But if we’d felt the local option (which we really did seriously consider as it’s good, especially for Kent!) was the best for DD I’d have put aside any small concerns, just bought her an extra long skirt 🙂!

SJaneS48 - Oh sorry, when you said your DC went through a test I assumed it was for a grammar school.

Not saying anyone has to hang around the entrances! But walking past at home time can be an eye opener. Everyone assumes their local schools are awful because they see the kids with the worst behaviour at home time, but that’s the case with teenagers at all schools - they come out and act up (not all of them, but some of them, before everyone jumps on me and says ‘my teen would never do that’).

My friend was all for going for one of the Kent grammar schools, went for the open days etc, and the behaviour of the pupils at home time shocked her and put her right off. Her DC now at the local secondary and she is very happy.

I would also say that parents only see their teens in a certain way. I work with teenagers and can say that even the smartest ones from the loveliest homes can act pretty badly at times - it would certainly be an eye opener for some parents ....

As for drugs again I would say this is an issue at most secondaries with a minority of pupils. The only difference is the type of drugs they can afford.....

:-) I think I’ve pretty much said that! Neither does my DD go to a Grammar so hanging around their entrances would be pretty dodgy.

Perhaps part of the spurning local options comes of seeing just too much of the kids on the street though. We did seriously consider our decent local secondary but I’ll be honest and say that the very short length of a lot of the girls skirts and bumping into the teenage boys in their school uniform smoking weed in the back of the park when I walk the dog was off putting. That’s not to say that the behaviour of all kids from our further away schools are perfect I’m sure but we don’t have it in our faces!
Have you been at the grammar schools at home time, to be able to compare? You may be surprised... the pupils are not all angels either!

5 minute walk. It’s a revelation for year 7 DD as primary school was 25 minutes drive and an hour+ with a childminders

@Squidsister, I do understand your comment about people spurning the perfectly adequate on the door step comp but speaking as someone who did and put their DC through a test, we do it for better fit for their interests and out of a belief we’re giving them better odds at higher performing schools. Speaking personally, we also wanted single sex education.

Agree from what I’ve seen often the local state is really unfairly rubbished. I live in Kent and there is definitely a status here amongst middle class parents of getting their DC into the grammars (all of which involve a 30 minute + journey) with coaching for this starting often 2 years before.

Perhaps part of the spurning local options comes of seeing just too much of the kids on the street though. We did seriously consider our decent local secondary but I’ll be honest and say that the very short length of a lot of the girls skirts and bumping into the teenage boys in their school uniform smoking weed in the back of the park when I walk the dog was off putting. That’s not to say that the behaviour of all kids from our further away schools are perfect I’m sure but we don’t have it in our faces!

DC 1 : left home 7.20 car pool to station 7 miles away , train 7.40 , 15 min walk at other end arrived at school at about 8.15 for 8.25
DC2 , 10 mins walk to bus stop bus at 7.45 got to school 8.25
DC3 similar time DC1 car to station , earlier train 7.20 as longer walk( 25 mins or so) at other end .

She also has music lessons two evenings a week in London, so if she was at school locally she'd still have those journeys in on top of school so it works for her.

It does depend a bit on the child - DD has never had an early bedtime and is one of these kids with rather too much energy, so she doesn't find it tiring at all. Other children might find it harder to cope with.

DD takes the school bus, 30 minutes journey, 3 minutes to bus stop. She walks with friends and pretty much all children in the village go to the same school as it’s our catchment one.

15 minute walk to secondary school thankfully. I read about some children's school commutes and I really feel for them...but I suppose it's managing their expectations for the life of a worker.

My parents live rurally and I used to get the coach because it was over 3 miles to the catchment school. I was first on at 7.40am but first off in the afternoon. I used to do a lot of homework in the mornings!

We can see the secondary school out of our bathroom window

When DD got her place it was about 5 miles and 2 buses. We knew we would move if she got a place there. Unfort it took longer than expected so I gave lifts half of the week and grandparents picked up sometimes leaving her only two mornings and max 2 afternoons for this commute. We moved after 4 months.

Now it’s 2-3 miles and 1 bus that takes 10 mins, 15-20 mins door to door.

DD leaves home at 8.30 and is back by 4.30. DS leaves at 8 and is back by 3.30. They could probably both leave later but they hate being late and it gives them time to dawdle and chat to friends.

Having schools within walking distance is one of the advantages of living in an urban area. The downsides are smaller gardens and not having the countryside on the doorstep. It’s all pros and cons. For us we like the fact we can walk everywhere, we don’t use the car very often at all. It feels quite liberating. But I understand it’s not for everyone, other people prefer to live rurally or somewhere quiet. It’s individual preference.

We have quite a few secondary schools nearby that are perfectly fine, and what I don’t understand is all the angst from the local parents about whether the local schools are good enough, and parents putting their kids through tests and long commutes because they can’t bear the idea of the local comprehensive . It seems like they think unless you’ve had to fight to get into a school, it can’t possibly be any good.

6-7 minute walk.

The high school is actually closer to us than the primary she attended!

Bus probably about 50 minutes. But bus stop is a 25 min walk so I drive them to the bus stop on my way to work.

Bus home, about 45 mins but they finish school at 3.25 and bus doesn't come until nearly 4. Then they have the 25 min walk home, sometimes i pick them up but they walk if the weather's ok.

They are out the house 7.30am -5pm ish.

20 minute walk, part of the reason we chose it (other options were a bus or train journey away).

I really like that DC can always walk home independently, and we don't have to worry about public transport timetables, or leaves on the line or whatever.

squidsister get up early!

In our case, the school and the job are in the same town, so it's the same direction anyway.

5 mins walk - live in a village with school.

This is interesting - trying to decide currently between schools one of which is walkable and the other is about 40mins commute by bus... leaning towards the walkable school (as one of many factors to take into account).

Whichever grammar/ secondary dc1(y6) & the younger 4 get in to it'll be a 30 minute bus ride/20 minute drive. We're rural so can't escape a ride unfortunately. Only a 2 minute walk to the bus stop from our house though.

DD1 used to take a bus last year, one bus and it usually takes less than 5 minutes though closer to 15 during those times of morning, but where we are in the routes and new occupancy rules, they don't tend to stop here during the rush hours.

Now, it's about 15 minutes on commuter scooters, a little less than double that if they walk (we timed it over the summer).

I was nervous for DD2 to go by herself on her first day when Y7s had an induction day (DD2 was nearly a year younger than DD1 when she started), but she's done well. They all have Family Link on their phones, but I've not turned on the location/tracker functions.

15 minute walk, although it seems to take an hour to get home.

We are extremely lucky to have two very good secondary schools within easy walking distance.