How long is your DC's journey to school?

How do people manage to do these long drives taking their kids to school and also get themselves to work?

Middleager, lucky yes.
However with forward planning when purchasing a house our priority was to buy one close to good local schools which were walking distance for our children.

Some of these commutes are long.

8 minute walk
5 -10 minute bus ride (depends on traffic)
5 minute walk

DC is in Y7. 10 min walk to bus stop, 10 min bus ride, 5 min walk, but allow extra 20 min as buses are supposed to go every 10 min but are often 'full' atm.

It's about a 40 min walk but mostly up a steep hill, so walking home is more likely than going there.

About an hour and 10 minutes each way.

Also during the Covid situation the bus company have provided an extra bus at school start and finish times, to enable distancing.

6 miles into town and then the school minibus picks them up for a further 9 miles, this is the school that meets DD’s needs the best. The nearest school they could go to is 6 miles and school transport provided by council.

My DC get the bus, it's a 25 min journey (public bus not school bus). It's v reliable and has only not turned up once in three years. It gets them to school with 20 mins to spare, so they've only been late a couple of times - the bus is often a few minutes late, but rarely as much as 20 mins. I don't track them but they would phone me if there was a problem.

10 minutes drive or 1 hour walk.

Spots, I agree. If we’re in the car we’re chatting or have the opportunity to do so. DS talks to his friends on the bus (only in his year group) or watches something on his phone. It would have been nice to have a great school within walking distance but there isn’t one.

A longish commute is the reality of living in a rural area. Our nearest secondaries are all 5 or 6 miles away, and we're not really very rural at all (big village in the home counties). It's not that far, but can take a long time with traffic (we're lucky in that our school is the right side of town for us - the other side would double 20 mins to 40 mins).

Also, I think there's quite a lot of over-angsting on here about the impact on a child. Our 20 minutes in the car is a lovely part of the day - DS and DH listen to podcasts they like on the way there, and on the way back it's the one time that DS is really happy to chat about his day. And bus or train journeys can be fine - I remember having a real laugh on the school bus (probably not so much fun at the moment).

20 miles. I drive the first 7 miles & drop him at the school bus stop.

He could have gone to a closer school, about 6 miles , but it wasn't a good school so the effort is worth it.

None in secondary at the moment but originally we lived a ten minute walk away, but we moved when DC2 was in year 10 and he had a 30 min walk. Now he has a 20 min walk to sixth form.

There's a very popular secondary about 5 mins from where we live now but unfortunately it's a Faith school.

My children's closest State secondary would have taken at least 25 minutes, the one they went to was a 50 minute walk (at their pace) which they choose over the 30 minute bus ride (only because of timings and need to walk to the bus stop). Of course if they had all been boys and passed the entry test, and we could have afforded it - they could have gone to the private school which is 5 minutes away.
I put a top limit of a 1 hour commute, but I do know people who do longer.

Forgot to add, semi-rural environment, so no schools on doorstep.

Dc1 - 10 minute car, 30 min train, 10 minute walk

Dc2 - 5 minute car, 20+ minute bus, 2 minute walk

Dc1 school was 12 miles away, dc 2 was 5 miles away. We used to leave the house about 7.30-7.40am for both of them, and they both used to arrive home approx 4.30pm.

Sometimes distance, and even time isn’t so important as ease of journey. One 30 minute bus ride, is easier than two ten minute ones plus a walk.

What do the other local kids do in your area and they soon get used to the longer day.

25 minute walk each way. They walk with friends and refuse to walk with each other. As a PP said the exercise is good for them, they are doing a lot less exercise than pre-Covid (no school sports and swimming club prioritising the top squad ) so at least they are doing a daily walk.

Year 8 (but also cycled in Y7). Cycling by herself: about 20 minutes.

Cycling with a couple of friends (which she usually does): longer because they chat so much!

Being driven by a kind parent because it’s bucketing it down: 15 mins.

I do have her on the iPhone tracker but almost never actually track her - as she cycles with friends, one of them would ring if there was a problem (eg flat tyre!).

Most of these listed are shocking! I think people underestimate what a long commute does to a young person.

15 minute walk, to the local catholic, that is very good. It was one of the biggest criteria for me, for it to be local.

No apps used.

I am actually quite horrified by the length and time of some of these journeys. Both mine were able to walk to school, some 15 minutes.

DS1s secondary - 2buses (or a walk and 1 bus) 30-40 mins depending on time/how full buses are. Hes been cycling since Sept as its preferable to a bus and mask. It takes him about 25mins.

DS2s secondary - 20 min walk.

30 minutes by car (45-60 at the minute as there's a 3 month patch of roadworks & no way around that's not going to take even longer)

No school bus or PT

(Independent school. Nearest state would be a 30 minute bus in the other direction)