How do you prepare an 11 year old girl for getting the bus to school alone?

This

I can't believe some of the advice on here, the molly coddling is unbelievable. Surely by Y6 she's been on buses without an adult? And she has a mobile phone?

When I went to secondary school it involved a Train journey followed by a bus journey followed by a walk. No mobile phones. I think my Mum showed me which train to catch but not a lot more than that. I managed.

If you're really worried, get your younger child looked after and then your dh can take her to the induction day.

if you sit at the front you will be asked to move those are the priority seats. Tbh I wouldn’t rely too much on the driver where I am the driver couldn’t give a shit if you are being bothered and won’t get involved usually.

Actually dd says sit towards the back (but not right at the back) or you get old ppl sitting next to you. Esp if there is a step up, go up the step.

I would suggest sitting downstairs at the front of the bus close to the driver, so can get their attention if necessary?

@Setyoufree one thing my dd does is sit on the outside of the seat so no one can sit next to her and put bag on other seat. Obvs no good if bus is crowded, but if it’s a school bus or used by a lot of school kids, then another pupil will sit next to her which is ok. Don’t look at ppl when they get on.

Headphones that are obvious (so not cordless) stop ppl talking to you I find. dd says the same (just asked her)

Completely agree that the transition day will be overwhelming enough and Dad should take her. Surely your youngest can:
a) be taken to school by friend or grandparent
b)go to breakfast club
c) be late and Dad take him after dropping DD at her new school

I really think you need to prioritise her on this day. Your younger child can go in late.

Can you give me any advice on what to say re where to sit, what to do if anyone gives her hassle? My DD will be doing the same on a public bus and I've never really considered safety things like that before (sounds ridiculous I know)

This. How ever did we manage years ago I wonder before everyone picked up and dropped off their kids everywhere they go? She's 11, she'll be at secondary school. Take her on the bus before she has to do it herself and show her what to do. Job done.

Does your dd go out in her own at all? If not, I would start that now. Let her walk to the corner shop or the postbox. Maybe meet her halfway back.

Is there any way they can walk to primary - as in, how far away is it? Could she start walking there by herself, maybe being dropped off by your dh halfway?

I would also practise her being home by herself for short periods, if you don’t already do that. This is a good time to introduce independence.

Then do a few practice runs on the bus, as others suggest, with you there, maybe sitting on a different seat so she sees what it’s like.

Just practice with her, there's year 6 children that get the bus home alone from my kids primary school

Part of practicing is maybe tail them but they do everything themselves including the ticket and seat choice and you just act like another customer. I was told (by her ) to sit in another section on our pratice runs. We did it 4x until she felt happy to go solo.

Dd uses her phone for her bus ticket it's much easier/quicker. Our area is shared by two companies but she needs a ticket from company A for the second bus, though can get on the either of the companies from home with any type of ticket so she uses the app and gets a weekly ticket means she can jump on any bus in the morning and doesn't have to wait around for company A's bus to buy the right ticket. Check things like this as can save time and £, particularly if you are not used to the local bus service.

She has a card and an emergency £5 in her bag - just in case, but has been let on the bus once when she couldn't load the ticket.

What? Seriously? You've got 2 months to do a couple of trial runs.

Practice a few times and practice what to do when things go wrong. Bus late, odd person sits next to her. Who a ‘safe person’ could be. How to recognise her ‘spider sense’ and act on it. She could phone one of you move to another seat etc. I’m not saying this to be scary but my DD is very young as birthday late Aug and had to use public transport for school and only on her second week had an older man act weirdly with her and blocking her exit after everyone in her train section had got off. She was puzzled at first because “he looked like her teacher” ie didn’t fit her stereotype image of threatening. She was ok but his actions really upset her hence our conversation about what to do if it “doesn’t feel right”.

Do you have the timings for the taster day yet OP? Worth checking those as when my DD had a taster day they had them in early, so they were in before the rest of the school turned up. If yours does similar your DH might actually be able to do both school runs.

Get a childminds for the taster day so dad can drive her, hopefully she makes friends who have to do the same bus route in September but definitely do a couple of practice runs in the summer holidays.

11 year olds did this easily before mobile phones were invented, so please don't infantilise her. Show her what to do, and she'll be fine.

Practice. Don't let her know u are worried as that will make her worried. Work out what she should do if misses a bus. Have a code sentence she can use to alert you if she's worried about someone around her.

Trial runs, and get her a cheap, low-tech phone so she can call for support if something goes wrong.

If you can take a day off work and if she can take a day off school, try to do a trial run in real-life conditions.

When your DD starts in the school you may find there's someone else from the school taking the same busses.

Childcare for the younger one and Dad can take her on the bus there and back so she knows the route.
I'm all for building independent children but I think it would be mean to chuck her in at the deep end to get there alone for her first time.

It’s called travel training. You go through the actual process of travelling with your child several times looking at different issues and solutions until they are comfortable to do the travel alone. If need be you do it in the school holidays to build up to the day itself. But for the first week of actual term time or so ideally you would travel with the child to get them settled into the routine.

Trial runs. I’ve a dd in year 7 and I can’t believe how independent she became. She went from being shepherded everywhere in cotton wool last July, to taking public transport and walking home from school confidently and happily mid September.

If she hasn’t got friends doing the same route talk to her new form tutor to see if she can buddy up with anyone.

We did practices in the holidays, but weekends would work just as well. As well as just being used to the route I also gave advice on where to sit. What to do if the bus unexpectedly terminates. What to do if someone hassles her. And stressed that if a man talks to her she doesn't have to be polite and can move the fuck away.

She's been fine. The bus always has other school kids on anyway and she made Bus Friends. They grow up a lot once Year 7 starts and now we're in the summer term and she goes shopping alone and to the cinema with friends. She's so independent.