Do you drive your secondary age child to school?

[furandchandeliers]

My oldest is starting secondary school next year and from the conversations I've had with other parents most will be driving their kids to school and picking them up every day, I'm quite supposed as I just assumed everyone would get the school bus unless there's a reason not to.

It made me wonder what most people do, I always got the bus but that was in the 90s and maybe times have changed!

fwiw the school bus picks up at the end of our road and the school is about 5 minutes drive away. We live in a village and the bus is only used by school kids.

No. DD just started y7 and walks with a friend, takes about 15 minutes. She texts me when she gets there and when she's leaving to come home. It's been really encouraging her independence and she loves it. I suspect when it's cold or rainy I might be driving her more.

Definitely school bus. My ds is same year and his school is 14 miles away. Work is in the other direction.

My eldest has just left she always walked, very rarely had a lift.

Youngest is in year 7. She walks most days. It is a nightmare to drive as it is so busy. Her walk is about 30 mins each way.

Mine walk/get bus. I wouldn't have wanted them to go to a school that they couldn't get to on their own as it would be a bit restrictive

Ds1 goes to high school just over 1km away. He walks there and home every day.
Ds 2 goes to a high school about 10km away. I normally drop off and pick up as it’s on the way to/ home from work. However my hours sometimes change so he gets the bus on these days.

If that school bus option was available for ds he would definitely be on it!

I drop him off at a friend's house every morning as there are no bus routes from where we live to school

Yes, but I work around the corner so would be driving that way anyway. Seems pointless to pay for a school bus as well. She has to hang around for me at the end of the day for a while though

3 dc get the school bus.
Other dc school is on the opposite direction so no chance can do all!!
Sumner time they walked back.

I never drove my DD (now left school) but I drive my DS as its on my way to the primary. I don't pick him up tho.

Mine are Yr8 and last year (and this) they go by public transport. They mainly go by bus but occasionally by train (bus is free).

I've only ever driven them if there had been a major transport problem or as a treat.

They're in different schools which are in different directions from our house.

My ds's school is only over the road from his primary so there's no problem with him getting himself to and from school. If he'd got his second choice of school, which is a bus ride away, I might get him there on the morning until he found his feet.

I take my dd to school because it means an extra 45 minutes in bed. Precious teenage sleep. But she walks home. I also pick her up if the weather is foul. Yes I know she won’t melt but who would seriously want to walk 45 minutes in driving rain?

Yeah, I’m soft

My daughter's in year 8 and I don't know anyone who drives secondary school kids to school on a regular basis. They all (to various different local or not so local schools) walk, bike or get the train or bus. Only time I have driven her is when her train was cancelled.

We drove the eldest because we were going that way anywhere with DC3 to primary.

DC2 walked on his own.

DC3 and 4 came with me to work in my car then walked from there.

DC5 has just started and is going by public bus. So far so good. It costs £33 a month. Other kids at the bus stop going to a different schools get a dedicated school bus but it cost £55 a month!
If you are driving to work in a similar direction it doesn't make sense to pay out for the bus on top.

They say that now. In reality, a few weeks in, they won't be picking them up.

Our local kids used to get the bus but they've become so problematic parents just drive now.

We drive but this was due to a Council cockup in allocation and we missed the bus application deadline. Hopefully bus next year. We'll walk if it snows.

Ds1 is in yr 7 he walks there and back everyday unless his dad ison a late and occasionally gives him a lift its just over a mile away

No because we live less than 5 mins' walk away. But tbh if they went to the school on the next village (10-15 min drive, too far to walk) they would get the bus. Dh and I both leave for work before 7am some days so they'd be at school a bit early!

Tbh op if it really was a 5 min bus ride I'd walk! That can't be more than a mile?

DC1 walks, as do most of her friends who live between 1-1.5 miles away from the school.

I could give her a lift, but due to crazy traffic it would mean DC2 and I leaving the house at 8.10 and having to sit in a parked car for about 25mins after dropping DC1, as there's no time to return home before dropping DC2 elsewhere. I don't think that's fair on DC2.

Yes because we live 13 miles from their school and there's no bus. We lift share though, and they share a taxi once a week. Also, my office is a 5 min walk from their school, so I drop them and then go onto work. After school they do homework in school until I'm finished, then we all go home together.

But if they went to our local comp, they'd absolutley be getting the bus, which sound a similar set up to you. As far as I'm aware, everyone in our village that goes to that school gets the bus (except sixth formers who have to pay).

My DS has just started in Y7 and generally walks the 1.2 miles with a friend however, if it’s raining or particularly cold then I’ll take them and pick them up.

DD is yr7. I take her because she's like something out of the walking dead in the mornings. She walks home. Takes about half an hour.

There is no school bus for ds. He would have to travel in the wrong direction, wait 20 minutes for a connecting bus then travel back in the right direction. The whole process takes 50 mins for a 10 minute journey by car. He can't walk the direct route as it is not safe (no pavement along an unlit country lane) . To go the long way around would take 1 hour 45 minutes at a brisk pace.

So what I do instead is to drop him off at his grandparents house (takes 5 minutes) which is the other end of the country lane where he picks up his bike and he cycles the rest of the way (10 mins). I have to drive that way to get to work anyway.

No, DS is in Y8 and has walked ever since he started in Y7. We'll, he walked before that too, but I walked with him then as DS2 was at the same primary. Never been an issue with him walking, it takes him about half an hour to get there (or ten mins from his Dad's house).