What age can/did your children walk to/from school alone?

[AhhhHereItGoes]

Also, what kind of area do you live in (council estate, sub urban, rural, small village etc).

DD1 seems to think you can do it from 7 but I think 9/10 is more likely to be the answer.

We live in a small village.

Will obviously ask school but just curious what everyone else will/have done.

For us walking is not the problem, but we do not want DS (11) to be alone in the house for two hours till we get home.
They can walk from Y5, but most start in Y6.

City suburbs, mine started walking towards the end of p4 (aged 7, nearly 8), but with friends. 10 min walk, couple of small roads to cross.

We can sign the consent form from year 5. I will start letting them walk alone from year 6 if they want to. (Think they will apart from when it’s raining) We are in a small town. 20 min walk. One main road to cross but there’s lights but there’s two small roads off of the main road that can be busy junctions so I’m a little worried about that. They will need to build up independence before secondary school though.

Mine isn't school-aged yet, but I left primary school in 2007, so not overly overly long ago, and walked to school alone from Year 7.
The secondary school was only 10min max walk away, whereas the primary was about 30/40 depending on speed. Quiet area just on the boundary of two towns but not in the towns themselves. One busy road to cross to both the secondary and primary.

Our school encourages it in year 6, in preparation for secondary.
But I'm going to start soon with Ds2, year 5, hrs 10, nearly 12, because I now have a new second job, that means I won't be able to drop him off or pick him up 2 days.
3 other parents have Already approached me about their children doing the same and all walking together.
I will contact school because I too know they have a consent form for year 5, so once I've signed that, it'll be fine.

We live in a medium sized village, it's allowed from year 5 onwards.

I think it is yr 6 with permission, however when dd1 was in year 6 we were taking younger children so walked together, so she went alone from year 7.

We have now moved so DS is in year 6 but we live a car ride away. The youngest is in yr 2 currently and we are hoping to change schools but I don't think I will let her walk alone until well into year 6 as there is a fairly busy road to cross, not a main one or anything, just a lot of traffic.

10...start of year six but not everyday. I walk with my youngest so am going that way anyway. He might go alone very occasionally or if his sister is unwell and not going in. We live in suburban London.

Part way (i.e. to meet an adult who was waiting a couple of streets away) from Year 3.

Whole way from Year 5. (actually more often cycling).

We live in a large town but journey to home was basically through quiet areas of housing.

I'd imagine in a small village earlier would have been possible if there was a safe walking route.

School allows them to leave unaccompanied (with written consent) from year 5. DD1 has just turned 10 and has started walking to/from one day a week by herself when DD2 has clubs. It's a short walk in a suburban area with no big roads to cross so she would probably have been more than capable at the beginning of the school year, tbh.

@Baroness @ArfArfBarf Denmark seems to approach it the same as Germany and the Netherlands then. My 8yr old SD walks to and from school (and has for about six months.) Many of her friends cycle (including on large main roads) alone too. SD will soon start that but there's one busy junction we want to practice with her a few times more first.

But yeah, the education is the same. Maths and language nowhere near the level UK kids are at at this stage. They seem to learn all sorts of other stuff though. She sat me, her mum and her dad down last month to lecture us on how we can recycle better!

My youngest started at 8 but her siblings were older when they started (more like 10). Only one quiet road to cross.

My son has been walking home from the last term of year 4 but we are 100m from the school and there are no roads to cross. I’d just had a baby and it was easier with nap time if he walked himself to and from. He’s in year 6 now and he says all but one person walks themselves to and from school and it’s seen as a bit of an embarrassment if they are collected.

School allows it from Y5 with parental consent. Central-ish London.

9- 10
We live 10 mins walk away but in a busy traffic urban area.
The route to school has traffic buttons and zebra crossings over every road though.

Ours went alone in the summer term of year 5.

Local school, only one road to cross, 10 min max walk. A group of them walked together calling on each other as they walked by their houses.

My older 3 all started from Yr7 due to distance as we'd moved house but kept them at the same primary which had a policy of unaccompanied travel from Yr6. I did stalk DTSs for at the first few weeks due to DTS2 having SN but they were fine.

DC4's school allows it from Yr6. Not sure if I'll let him then as although school is only 6 mins walk away, it is next to a busy shopping centre and there are often complete wankers racing across the two crossings he'd have to cross alone just so they don't have to stop for a few seconds to let you pass. The route to secondary school is a lot longer but much quieter roads so he can start then.

Our school allow it from Yr 3. My son is year 5 and has an after school club 2 x week. One day he walks to the end of our road with his friend but today when his friend isn't at the same club he wants me to collect him because he doesn't want to walk alone. It's about an 8 minute walk, no main roads to cross.

I need to find out DS’s school policy.

I was thinking about this this morning after watching that programme on ITV last night where they challenged a number of under 7s to follow a route to the London Eye.

It really made me aware of how protected our kids in the U.K. are.
They showed a 6 year old boy negotiating his way through Tokyo on busses and tube to get to school!

City dweller.

They tried it out a bit in the summer term of year 5, and did it frequently in year 6.

I wanted them to experience making journeys without an adult for the first time whilst on a deeply familiar route (where there were also a fair number from their school travelling at the same time). Not a new, less familiar journey to secondary (which they have always done themselves)

Should say, for those who didn’t see it, that each group of kids successfully made it, and it had a wonderful effect on their confidence.

Oh, and we had to confirm in writing that our DC were travelling alone.

This is so if they were not at registration and not notified absent (eg ringing in sick) they were the first ones the staff chased up. Also, they had to sign out on the 'home alone' register.

Any pupil from yr5 (age 9/10) couid be put on the register. Younger than that had to be individually considered.

From y3 at ours. Certainly after school activities have a consent for pick-up or making their own way home.

I'd actually be happy for my y3 to do it solo other than supervising him across the road directly outside the house. Dozy suburb, you know it's rush hour if you have to wait for 3 or 4 cars to go by! We're 200m from school so the rest of the route is a straight line past only 3 driveways.

As it is, I have to go out for his younger sibling, and he's not desperate to go solo. I'm happy to let the DCs spread out away from me as there are few hazards. They are sensible about stopping and waiting at the right place to cross if one has sprinted off ahead.

Small town, allowed to walk together at year 5 and end of year 3