@comefromaway
School can insist on certain rules when children are at school however they have no jurisdiction outside school hours (there are very sepcifc guidelines re detention at primary schools re amount of notice to parents etc )
so what applies to uniform etc doesn't apply out of school hours ie they actually can't insist you wear your blazer all the way home or indeed that you can't wear it at weekends ( i'm not suggesting anyone would want to by the way)
THe legal position is that
"The school is in loco parentis during school hours. Outside of school hours, your children are your responsibility. No one can dictate to you about the arrangements you make for your children to get home from school"
this is what I said before;. I suppose if they disapproved hugely then they could/should report you to Social Services, but they can't refuse to release your child once you have made it clear that he is to be allowed to go; they would have to make a case to SS that it was a specific risk for Joe Bloggs not that it was not school policy ie assessing distance Joe lived from school his maturity and the roads / route he would need to take that it is unreasonable to think he could do that safely and as I said before this risk assessment could conclude differently for different children with different levels of maturity, routes to school etc
So it maybe reasonable for a 7 year old that lives next door to school gate to leave alone but not a 9 year old that lives 2 miles the other side of a dual carriageway with 60mph speed limit with no form of traffic control /crossing
Most parents don't argue with school and go along with policies I'm not suggesting anyone should create waves for no reason but there may be a good reason why Joe should walk home by himself
Also schools like many other government institutions like to give the impression that what they say has to be followed; when legally this is not always true and they fail to inform that legally what they say is unenforceable; this happens with health and safety frequently it is quoted as health and safety but when you look up health and safety you find it is no such thing
a different example, from a few years back; children can't watch the solar eclipse even with the special glasses it is against health and safety the council education department said so; except you find that 90 % of children in Uk did watch it at school with the glasses the BBC news had pictures of kids in Scotland England Wales north south etc sitting standing in playgrounds watching it as a once in a lifetime experience that was also educational, so either one council was saying it was a law and illegal and they shouldn't be watching and 90% ignored it or they were lying about it being health and safety for their own convienence in the first place.
A school can have a rule saying you can't play conkers but they can't claim it is a health and safety directive over which they have no choice as it isn't.
What I am saying is legally it is unenforceable to insist a child is picked up once a signed document letter from those with parental responsibility is received
on a practical level it is obvious that there is no legal standing to this as you can see from various posters the rules differ some only Y6 others Y5 & 6 others Y4 onwards others as soon as KS2
I agree with the OP that being left alone in holidays and after school for 2 + hours is not right
but I spend a lot of time with people who are being bullied inot things saying it is either the law or their contract goes beyond the law they are often scared and frightened and almost disbelieving when you explain that actually that is unenforceable that the contract requirement is not legal this happens with tenants and landlords people being underpaid at work; forced to work after they have clocked out ( see Nando's in news) for no pay etc so my real disagreement is with those insisting that the school can enforce when they can't legally and they rely on most parents not knowing that actually once they say their child can leave alone they actually can