Walking 1.3 miles home from school aged 9?

[Yorkshiremummyof1]

From year 5 our primary school lets kids walk themselves home. At the moment I pay for DS9 to goto after school club and I pick him up in the car.

His friends mum is happy for his friend to walk home which is on the way to us but not sure how reliable that is, especially if she's there picking the younger one up.

I like the idea of not paying for after-school club but I also hate it when I drop him off at the top of the road and he has to cross even one road to get to school. He would walk one long road home, crossing 5 road/junctions then there is a huge roundabout and to cross that it's quite a busy bus route with no island. Then he has a pelican crossing and one long road, turns left and crosses the road to our front door. He wants to walk home but the idea terrifies me. I'm working from home so I'll always be in but it's going to get darker and colder and wet and I think 1.3miles would take him maybe 45 minutes? That's a bit much for a 9 year old I think?

Not having to pay for childcare would save me £250 a month but the price of his safety is.....well you know

I think end of yr6 would be fine for that distance, but start of yr5 it's too big a jump.

The distance is easy enough. 25-30 minutes at an amble speed. Around here most kids walk that distance - the younger ones further because they have to walk there and back twice a day when their older siblings are dropped off.

Depending on his road sense the number of junctions could be an issue.

Mine did slightly further than that from year 6. Could you meet half way?

If you’re wfh is after school club necessary?

I think the huge roundabout part would worry me OP - is there another way he could go avoiding that?

My youngest is 9, I consider her too young. My eldest did it at about 10.5. It should be much quicker than 45 minutes though, half that I'd say.

If you're wfh why do you need ASC?

That seems too far to me, and I'm of the Scandinavian "children should take themselves to school by 7" school of thought. Also, some of what you describe sounds quite dangerous.

My 10yo was allowed to walk home from school alone but that was only 3 roads and two of them had lollipop ladies and the third was so small and quiet it was hardly a road at all. And it was really busy at home time so he'd be surrounded by other children and families walking home.

I would not have allowed the junction/bus route until he was a good deal older.

My DC (and many other local children) did this from Year 5 (so age 9). Actually they cycled more than walked so it didn't take too long. 1.3 miles is about 25-30 minutes walk.
Although in their case they'd walked/cycled to school with a parent for the previous 2 years of junior school so they were familiar with the route. I'd suggest if you let your DC do it, you might want to walk with him at least a few times.

I let my son start walking to and back from school in about the last 4 weeks of summer term but with a friend, I then felt like Year 6 was OK, but it's only a 10 minute walk, I'd be OK with maybe a 20 minute walk/scooter

Fuck no.

Nope. Too young. Anything could happen, the least likely of which would be a road accident. I'd rather pay the money than have my heart in my mouth every school day.

It depends on your child. DS1 would have done that easily. DD ran into the road twice yesterday without looking (she’s 9, year 5)

You are wfh - can you meet him there and walk back together? I don’t know how flexible your job is and whether you can pay back the time missed for this later in the day / have a shorter lunch.

We are 1.5 miles from DSs school. All walked from day 1, even at reception age DS could do it in about 25 mins. Great exercise too. Our three year old DS is also walking it now.

Obviously walking with an adult!

No, thats a lot of roads ect to cross.
My Ds was half way through yr 6 when I let him walk, its less than 5 mins, a small road through the village and a side road to the school.

My jobs pretty flexible my only issue is I seem to have conference calls at 3pm when school finishes. Why they can't do them earlier I don't k know! I have been considering picking him up at 3, work would be fine as I'm pretty autonomous.

I was just worried I was being too cautious but I'm glad you've echoed my feelings on whether he is too young to walk home. I'll have to see how he feels about after school club

@Yorkshiremummyof1

From year 5 our primary school lets kids walk themselves home. At the moment I pay for DS9 to goto after school club and I pick him up in the car.

His friends mum is happy for his friend to walk home which is on the way to us but not sure how reliable that is, especially if she's there picking the younger one up.

I like the idea of not paying for after-school club but I also hate it when I drop him off at the top of the road and he has to cross even one road to get to school. He would walk one long road home, crossing 5 road/junctions then there is a huge roundabout and to cross that it's quite a busy bus route with no island. Then he has a pelican crossing and one long road, turns left and crosses the road to our front door. He wants to walk home but the idea terrifies me. I'm working from home so I'll always be in but it's going to get darker and colder and wet and I think 1.3miles would take him maybe 45 minutes? That's a bit much for a 9 year old I think?

Not having to pay for childcare would save me £250 a month but the price of his safety is.....well you know

I presume you've never walked the route as it should take a maximum of 30 minutes at average pace.

I don't understand why if toy have a car and are wfh, you can't have your lunchbreak at school closing time. That's what I do.
Then maybe when spring time start walking and starting to meet hi half way after a time, so when starting y6 could maybe walk... Though I don't like the sound of the roundabout.