How long is your primary childs journey to school?

[Camomila]

Am up with the baby and idly browsing rightmove.

There's no way we'll ever be able to afford to buy somewhere in walking distance of DS1s (amazing) primary school.
Is half an hour/45min on public transport a bit much? With occassional lifts from DH and me learning to drive asap?

(No worries about getting DS2 in as siblings are higher priority than distance).

At primary school I'd say yes that's to long for someone so young to be travelling to and from school.

15-20 minute walk.
There are a few kids who live by us that go to the school and we’re all fine with that distance. Wouldn’t want to live much further though.

5-10 min walk - bliss.

5 min walk here . I’d say adding on 1.5 hours transport onto the school day for small children is too much .

Exactly a mile door to door. If it's pouring I'll drive him. If not he'll walk (20-25 mins) but he's now very confident on his new bike so we'll probably cycle it, although it's on quite a major road.

7 minutes in the car.
Next year at 9 we’re moving him though and then it will be half an hour in the car.
Yours sounds harsh, I did 45 minutes on the bus for secondary and it wasn’t fun.

15 / 20 mins in the car. He’s a bit older now, but when he was younger I used to drive home wirh the windows open trying to keep him awake as it would bugger up bedtime otherwise.

My only concern would be if there was an emergency, are you happy being so far away from him? It’s not likely, but we had a broken leg last year and whilst I was only 10 mins from hone in the other direction it meant a half hour drive to get to DS and it felt too long in my paniced state!

A forty minute walk, it would be quicker but he always farts about and being slow is preferable to nagging first thing in the morning.

Is your half an hr/ 45 minutes door to door? Then it's not that far it's just the chosen travel method. My daughters school is 10 minutes drive but if I was taking public transportation it will take me the same time you referenced. Any chance you can get a small car? That's what me and hubby did as he was not always around to drop off.

DS goes on the free school bus as we are over 2 miles from his catchment school. Less than 5 mins walk to the bus stop and then he is on the bus for about 10-15 mins so 20 mins in total.

15min walk, 10min bike, 5min car.

I suppose it's what you get used to, but the idea of getting her out the door before 8.30 for an 8.45 start would give me stress!

How long would the drive be once you learnt? That means you would spend 2-3 hours of your day travelling currently. It would be more tempting if the drive was considerably shorter.

We have a 15 min walk. I would hate to drive, as parking is horrendous.

I would find it a huge pain but then again you do what you have to do. Does this time include the return journeys or will it be 4 30/45 minute journeys every day on public transport with the smaller child in tow for you? I wouldn't sign up for that.

10 minutes by bike. Walking would take a good hour though because we’d have to take a much more convoluted route as there are no pavements, so we’d have to go across the fields.

He’s so tired after a day at school, a short journey is best IMO, if at all possible. They get exhausted when they first start.

200m

Don’t underestimate how tired school alone will make your child, even if they have been to nursery, withiyt a commute.

My twins are 4 (receptions age in September 2021). They attend an autism specialist school and have done since October.

They travel on a small minibus and it’s about 40-50 minutes each way. I was so worried about how they’d cope with it but they absolutely love the bus and run to it every time with big smiles. We planned to move closer ASAP but not in such a rush now as they enjoy the bus so much!

2min walk for primary

20min school bus for secondary

Oh and they do get very tired and sometimes doze off on the way home which is a bit of a pain but not a distasteful. They adjusted quite quickly.

It takes 20 minutes to get there at 4 year old pace, but only about 10 minutes going home at adult speed.

How young is DS2? I’d be wary of moving before you get DS2 in. Admissions criteria change. In my area there were 2 schools where people were renting for one year, moving out, but then getting siblings in. They both changed to siblings in catchment area, catchment area kids and then siblings out of catchment.

School 1... 5 minute bike, 15 minute walk
School 2... 5minute walk to bus stop, then 20-30mins on school bus.
School 3... 10-15minute drive dependant on traffic

At school two, they enjoyed the school bus, but it make a long day. They were out from 8am until 3.45. It was common for the Reception children, and sometimes older, to fall asleep on the bus home.

Current school with the drive... Not living in the school community has made friendships difficult. However they only started there Oct/Nov 2019. They were still establishing friendships when Lockdown 1 happened. Gap of six months, then there again for four months. Now off again. And we move next month again.

I'm really hoping for a walking distance school this time round,! Especially now my children are older, and being allowed to walk home alone is a big thing.

3 mins walk or can run there in a minute!

A mile

10 minute walk

For next dc probably 5 min walk at closer school

It would be about 40 minutes door to door, or about 20/30mins drive (congestion and school run time).

No worries about emergencies as my parents live closer (and dad actually works at the school one day a week), plus hopefully coronavirus will have calmed down and we'll both be back in the office.

I have just remembered I've got a baby He'd have to be dropped off at nursery somewhere?

Sigh, it looks like I may have to win the lottery/rent forever/change primary schools (I really love DS1s school so fingers crossed for a lottery win)