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).

Walk TO school - 10 minutes. Walk home - about 15/20 minutes. We live at the top of a very steep hill and school is at the bottom!

It's about a 3 minute drive though - and for primary I wouldn't want to live longer away than a 10 minute drive really.

9 mins walk primary and 6 mins secondary.
To be in catchment for both we downgraded our house expectations. 🏠 this is not the house of my dreams in the slightest, but once it's done it's job of getting all DCs into the secondary we'll sell up and buy the house we love with our hearts rather than this one which was driven by our heads.

I always say it's so so important to have a school within walking distance. Friendships, healthy way of getting to school etc. That's the main bit of advice I give to people when they're looking at schools. Do

20 minutes drive but that's mainly due to traffic, we could walk in 30 mins, but as they're young I wouldn't want that. It seems pretty common to drive to my school.

A 30-minute cycle ride along the river towpath.

Will be that far impact playdates and going to the same clubs as his friends

The longest we had was a 25 minute walk and with a younger sibling I found that a hassle. Once they’re out of the age where they’re happy in the buggy, the walk becomes much longer. And in bad weather we’d get soaked.

10 minute walk.
I'd also be thinking about her friends.
It might not seem important now but my dd is in year 5 and most kids here live close to school and go round to each others houses for tea and play on the street.
My dds best friend lives a further out but nowhere near as far out as you are thinking and feels left out and sad that she can't walk home from school with friends and just hang out.

School bus - 30 minutes to primary and 45 minutes to secondary

We’re fairly rural though and most kids from the villages get the bus so it’s quite social.

4 minutes if we run, 10 minutes if we dawdle.

I wouldn't consider a 45 minute journey, and I wouldn't fancy the stress of traffic or public transport. However I work so there isn't any flexibility around time - if you are wfh or a SAHM you have more options.

My DC are on a bus 45 mins each way (but only 20 mins by car - allows for stops/waiting time). We're very rural so lots of car trips for activities, meeting friends, shopping etc is the norm. It's not an issue for us.

Ds1 was at a primary a 15 minute drive away, he's now at secondary thats 2 mins walk. Ds2 and 3 are at a primary thats also a 2 min walk. I seriously counted down the days and rejoiced the last day I had to drive to a school, its sheer bliss now and I save so much time in my day.

7 minute walk, I am a childminder and it's quicker to walk than load and unload 6 children into the car and drive 2 minutes so we walk regardless of weather!

Three minute walk. We live on a quite large development and almost everyone in the school lives within a ten min walk. The kids love having all their friends so close (and Ben though we can’t see them at the moment)

Even though we..

2 minutes!
It’s uphill though so on the way home it’s more like 5...

4 minute walk through the churchyard behind our house.

1 minute walk at the most. I wouldn't live more than 15 minutes walk away.

5 minutes, 10 with the DC. I wouldn’t want to live further by choice, all their friends and my mum friends are really close by. We can see each other (in normal times) easily.

Don’t forget after school and in school events you’ll need to get to. Assemblies, nativity, fetes, sports day, there’s all sorts. You could be on a bus all day.

10-20 min drive depends on traffic. It would be two buses though if I didn’t drive!

My dc are collected by mini bus and drive about 40 mins to the closest school. Distance-wise it takes more like 20 mins but they pick up a load of kids on the way. It seems normal to me.

I'd be more reluctant if I had to taken them and collect them - that would be 3 hours a day travelling.

My sons school is a 20 minute walk, 15 if he walks a bit quicker, but I say 20 so as not to rush. It's not a problem at all.

We had 3 options, 1 school that is about a 20 minute walk down residential side streets, some of which have a lot of trees on so there can be a lot of leaves and be slippery if it's raining or wet. 1 that is also about a 20 minute walk down a main road, and the other is literally on the next street and about 5-10 minutes away maximum.

We went to all 3 schools and chose the best school for him. It wed the 1st option listed above. It was by far the best, though you could say the most difficult to get to depending on the weather.

We can see both infant and junior schools out of our bedroom window.

My parents live rurally and I used to get the coach to secondary school, for an hour every morning (although I was first off in the afternoon). It is no coincidence that we live in suburbia and being able to walk to school is important to me!