London parents - how far would you travel for primary school?

[mrsmmrsimrsssimrs]

We have to move and struggling to find a rental - generally, it's a nightmare, but specifically near our child's school. More affordable stuff seems to be further away - around a 45 walk (half an hour by bus).

Today after school I tried to go to a flat viewing at about this distance, thought it would be good to give the journey a go and see what it would be like. Well, the bus never turned up and I had to cancel as what should have been a 30 minute journey by bus ended up being a 45 minute walk with no bus and I was too late. Kids were both screaming/moaning. It made me realise that a half hour commute definitely wouldn't be half an hour in reality. I commute for work so do know this (oh so painfully) but it drove it home! Figuratively at least...

Very keen to keep DS in the same school as he has additional needs and as we rent, I don't want to end up being kicked out of somewhere else in a year and have to move schools multiple times.

So London parents, how far are you from your kids' primary schools and how far would you willing to be? My partner doesn't drive and my car has a tendency not to work - not to mention parking near the school is tricky - so we'd need to rely on public transport.

I wouldn't want further than a 25 min walk or there would need to be a really good bus service

A cargo bike is for carrying children or stuff, you must have seen them around London? Electric obviously means it has a motor for a bit of pedal assist (cargo bikes with kids in them are heavy!)
www.cyclesprog.co.uk/family-cycling-advice/choosing-the-best-cargo-bike-for-your-family/

I would look along tube/train lines. Buses just aren’t that reliable, tube/train/tram are better - a lot of primary age children commute on the tram with their parents.

How do people have time for an hour long round trip when working? Seems impossible!

I work 4 days a week. Three days 9-3 and one longer day when DH does the pick up. Leave the house at 8.00. Drop at school at 8.30. Back home and working for 9.00. Leave for 3.30 pick up at 3pm. But yes would be harder if you were full time.

We’re a 10 minute walk at 4YO speed, I wouldn’t want to be any further tbh but it’s a prep so some families do come quite a way, a lot drive but there’s also a few cargo bikes.

Ah yes! Didn't know that's what they were called. Used to see them a lot in North London, think it's too hilly where we are 😉

Sadly we don't have anywhere to put bikes otherwise that would be a great option

With great difficulty!! And lots of working late at night...

I've considered trains but most local areas don't connect to the station nearest DC's school sadly. Otherwise yes that would be a more reliable option for sure.

(although trains to and from school every day would probably not be viable from a cosy pov... but then neither would buses really...)

We have a 25 min tube journey to prep school (door to door), it would be a 30 min car journey (but we don't have a car), and I wouldn't consider walking it as it's over 3 miles . I can only tolerate it as a short-term measure, and we'd always planned to move within a 10 min walk (have had an offer accepted on a house but it will take months to complete). It's just so much more stressful having to rely on transport - and buses are the worst for reliability as they get stuck in traffic, don't turn up, stop in random places 'to even out the service' or get so full they won't even let you on. We always arrive 10 mins early as I feel like we need the contingency time in case of delays (there haven't been any yet but we only started a few weeks ago). For buses if I need to be somewhere and it's an estimated 30 min journey I'd probably allow 45 mins especially in the mornings.

Can you compromise on size of property at all to be able to afford somewhere nearer? We're in a small 2 bed flat as we like to be central. What year is your DS in? If it was just one more year of primary I'd maybe cope with it with an end in sight, but for us I figured I'd be doing 11 years of school runs (with both DDs) so I wanted to make it as easy on us as possible!

That does sound stressful. We can't compromise as already in a 2 bed with 2 DC. Did see a place locally today which is in budget but it was utterly vile - dirty, everything broken, just horrible. Ds still in early years. I'm not averse to changing schools at all, but loathe to do it if we then end up moving again in a year or two.

We are a 27 min walk from school on a good day and around 35 on a slow one! We are in zone 6 and have great bus service that can take us almost door to door in 15 mins if it's raining heavily and we don't feel like walking. The catchment for the school is tiny (with very expensive housing) , but I've noticed that parents move within a year or two after they get the place as we did and a fair few people are walking the same distance as us or further each day. We all got used to it quite quickly.

Thanks! I think 30 mins would be fine, not so sure about 45. But possibly doable with scooter and buggy!