Children walking home alone from school

[Jeclop]

General discussion here.

At what age did people start allowing their children to walk home alone from school?

For a little context, we live in London in a fairly busy area that is also very touristy on Fridays - think well known street market that is visited en masse. School on said street. The walk home would be around 20minutes or a short cycle (on the pavement!).

My children are still a few years off being able to walk home alone but out of curiosity, when did you start allowing your children to walk home alone, with a parent waiting for them at home?

Our school doesn’t allow it till year 6 and children aren’t allowed to pick up siblings unless they are 16.

Year 5 here but the school is almost on the corner of our road.

Age 9/10 by like ok suburbia - lots of mums we knew also walking same route etc.

Around spring of year 5 when it started getting lighter.
I still had to collect the little ones so they weren’t really on their own.
The youngest DC walked fully on his own in year 6 but it’s only 2 streets away and no main roads. Quite often he would go to the park for a little bit as well with his friends but he had to let me know before hand.

The school I teach at and the school my son attends let them leave/walk home alone from Primary 4 (Year 3?) although probably difficult to compare small villages and towns in the NE of Scotland to central London.

So many people using the word “allow” about school requests.

It’s parent choice when a child walks home from school alone. Schools do not have the authority to not allow it

We're fairly central Edinburgh and p4 is the norm but that's not a school thing. The school I work at has some p3's walking too and both the one I work at and DC's only insist on handing to a parent/adult/older sibling etc in p1 and 2

My child, 10. Me I was getting a bus at 6- although there was a parent who would make sure I got on it at one end, and my mum would be waiting at the stop I had to get off. Love the 80's.......😆

My kids primary allowed it from the last term of year 5 so my kids did it from then. Before that they had to have an adult in the morning to supervise them in the playground as well as be picked up.

One parent did try to challenge it and wanted their year 3 child to walk home by themselves. The school said no, the parent went above the head and was still told no. I was glad as the parent planned to give the child a key and not be home until much later.

I know it's mad isn't it? My daughter's school just suddenly stopped 'allowing' it too, they wouldn't let them lave without a parents picking them up. All because of an 'attempted abduction' which was actually a grandparent going to the wrong village hall to collect his grandchild from nursery as he was unfamiliar with the area. The nursery had even made a public statement but the school wouldn't budge until I contacted a lawyer. Ridiculous situation.

Some schools seriously overstep.

I worked in a school once where a new head decided to ban it.

Parents collectively sent notes giving permission and stating that their child was to walk home. They then didn’t collect… teachers were late leaving, parents were seriously pissed off. Local social services hit the roof when the HT tried to involve them under safeguarding when it blatantly wasn’t. It was a mess.

Year 3 going to school and year 4 coming home.
it was a short walk 4 streets to school. There was a lollipop lady on one street.

I did tell dd that if the lollipop lady wasn’t there to come home, she did one day so I walked her up to cross the road. But by year 4 she was confident enough to cross the road

Not until secondary school. Primary was a 40 minute walk from home and he would have to walk through town where lots of unsavoury people hang out (we don't live in the best area) I wasn't comfortable with him walking that on his own.

Started at age 8, but not average circumstances. The school path ended at a small park of swings and slide. Most kids spent time there after school. First I met them on the park, then at the top of my drive. The school was only a good 6-7 minutes walk home, so it was much easier for me to loosen the reins a little earlier. Three schools in a very small area and two lollipop ladies so never really any risks.

Y7 my daughter started to walk without us - 15 minute walk including crossing a very busy road. She picked up her brother who was in Y5 in a school 5 minutes from hers.

DD's school only allowed it in Y6 and the head actually tried actively to discourage it. Totally nonsense in my opinion, children are far too wrapped up instead of giving the tools to learn to do it safely.

In OP's situation I would start slowly with the child walking ahead so you can see how he behaves. Then do it on a non-busy day and go from there. Talk about scenarios, how he would ask for help and what he would do if there is a problem.

DD had a text/call phone when she started.

Also in Scotland and it totally bemuses me!

My kids started walking to and from School alone at the end of P2, so when they were almost 7, and school was almost a mile away. However there were loads of kids walking that way, and a lollipop man on the main road so there were never any issues

Year 4 but walking with friends. Year 6 took the (city) bus to high school, change earlier here.

depending on maturity second half of year five when it gets lighter and most with a friend. But please don’t let your dc cycle on the pavement Ona busy area- it is not fair on other pavement users.

@liveforsummer

I'm in England and there were no forms nor teachers stopping them leave 10 years ago, either England has got more dangerous (it hasn't) or schools are too worried about Being accused of neglect

I think it might be area or maybe even just school rather than England/Scotland e.g. some posters saying that schools "don't let" children go home without a parent until Year 5/6.

My DC's junior school just opened the doors and let them out. That was from Year 3 i.e. 7 years old. No one would have a clue how the child was getting home - in fact it was quite common for 7 year olds to walk to pre-defined meeting spots out of school to meet parents or older siblings (who couldn't get from their own secondary school to the junior school in time).

That's an English school. I am reading the "handing over to parents even in upper juniors" posts with some bemusement. But maybe these children live in particularly dangerous areas.

So definitely yr6 for me as high school they are expected to get themselves there and back, potentially on public transport. But I would consider latter half of yr5 potentially. We have a busyish road between us and the school, and my DS1 is easily distracted

We moved when DD1 was in Yr5. At the school she left, due to Covid they had pretty much banned Yr5/6 parents from the school grounds. Coupled with staggered start and finish times, it meant the whole lot just dispersed, even if it was just to find the parents car.

The new school the majority still had a parent picking up from the classroom door. I would say Area 2 was safer and quieter than Area 1. It was a more affluent area as well. Although we have just lost our Lollipop lady, and there is a quite busy road (but there a Pelican crossing 2 minutes walk up the road).

They do practical Road safety lessons at the beginning of Year 5.

Mine did towards the end of year 4...about a mile walk with zebra crossings

Most schools won’t allow it before summer term of year five but most children start in year six. That’s when most get a mobile phone and start walking in preparation for high school.