What age did your child walk home from school alone?

[HelloGoodbye92]

This is the cause of a bit of debate in our house. The school is a 7 minute walk away.

what age did you let your child make their own way home from school?

Our school allowed it from year 5. We were pestered to allow it from the September but I said not until after Easter of year 5 - basically I wanted to wait until the clocks went forward to avoid any chance of walking home in the dark if they had an after school club. We started with a couple of days a week and then increased it to 3 days after the May half term. From year 6 she will be allowed to walk home every day. It's a 10-15 minute walk and she's with friends.

Y6

Age 11, senior school

age 7-8 (p4) which is normal here (also Scotland)

I'm quite surprised that he doesn't play outside, P5 is late for going himself especially such a short walk. Time to loosen up and let him grow up.

After Easter of Y5.

I was hoping DS would be now he’s 15 but has autism… walking home isn’t the issue. There are 2 kids who have bullied him since year 7, the boy is an absolute psycho…. Wasn’t just my son he bullied, he’s no longer at the school however he hangs around waiting for his friends to finish so my son is afraid to walk by himself.
dd10 ( going in to year 6) walks half way home herself but trying to lean more towards 3/4 of the way home and ill meet her by her best friends house.

Y5, the school didn't allow it before. We lived nearer to the school than most people parked so I would have been happy earlier from a safety point of view. It was nice to see their friends and the other parents though.

The busy road is halfway to the school, about 15 mins in. That is definately something I will consider, and to let him walk the rest of the way as a consolation, thank you for this. I would rather be an uncool parent than have something happen to him , I realise I can’t do this in secondary school though.

Around his 10th birthday. I was at the school anyway to pick up siblings so if he wanted to walk with us, he could. But he always chose to walk alone. We live 1.2miles fom school, so half hour walk.
I don't drive so he has had road sense drilled into him from a very young age. Also very sensible with roads so I knew i could trust him. He started with walking a few mins ahead.

DS was cycling to/from school in year 3 and 4 but school stopped him. He's now passed a cycling proficiency course and will be cycling now he's in year 5 (10 at Christmas). Once a week he'll be home alone for a few hours as there is no after school club. He's got a watch and a phone to contact me/help if needs be. In the winter he'll walk (safer than on the roads in the dark) or I'll put money on the app for the bus and go 3 stops down the road if it's raining.

Y5. 15 minute cycle (all on bridleways, no roads). Had been doing it with us since Y3.

I waited till she told me she was ready.
Which was around the end of year 5. She's going into year 6 on Tuesday and she doesn't want me walking her at all now. :(
I think she meets her friends in the palygroubd and me being there would be embarrassing.. 🤣

Same distance as you op.

dd1 was y6 halfway through the year. She’s autistic and not v sensible so wasn’t ready til then.

dd2 will be start of y5 (now). Very sensible and also has a friend to walk with.

Age 10

Year 6 so 10/11

End of Year 5, but she usually walked with others.

There isn’t really anywhere nearby for them. The nearest park is about a 40 minute walk away and none of his wee friends are close enough for him to go alone- their parents drop them off and vice versa.