Child walking home alone from school - age?

[Beezknees]

I'm posting this on behalf of a friend who doesn't have MN, I'm unsure what I'd do myself so haven't been very helpful to her.

She starts a new job working from home soon - there are 2 days a week that the wrap around club is full so she's struggling for childcare. She's debating whether to let her child do the walk home alone (or cycle) - the walk is 40 minutes long. There are 2 main roads to cross, both have traffic lights. The walk would take child through the small town centre past shops/pubs, etc. My friend will be at home anyway but she can't leave work to do pick up as it's customer focused.

Child in question is just going into Year 6 but they're a summer born so only just turned 10.

Would you let your child do this? I know most kids walk home alone at that age but my friend is concerned by the distance and that there are sometimes not very savoury characters in the pubs in town which child will have to walk by.

It would make me nervous but I am consciously trying to give my 10 year old more independence in preparation for senior school next year as there are way more street wise kids out there. Our walk is only 10 mins and no major roads so he has been walking back from the last term of year 5 and will continue to do so this year. We also leave him alone at home for short spells (eg to drop his sibling at a club so under 20 mins). Next year there won't be childcare so he will need to be at home alone more so trying to get him ready.

A friend of mine said she left it too late with her oldest and went from no independence to needing to get herself across town on trains for senior school and she found it hard.

It's a different situation here but I think for me it would depend how dodgy the walk was and how sensible the kid was. Other option is childminder for school run?

Mine does a ten minute cycle to and from school at that age. The High School he will go to is the sort of distance/route you describe, I wouldn't allow him to do that now, but I would like to think he'll be ok to do so in two years.
In short I think 10 is too young for the route you describe. Could he travel home with another family who live nearby?

I was 4 and my sister 5 when we went to school on the bus. My mother walked us to the bus stop, and we got on, changed buses (including walking to the next stop) and got off outside the school. We had to cross at 2 traffic lights.

(Okay, okay, I didn’t expect mine to do that!)

You mention that there is a bus part of the way. Is that included in the 40 minutes or would it reduce the travel time?

I honestly think a 10 year old could easily do this, if it’s actually walking for 10-15 minutes and a bus ride for part of the way. Or if it’s a fairly flat 20 minute bike ride.

Thanks for the replies. Seems most people are leaning towards no.

It's not a route that a lot of families would take, my friend used to live closer to the primary but moved so most of the other kids live closer to school. The secondary school is actually closer to their house than primary is.

It's a medium size town, not a terrible area but not great either.

Child could possibly walk to the bus stop which is 15 minutes away from school. Then the bus stops 5 minutes from the house. Probably wouldn't cut the time much by the time they've waited for the bus.