How important is being able to walk to primary school?

[AmandaPleaseDotCom]

Looking at primary schools for DD who will start next September. There is one that I love which is on the next road along from us (less than 10 mins door to door).

However there's a much smaller school around a 30 minute walk (so hour round trip for us) with smaller class sizes that DH also really likes. Driving and parking would probably take at least 15-20 that time of day.

I just think that the fact it's so close is a massive advantage whereas DH doesn't think its a factor at all! Surely it is?!!

We will both be doing school runs so that's not the issue.

We can walk to school, in year 6 DS now walks or cycles by himself. One thing to consider is by year 5 or 6 when kids are more independent and going out with friends to the park etc, it can be quite isolating for those kids that don't live nearby if everyone else lives close. If it's a school that lots of kids have to drive to then probably not so much of a thing but you are going to have to organise play dates etc for longer.

Walking into school isn’t even a consideration at private schools. It’s nice but how good the school is and how well it fits your child is a more important consideration. I was willing to drive up to 60mins for my child’s school run but with DS we chose the school that’s a 5 min drive / 30 min walk away.

A 30min walk is doable in theory but that is actually 2hrs daily for the parent. And in winter?

I'd go for the larger, more local school.

Smaller class sizes is not always the advantage you think. A lot of school funding is per head and fixed costs like heating and teachers salaries tend to be the same regardless of whether you have 26 or 30 in a class. Really small schools find it harder to be financially self sustaining. We had a choice between a very small school with 95 kids (which had two year groups to a class) and a one form entry primary with 210. We choose the bigger school and DS has had a much broader range of opportunities - clubs, forest school, wraparound care better SEN support etc. The small school can't provide half of that.

Honestly, I think there's huge advantages to being in catchment too. Friends on the doorstep which is a real advantage as they get more independent.

Definitely go for the school you can walk to! Honestly, parking and traffic at most schools is hell on earth. Who needs that kind of stress. Residents yelling at you even when you've done nothing wrong. Not to mention all the shitty letters from the headteacher about it all. Fabulous to be able breathe a sigh of relief that it doesn't apply to you. No worries about being late or car breaking down. Bliss!

For me v important - walking home by themselves in years 5 and 6 is vital for growing up for high school
saves a lot of time in the day
school run traffic and parking is horrendous
healthier and environmentally friendly
your friends will be more local as well for play dates etc
same for parents to have someone local who can help

In your case given you both like the school nearby go for the one near

I chose one that was a 5 min drive away. Walking would be very slow, especially with DD. Being able to walk is nice but not essential.

If driving, don't underestimate how early you'll need to arrive at both drop off and pick up to get a space. Parents seem to arrive a good 45 minutes beforehand at our primary. Even if you try to arrive 30 minutes before the gates one, you have no chance of parking.

*open, not one

I wouldn't like to have to drive every day at all. Unless it's really bad weather, we walk every day (takes about 15 mins with DD1 and 10 mins just me) and we enjoy that time walking together. I'm trying to make us less reliant on driving places in general. We've been thinking about moving house, love the location but want a bit bigger, but many of the nice houses we've seen you would need to drive to get anywhere, even to the shop to pick up milk, which I really don't like. It's important to me to live somewhere where I can walk to amenities, even in our village we have plenty I can walk to.

Oh and the parking is horrendous around ours, if you want to park nearby you need to arrive 20 mins at least before the bell goes.

Walking distance every time.

Driving to school and parking is a pain in the arse. If you can easily avoid this, it's a no brainer.

Starting the day with a walking/cycling commute is also much healthier for your child. Children who arrive by active transport arrive better prepared to learn. It has a lot of benefits.

Ours was literally round the corner. However, as we both left for work at 7, and kids were at a cm, they never used to walk it.

Walking distance wins for me.

We live 5 minutes from primary and secondary schools and there is no way that I would drive past them to get to a smaller school. Parking is horrendous at all schools around this area as most don't have a car park and most are in the middle of tiny villages. Parents arrive earlier and earlier to secure a spot outside or in side roads. They start to arrive up to an hour before pickup time. Dropping off is chaos with parents stopping wherever they want to let kids out, or parking on zigzags/entrances, blocking others in.

I think it's more important if most of the other kids walk/live nearby but if it's a school where kids won't necessarily all live near by then it's not as big a deal (eg. Church or special schools with a big catchment area, split infant and junior schools where you might live 5 mins from one but 20 mins from the other).

Closer one. You will build your social network with the kids/parents closer to you. If there is a great primary round the corner why would you go half an hour away? You don't live there, his friends will live much further away which will make life more inconvenient for you. His other friends will live close to each other so he may end up being left out of things.

I had both, one a 10 min drive away, but impossible to walk and one a 15 minute walk.

Honestly, it depends on your circumstances and lifestyle.
I always worked so couldn't really do the walking. I had 2 DC at 2 different primary schools for 1 year so again walking wasn't an option.
However, once DC in walking distance school hit y6 I could let them cycle to school with a group of friends.

We have 3 ‘good’ primary schools within 15 minutes walk of us (one 5 mins away!) but we chose the school a 25 min walk away.

It’s a fantastic school, definitely the best fit for our dd.

I personally don’t think 25/30 mins is bad (but we’ve always walked everywhere & I didn’t learn to drive till a couple of years ago)

The school walk is a lovely time to chat with your child and I think it regulates their nervous system, just being outside, not in a rush. Great exercise. I love the school run (not as fun when it’s chucking it down!) dd actually prefers walking. Once or twice a week, dh will drop her off or pick her up on his way to/from work as he’s leaving at that time anyway, but dd always says ‘ooohh, but I wanted to walk’😆
He parks about 5/6 mins walk from school though so they get abit of a walk together.

Lots of people do drive, probably on the way to work. I see them trying to park up and honestly it looks stressful & abit of a free for all. I regularly see parents ushering their kid/s out of the car in a hurry, or it’s a quick drive by, where the kid jumps out in the middle of the road and the parent drives off🫤

30 minutes is still walking distance! DS's primary was 40 minutes walk and we did it there and back every day.

Go for the walking distance one. It's so much easier. Much better for DD too because most of her friends will be in the doorstep.

We went to our nearest primary but it was 1.5 miles away (we lived in a village out of town) and my DCs always felt envious of the other kids being able to meet up so easily after school.

That’s a no brainer- pick the closer one! So much better for all the times you forget things and a walk is nice to decompress after.
Plus if the other school is a 30 min walk then some friends might live an hours walk away.

I also don’t like smaller schools/class sizes. Less friends and more chance of being stuck with someone they don’t like for years.

Walking distance every time.

Added so much to our quality of life when we moved to within walking distance of the school.

Friends being nearer. Better for the environment. Starts the day in a less stressful way (see school parking threads on MN… getting a space could take as much time as the drive) , sets a great example to kids in walking to places rather than driving / getting ferried everywhere.

If you have a school you are happy with within a short walk I can’t imagine why you would go elsewhere.