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.

Both are walking distance though?

That’s two hours a day, five days a week for 7 years at least (siblings…). Plus parties, school fairs, carol concerts. It would have to be substantially better, and the nearer school failing, for me to consider.

We moved from the same street as the school to one mile away (flat to house), and even that has me cursing.

It’s interesting that nearly everyone is suggesting the school within walking distance, which I agree with, so why, if the majority feel that walking is the best option, does virtually every primary school in the land have a parking problem?

Are the majority going on to work afterwards? Or do some people just choose to drive rather than walk. I suppose people who live rurally don’t have a choice.

I like being able to walk, it means a lot of the kids are local so helps with friendships and it's good exercise for all of us. Parking is a nightmare as is traffic so it's nice to avoid it but it's also nice to have the option of going in the car if I'm running late or it's chucking it down.

For us it takes about 20 minutes now the kids are older, before that about 30 minutes. When the kids are older they will be able to walk themselves to primary and then to high school which takes the pressure off me.

That's a good point, but in our case, it's a rural area - a lot do drop on the way to work. Also, there are many other primary schools around in villages but a lot of parents drive past those to use this school instead. Some travel 10-12 miles rather than use the school on their doorstep. (A lot do so because of it's before/after school care, so child can be there from 8-6 and the other primaries don't offer that). So it all adds to the problem. Then , you get the few who live here who drive to other villages/towns rather than use this school for whatever reason.

The village schools are mostly literally in the centre with no parking at all and tiny roads that you can't park on. Parents all have to park as close as they can and won't park further out and walk a bit, so it all adds to the problem.

They built a new primary in a nearby town and deliberately didn't build a car park as they said all the parents/pupils would walk to school. That obviously is not going to happen. Most people don't have time to walk if they have to go on to work. Now all the local roads are clogged twice a day, with the police being involved due to parents blocking people's driveways.

Walking distance for sure. I work in a school and despite having a couple of car parks within a three minute walk from school, are still having problems with parents who park directly outside school, block our neighbours' drives and even park on the neighbours's drives! The abuse these parents scream when they are asked to park elsewhere is unbelievable. We are now undergoing a consultation to become a 'school streets' school. If I was choosing a school where I needed to drive my children, I would definitely be looking at the parking situation and , given how schools are now expected to promote active travel wherever possible, what options would I have if suddenly parking facilities around the school were withdrawn.

Only if one parent can dedicate 2 hours a day to do the school run

When we moved house I applied for the nearest school even though it was only2 miles. Driving to school in rush hour and the nightmare that is parking made the 6 months we had to wait for a place very stressful and it was a good half hour. I never did understand why so many people drove as there were 4 schools within 20 minutes of that one, and none had particularly big catchments. They can't all have moved after starting!
Anyway once we got our place at the school 10 minutes walk away everyone was happier. DS didn't walk alone often in year 6 as I had to get DD anyway but it was a game changer when she was ill. And it gave him good practice for high school where he does walk half an hour. Also all friends are local.

I know it's a long way off but also consider which secondary school each school feeds into.

Being in a feeder primary school is usually higher up admission policy than being close to the school but not being in feeder school.

I suspect the one with a drive is a different secondary school so think about getting them there, friendship groups etc.

I always would go to close school as others have said it's good as you meet others along the way, play dates can be impromptu and when older they'll be out locally with their friends.

Unless the school further away is much better for your DC for some reason, I'd chose the local school.

Reasons, won't take so long and healthy to walk, you're not reliant on a car, if you're unexpectedly ill (which will happen) another local parent will usually be happy to do school drop off/pick up, your DC will form friendships and want friends around and as they get older will want to be out meeting up - that'll be much easier if they're local and finally, when they eventually go to secondary/grammar it won't be such a shock going to a much bigger school.

Probably both, some people have to go to work and some people refuse to walk.

When we were picking primary schools there was only one within walking distance which also happened to be a good school so it was a no brainer. I worked evenings and weekends for ages so we walked both ways as much as possible.

Then I started a day job and my hours meant I didn't have the time that I had previously so we drove for a while. Last year after Christmas I asked to change my hours slightly so that I started later and finished earlier to allow me to have the time to walk the school run instead of drive it. Purely motivated by Christmas weight gain and I'm lucky that the small pay drop is affordable and my place of work doesn't need me for the 15 minutes either side of what was my previous shift.

I always feel better for the walk which is why I try and do it as much as possible. Sometimes I drive up in the morning and leave my car up there and walk back to work if it's been a rushed morning.

Thank you all!! Gonna show this thread to Dh!

If we didn't like the school we wouldn't send her anyway purely because it's close, but I loved it so it seems a massive bonus it being so close. Dh really likes it too, he is just tempted by the smaller classes but having read some of the responses that may not be ideal either.

I know 30 mins is definitely walkable, but doing it twice a day would eat into so much of our work days I just know we would end up taking the car. I'm only guessing the other school would be 15-20 in the car as traffic that time of day is a nightmare, I use the roundabout I'd have to use to get there to do the nursery run currently. I use a different exit but the exit towards that school is always queuing as far back as the eye can see. Never mind the parking.

I mostly WFH now but when I used to have an office job I remember often rushing to get myself out the door on time and then realising the car needs defrosting, could do without that 😂

Our DDs are walking distance (0.2m) from our Indie school. There are parents that are 45 mins drive away.

They are all very envious of our 5 minute walk.

Absolutely walking distance. Such a difference to independence, so much more relaxed time in your day. As long as the school is good, you having an extra 0.5-1 hours every single day to spend with DC on whatever they want/you feel they need will make more difference to their learning than a marginal difference between schools

Walking definitely. We live a twenty minutes walk away and I choose that over driving (5 min). Parking at school is awful.

But smaller classrooms are also an advantage

Walking is much better for health, stress, finances, everything.

You can pop down with forgotten lunch boxes / clarinets etc.

I would hate to drive my kids to school every day. Such a sub-par start to their day.

Of all the school commutes we had (army family, so five of them for Primary!) The one that involved driving was the most stressful. On paper it was 10 minutes (2 miles in a straight line, maybe 3 by road). But it was at least 20 in the morning. Plus 10 minutes for parking then walking the rest.

Then there were road works for a few months. We would leave home at 8.10... I rarely got home before 10am. It could take 20 minutes to get off the school road. It was a nightmare. Wasn't as bad at pick up, but could take 40 minutes to get home.

I am SO GLAD I'm not caught up in the school drop off car madness. It's absolutely insane at both of the local schools here. We considered one we'd have to drive to but I'm so thankful that we decided against it.

Would of loved to of walked to school as I always did BUT after looking at our local catchment and state it was utter shit and we were never going to send them there , they now go to private a 20min drive away and after seeing how shattered she is I'm glad we don't have a 15 min walk to do twice a day with 2 other younger children too especially in winter so nice to be cosy and dry in the car

We're a four minute walk to school and it's a huge bonus. It means we can be home by 9am to start WFH, so no need for breakfast club. We usually have time to run home if we forget something, or can quickly pop it to the office if it's too late. We can easily go to events at the school (like assemblies, information mornings, sports day etc) and fit them around our working day with fairly flexible jobs.

Plus all his friends live nearby, so play dates are easier and we bump into each other in the local shop.

And parking is a nightmare, people park on our road and I'm so glad I don't have to find a parking space every morning.

If there's not much between them in terms of standards, outcomes and facilities, I would choose the school you can walk to.

I grew up in the countryside so I never walked to school.
With my DC, I have to say, walking to school is one of the best bits of my day. Quality time, having a chat - it's lovely (not great in rain though 😂)

As a living SpongeBob who still hasn't passed my driving test at the age of 23 it's brilliant. I literally live two minutes from the school.
Not a fan of buses or walking long distances in the rain 😆