To think pupils at secondary should make their way to school on their own?

[emkana]

be it walking, cycling, or bus - but not driven by their parents anymore. I guess liftsharing with other parents to save money is okay. But parents driving the little darlings every day because they couldn't possibly manage?

It depends on the distance and whether there is any public transport!

They only do it for the first half term.

But what would you do with children who have 14 mile journeys and 2 hour bus rides (with multiple changes) each way?

yes you are so right
back when he was at secondary I should have sent ds on the bus to and from school. that way the bullies could have had more time to make his life hell

My dd would rather chew off her own arm than have me anywhere near her school

I was a little suprised to find out dd's friends at secondary get lifts - not many but some. But the pupils that dd know that get lifts would find it much harder to get a bus (two busses and a start at 7.15am) cycle 5 miles on main roads or walk the 4 miles across fields.

dd gets two busses and starts out at 7.35am as I can't take her the 3 miles to school and I can't collect her as I work some days - so easier all round if I purchase bus pass for the term of over a hundred and fifty quid

What happens if the parent happen to be driving past the school on their way to work anyway, and the journey is more than a walk away? Doesn't it then make more sense, esp financially, for the child to grab a lift with a parent and jumping out en route?

Actually at 11 I think you should be able to cope with changing buses, but that at least is some justification, but we have seen posters on MN before saying they take them because they don't like them going out on their own. That IS daft.

Perhaps a sort of breaking in period would be a better way rather than complete ' cold turkey'

My little darling is not cycling five miles each way when he gets to 11. There is no bus.

'Pends, where I work, we feed in from 76 primaries ... we're Kent and get applicants from Essex...some parents can/will ferry; especially those with a religious background. Highly Christian West Africans will not tolerate their children mixing out of school with anything/anyone that may take them from an academic path.

I guess you dont live rurally,in order for dd to get to school for 8.30,she would have to leave home at 6.30,2 mile walk to bus stop,then two buses.

I take ds to school, it's 19 miles away and we go on the train. He's hypermobile and falls over a lot so he needs someone with him to make sure he doesn't fall into the road/on the train tracks. He's 12.

I tell a lie, there is a bus stop just over a mile walk away. Country roads, no pavements. Lots of tractors and lorries. I have no idea how many buses would be required but it would be more than one.

There are many perfectly valid reasons I can see, but I fail to see one when the school is a 15 minute bus rid away with no changes.

When I were a lass (in fact I was 9) I caught a bus from school in the north of Dublin to the centre. Changed there to the 46A and caught that home to Dun Laoghaire. I can't begin to imagine letting my 9 year old do that now. And to my shame, I'm not convinced my 13 year old would manage it.

I've forgotten what my point was now.

Hmm... school bus was ok, but it gave the bullies 9 slow miles to assault DD both physically and sexually so 50% of the time I had not choice but to pick her up (bullies were worse on home run).

Why does it matter to you though?

We took and collected DD1 for the first couple of weeks, then let her get bus home a couple of days alone for a couple of weeks, then after about four or five weeks got a monthly bus ticket and shes on her own.

School is 2 miles away.

She walked to primary alone but it was just round the corner from us and it felt a lot to ask her to have a new school, new class, and have to learn to use the buses all in the same week. Maybe we should have done it over the summer with her....

Its all gone great until today when she came in in hysterics saying she was never getting the bus again, some boys who are in her year were at the back and were calling her names, making hand signals and throwing juice. She said she got hit by a plastic bottle in the face.

Its all okay now in that she has calmed down and Ive told her if it happens again she goes straight to the driver to complain its his job to make sure the passengers on the bus are safe. Ive never been nervous of her getting bus but to be honest, I can now see why people would keep on dropping and collecting.

traffic jams

But why pay for a bus if they can sit in the same car and go the same route as the parent?

Chances are DD could well end up doing that with DH, with her jumping out at the top of the road not far from school. He will be driving that way anyway so it would make more sense for DD to go with him, if she wanted to anyway, than pay to go on a bus - which would cost more and take longer.

YANBU: I think teenagers nowadays often have poor coping skills when it comes to public transport as they're driven about much more than they used to be. My father sometimes took me in the morning if he was travelling that way. I walked 3 miles home every day though, and most of my friends did similar journeys.

Yes they should ,theres a lot to be said for using the local comp

I had a 15 mile journey to school with no public transport. Not a lot of choice there, although we did lift share.

But it does seem fairly reasonable for children with a short walk or bus to get there themselves, after half a term or so to get used to the change of school.

Thats okay if the local comp isnt on special measures and judged as failing.