To think that the person who wrote this is quite simply a twat?

[Mouseyinmyhousey]

From FB.

Over the Easter holidays the roads were traffic free. Proving that rush hour I'd caused by parents taking their kids to school. It should be law that all parents should be made to walk to school whatever the weather, getting rid of rush hour, and obesity. Also if people want a better school they'll have to walk further, or better still, make everyone attend they're local school thus making a fairer society.

Complete nob, right?

I give up. That was supposed to be "posted too soon"

I'm sure a lot of the parents who were posting on here last week after the school allocations came out would love to be walking to their local school come September. Like the one in my area who lives within walking distance of three different schools, but got given the one 7 miles away...

I love that someone who is commuting by car thinks they can complain about other people commuting by car! We all have a responsibility to try and use greener forms of transport if we can, but it is not always that easy.

I am desperate for ds to be able to walk to school once he starts school, he's a complete livewire and I think without the walk to school he will really struggle to sit still in a class room. But our local school is dire, so we are having to think about whether to move near a better one. But that will then mean a longer commute for my husband. So one way or another there will probably be the same amount of traffic on the road.

Avril our area is like that, all CofE and two RC. From here it would be around 15 miles + to a non-faith school.

Those who replied saying they'd like the walk for allowing the child to burn some energy off - I plan to park in a nearby road and walk with dd or take her bike. She is a live wire too!

It's a nobbish pov because the rush hour is caused by everyone in it. The roads are clearer in the hols, partly because of people who drive to work taking their own holidays.

Many people who drive to school do so because they are on the way to work so even if they packed their child off on a walking bus they would still be in the road.

Everyone should use driving, walking and public transport more rationally where possible. Schools which admit on faith or ability to pay over distance can have an effect on local traffic. But the journey towards better schools, fairer society etc shouldn't be assessed on it's ability to promote one road users rights over another's.

Therefore he is an ignorant and entitled nob. Gavel.

I can tell that the people here saying that, everyone sending their child to the local school would improve standards, probably don't live on really rough council estates

I lived on a rough council estate. My children attended the very local school, it was in the top three in the borough.

The other problem is, you often find that really good teachers don't want to work in schools in rougher areas

That's nonsense.

My youngest goes to a school in the middle of an estate in a deprived area, he has excellent teachers.

You can't make blanket statements based on just your experience.

Lots of children change schools at some point during their school career because of things such as bullying, child being unhappy at school, the school not suiting the child.
Question to those of you advocating everyone going to the nearest school , you would want a child forced to stay at a schoo where they are unhappy?

And I have often heard it said that 1/3 of rush hour tyraffic is caused by the school run - so why is this jumped on , rather than the 2/3 which isn't?

There will always be exceptions ryanboy.

I think kids should be walked or cycle to school too. It pains me to see a cavalcade of massive 4x4s pulling up outside schools and one tiny child getting out of each.

Disclaimer: I don't acksherly think walking to school should be ackshual law, and I know not everyone can walk, or cycle, and I know that some people are driving somewhere anyway and are just dropping their kids off on the way.

But I'm sure a lot of people who are driving to work could get there another way too.

It is jumped on because a lot of it is seen as unnecessary.

People who drive sort walkable journeys and who have no mobility problems [and neither do their children] are unnecessary traffic.

sort =short

I hate the way 'lazy' mums and schoolchildren are to blame for traffic on the roads, and quieter roads during the school holidays are used as 'evidence' of this. Roads are quieter during the school holidays because that is the time when far more working people who drive to work are likely to be away on their holidays too, is it not?

And so what if people use the car to get to school instead of the bus? How is their commitment and timekeeping less important than anyone else's?

One adult getting to work by bus/train = one person, one fare, one journey to work, one journey back again.

Two siblings getting to school by bus with a mother and a baby sibling in tow = Four people, three bus fares, one journey there, one journey back home for mum and baby, another journey back again for mum and baby, and the final journey home for all four of them, plus a shitload of hassle and wasted time. And that's assuming there is even a suitable bus route or train station near enough to the final destination.

School is a commitment, just like a job. I see no earthly reason why children should be considered as second class citizens in this; less important or less entitled to get to school easily, safely, quickly and on time any less than someone with a job of work?

You could equally say everyone should work locally and then rush hour traffic would be reduced by 2/3.

We've attended two primary schools due to a house move (which wasn't driven by school places). Primary 1 was rough as nails, with exactly the kind of parents the OP describes (letters about drinking and smoking in the playground, regular fights etc) and it was a fantastic school. Absolutely bloody amazing packed full of bright and committed teachers.

School two is in a leafy village and while I wouldn't call it a bad school, it's a bit 'meh'. The school basically does well because of the attitude of the parents (and children) who attend it. The school itself coasts.

I don't know why everything has to start at 9 tbh.
Better to stagger school times - research suggests that teens certainly need more sleep and that later start times boost academic results.

It's nuts that everyone starts at 9. There's no need for it, we are not on a factory line.
Whether workers and students walk or run to the office/ school is therefore up to themselves.

Id be annoyed, I have 3 under 5 and my DS1 school is a 50min walk away, stuff walking that with 3 children whilst 6mths pregnant, plus I'd have to leave at 8am and wouldn't be back to 4.15pm every day its a long walk for such young DC especially after a day at school.

Pity some people don't think of other people's circumstances before spouting shit.

Until we have universal free, regardless of whether you go to your nearest school, or not, decent school buses this problem will persist.

It shows totalitarian thinking.

" people should be made to do this and that ."

Yeah, and maybe we should all be secret government agents too, to enforce and control this ( would obviously be a huge job), like in the lvely old DDR.

Thankfully, we live in a free country though. More or less.

And the argument that they should all pick their local school to save on travel doesn't really hold up for me. All the while we are allowed a choice, people will pick the best school they can, in just the same way that they pick the best job they can. If someone can justify driving 60 miles on a motorway each day for a better job I don't see why they feel they can criticise parents for picking a school 8 miles away or whatever, if they feel it's the better school.

Until we have a situation where every single child gets allocated (and is guaranteed) a place at their nearest/catchment school, which is always within walking distance, and if it isn't then free transport is provided, with no choice, no argument, and no opportunity to appeal, regardless of their family circumstances, their 'needs,' their intellect, their religion, their preferences or any education authority attempts to meddle/experiment with social engineering, then I wish everyone would just butt out and leave it up to the parents to decide how their children get to school.

Miaow you are right, of course. But I think you'll find that plenty of adults drive to work for the same reasons. What's the difference? At least they don't then have to walk all the way home again, like the mother does, getting doubly cold and wet.

And sometimes the people doing the 'two minute' journeys have mothers who are then driving straight to work so it doesn't always make sense to walk, then walk back, then get the car and go to work straight past the gates of the school does it?

Personally, when my 3 DCs were at the local primary I would always chose to walk at least once a day, if it was a nice day and I had the time to spare to walk back again (about half an hour each way) but then if I had to go back to get DS3 from nursery mid-morning, and then back again at 3.15 for the other two, that's an awful lot of time out of my day spent walking around instead of doing something more useful.

Mothers do not necessarily have loads more time to waste than other people you know!