Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a 3-4 mile walk is too long for a year 1 class?

75 replies

Wikkiwoo · 13/03/2014 20:59

I have just been informed that DSs school will be visiting a local church as part of their learning. They will be walking there and back. I reckon it is roughly 1.5-2 miles walking distance away.

AIBU to think this is too far for a year 1 class?

OP posts:
Pleasenomorepeppa · 13/03/2014 21:16

DD1 (in Reception), went on a school trip today & all 60 of them walked about 2 miles there & then back again.
I went with them & they were all absolutely fine with it!

Artandco · 13/03/2014 21:16

Not at all. That's an average day for my pre schoolers.

It's only about a half hours walk each. If you think they will struggle then maybe you need to really increase their daily activities

Today my 2 year old has: 4 mile walk spilt in two . 30 mins tennis. . 2hrs football / running/ park. 45 mins swimming. 30 mins on scooter. Basically most the day outside, busy.

Slapperati · 13/03/2014 21:16

YABU.

Joules68 · 13/03/2014 21:17

muppets how did she find it? Well done her! We are off up it in July.

ilovesooty · 13/03/2014 21:20

Sounds fine to me if there are no diagnosed mobility issues.

pictish · 13/03/2014 21:32

Our school is 1.5 miles away.
My dd walks up in the morning for nursery, then walks home again for lunch. Then she walks back up again to pick up her older brother from school, and then back home for tea.
That's six miles a day she does. She's being doing that since she was 3.
I'm not bragging btw - I'm pointing out how commonplace it is for children to walk places. It's not remarkable.

usualsuspect33 · 13/03/2014 21:35

Mine were walking 90 miles a day at that age.

Original poster
Wikkiwoo · 13/03/2014 21:36

Thanks for comments, I'm not worried that DS wont be able to walk that far, he is a good walker, but I think taking a class of 30 5-6 year olds that far is a different thing altogether. I can see a 30-40 min walk turning into well over an hour as there are 12 (if I've counted correctly) roads to cross!

OP posts:
5madthings · 13/03/2014 21:36

Yabu our school run is two mile
Ds4 in yr 1 walks it and dd who is 3 often does as well.

NeverKnowinglyUnderstood · 13/03/2014 21:40

YABU, there will be SO many adults taking year 1 children out on a trip like that
we used to walk the children to the library and crossing roads was a well oiled system.

Fakebook · 13/03/2014 21:41

No it's not too much. They're 5 and 6 year olds, not newly walking toddlers. I'm sure they'll survive.

TamerB · 13/03/2014 21:41

No- perhaps you ought to get yours out walking at the weekends. At that age I used to do it everyday for school.

TamerB · 13/03/2014 21:42

They cope with roads!

WorraLiberty · 13/03/2014 21:42

No not too far at all

ShatnersBassoon · 13/03/2014 21:43

So you're not worried about the distance at all, just the logistics of it?

Hulababy · 13/03/2014 21:45

Wikkiwoo - it will be fine. The teachers will have done similar, if not the same, trips over the years.

We take up to 90 children at a time in this way!
We have plenty of staff - to cover the ratios.

With a road - two staff stand in the road - one on either side. We have hi vis vests so cars see us (so do all the childen btw).

We even have one very big road to cross - two roads in oen with a crossing and island int he middle. But we plan for this - infact we take our EYFS children on a very short trip within their very first term of school in order to practise crossing this road as a group!

Mushypeasandchipstogo · 13/03/2014 21:47

YABVU. Not far at all.

lunar1 · 13/03/2014 21:49

They will be fine with that distance

Muppetsbitch · 13/03/2014 21:50

Joules she was awesome, like a mounain goat. We only did llamberis path though.

We did it in July too. It's a great one for kids.

Sorry for thread hijack.

TheScience · 13/03/2014 21:55

I don't envy the staff as I think you're right - it's going to take them forever with lots of whinging. The distance should be fine for healthy 5 and 6 year olds though.

candycoatedwaterdrops · 13/03/2014 21:58

YABU, it will be fun for the kids, although not for the teachers!

RubyGoat · 13/03/2014 22:04

Won't the children all be in hi-vis vests? And the route will be planned prior to setting off, so they will surely cross at safe places? That always seems to be the case whenever I've seen school groups out near me.

ivebeentheretoo · 13/03/2014 22:06

Eldest 2 at 5.5 and 3.5 did an 8 mile sponsored walk last year. We did stop for a picnic at 5 miles and the last 1/4 of a mile required a regular sweetie supply but they had a great time. They also walked up the first third of Pilatus in April and down the middle section in the snow.

BrokenButNotFinished · 13/03/2014 22:24

The furthest my Y1 child has walked in a day is just under 10 miles - and she was still full of bounce afterwards. On holiday these days she and her sister do 7 or 8 miles day after day. The distance itself is fine.

RandomMess · 13/03/2014 22:37

I once did a mile walk as a help with a R class. You could tell the dc that get ferried everywhere - the seemed to struggle with the concept of looking in the direction they were travelling and distinguishing between the pavement and the road! I never realised it was a life skill until that moment in time tbh!