Banning the school run

[AElfgifu]

leading on from driving/walking thread, Gove suggests banning driving children to school.

All schools to be double red lined ( not stopping, unloading, pausing at all.)

all roads within half a mile of a school to be resident parking by permit only during school drop off or pick up time.

parents not allowed to park within half a mile of their school.

(Although most roads round here must be within half a mile of a school?)

As already said, this is a proposal by Mike O'Brien, who is a Medway Councillor, he is not Gove.

He was suggesting a way to help with obesity, he's also suggested teaching parents to cook cheap healthy meals and has been suggesting adults leave the car behind and walk or cycle where possible, complete with pictures of him taking his own advice on twitter.

He has not said this is a solution to congestion, he is merely concerned about the health of children in Medway, where there is a high childhood obesity rate and where a lot of schools are easy to walk to. He's just trying to find solutions that are practical and will work for Medway, he's not suggesting it would work for other areas but in an area that is easy to get around and where there are high teenage pregnancy rates and high unemployment, making money tight, finding free initiatives to help with obesity is a good thing.

I don't see headlines about the "work run" although clearly this is the biggest cause of congestion.

That's because the proposal is about childhood obesity, work runs don't make children fat!

Oh I haven't seen the actual proposals, is there a link?

I assumed they were about congestion / too much parking around schools / bad parking / dangerous roads etc which is what everyone on this thread has been talking about.

Just saw your previous post.

Am a bit lost.

Does this mean I am allowed to keep my job then

meh. everyone ignores the double yellows and zigzags outside dd1's school and the neighbouring secondary, so I dare say the same folk will ignore a red route. and with the Tories slashing local government funding, I doubt any extra traffic wardens will be employed.

Not that I've found yet, other than the article Jassy posted a picture of up thread. I was listening to him talking about it on the radio.

It was an idea that came from this conference I'm not sure they've written up an official proposal yet.

it means that a councilor made a comment about walking when possible being free and good for you and people have massively over reacted.

Of course he lives in the gilded world, where the mum either doesn't work, freelances (like his wife) so can be flexibe or have a nanny. No normal working person's problems of like actually having to get to a place of work in the morning by a certain time. I have to drive - one stop for a nursery 2 miles away, 1 mile to the school, then 7 miles to work. 50min - 1hr trip. And same on way back from work. No public transport options would get me to work anywhere near on time and I live in a big city.

Surely the fines will themselves pay for the traffic wardens if they ignore the red lines and zig zag lines as you say they will do.

How many people are getting their knickers in a knot here over a story that hasn't happened and couldn't happen. Seriously, stop and think for more than a minute people.

And also the first post mentions double red lines which are only widely used in London. Although then do appear in other parts of the country they aren't common.

Apologies if I'm repeating someone, but this is totally unnecessary.

All you have to do is change the school admissions criteria to the following nationwide:
1 Looked after children
2 Statemented children
3 Siblings in catchment
4 children in catchment
5 other siblings
6 other children

By moving siblings and children in catchment above other siblings you'd remove the people driving their kids to a perceived better school from outside the area after getting their first child in.

Then hopefully, that would mean people could drop their kids off on their way to work without contributing to excessive congestion.

Off to read the rest of the thread now.

It still wouldn't work like that. Some classes are full up pretty quick. Kids next door to schools don't get in

And they would still need to get their other kid to school wherever the second one went

Gove is an idiot.

rookiemater, I think he wants the parents to walk DC into school

Then hopefully the govt will fine some magical money to enable one adult from every home to work part time 10 till 2.30 to enable them to walk the school run?

And he an fix all the failing child so we don't have to take our kids across towns just to receive an education that leaves them standing a chance in life

Failing schools

Weird typos

Failing to read the thread?

Well, my suggestion would also mean you'd cut down on the number of people having to drive miles to school because they couldn't get their children into their local school due to places being taken by out of catchment siblings.

I guess it depends which camp you fall into as to whether you think my suggestion is good idea or a rubbish one.

Well considering the least amount of time it would take for a sibling who counted (yr 4 being the last yr) is two yeArs, you would still have at least two years of parents having to drive if their kid was already in the school if implemented in September fir example. So you would still have at least two years of people still having to drive from out of town regardless of where siblings stood.

Well, you'd have to give warning, probably at least a year. You couldn't change it immediately so there would still be some who missed out, but at least it would deter people who were intending to get their first child in if they knew the rules would be changing by the time their next one was due to start.

However, you'd possibly find that at least some of those with older children still in the school would have to take them out to go where there younger child gets in, possibly freeing up places for people who've been on waiting lists for years!

If it was that easy if have done it I assure you.

My only link will be a sibling out of catchment. Not my fault my catchment school is shit you send your kids to a school in special measures if you like.

I can't get dd in the other local school either

I use public transport but will be driving although I intend on utilising a car park near by rather than parking outside at a time that's even earlier than the bus gets in.

There aren't that many out of catchments compared to people living locally and just driving anyway.

I work from home, but wouldn't be able to get to my 9.15 am running group if I didn't drive the kids to school twice a week.

We walk the rest of the time, but sometimes it is convenient to drive.

Why is it always women (and it is mostly women driving kids to school) who are in the wrong? What about all the people driving to work who could cycle or take the bus?

I have 2 children at different schools. One of the children is disabled and cannot use any public transport. My school run involves 20 miles int he morning and another 20 miles in the afternoon. How would give expect me to get them to school (bearing in mid that one is disabled) under his plans?