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?)

I think we are also a bit scared to let our children develop age appropriate freedome.
Our next door neighbour's son was happily getting the bus home at the age of 9 I think it was, then letting himself in for half an hour or so until his DM came home. I believe words were had with his parents from the school as he stopped doing that.

..In fact it was very noticeable when the Easter holiday this year didn't correspond with Easter itself. Schools went back the day after Easter Monday while the college and University were both closed for the whole week and clearly a lot of commuters had the week off. Although all the schools were in session the roads were quiet. There were no queues at the usual pinch-points; it was lovely.

What a lot of fuss. I think this is one of Gove's (few) better ideas. My local village Primary school is swamped by parked cars from 8.30 to 9.30 am, and from 2.45 to at least 3.45 pm every school day, to the considerable inconvenience of local residents. There is a perfectly good car park a quarter of a mile away, and about twenty parents use it and walk their children to school--five/ten minutes. School has 400 plus pupils; 60-70% live within walking distance. As for the time factor: get up earlier!

It's as though he wants to make school as difficult and as stressful for parents teachers and children. Stress isn't actually helpful for learning, socialising, teaching or parenting. What an absolute tit.

Getting up earlier is no use if you child has to be dropped off between 8.30am-8.45am & you have a 20-30 min drive to get to work for 9am.

I don't think time is a factor fir many. Why else are they parking up half an hour/45 mins before school starts/finishes just to get a space. They could actually have mire time in bed if they walked

It would make the lives of working and commuting parents even more difficult.

"for the time factor: get up earlier!"

Err, what? You know you can't leave kids at school any earlier than The Opening Time, don't you??

"I don't think time is a factor fir many. Why else are they parking up half an hour/45 mins before school starts"

Because then they can drop off at the earliest moment whilst being the closest to school, meaning they get away for work the quickest?

Still no link to the story?

Wow, the mans a genius I actually am beginning to like him and his ideas.
Parents dropping off on the way to work is a huge problem for residents who live in the streets and pedestrians trying to walk to school.
Its almost worth registering for school again.
Why do so many working parents think that everything should be designed to fit round them, perhaps they can try fitting round others for a change.

They need to let people go to their local school then rather than base he criteria on religion

Because then they can drop off at the earliest moment whilst being the closest to school, meaning they get away for work the quickest?

If their job is standing around in the play ground gassing for several minutes after the kids have gone in then that must be it :o

For us it would be the difference between being able to get to work for start of core hours at 9.30, and not. My employer is already v accommodating letting me start at 9.30 and leave at 2.30 tbh, I don't see that they could or should flex any further.

Get up earlier?! I'd be happy to if school would let me drop them off before 8.50.

Actually our school does seem to have got round the drop off problem quite nicely.

DCs can be dropped off and allowed into their classrooms from 8.15 although school doesn't officially start until 8.45 am. I'm not sure how it works from a supervision perspective, but it certainly means that there isn't a massive rammy at the school car park -apart from when one particularly dim witted father in a huge 4x4 BMW decided that he absolutely had to wait in the middle of the road to get his parking spot of choice rather than going the 30 seconds further to the car park across the road involving a short walk over a bridge. Short lesson - some people will always be tw*ts no matter what the circumstances are.

Oh and btw as a working parent I don't think that everything should fit around me, it's more that I believe that my taxes are wanted and needed by the government so they shouldn't come out with daft policies that would make it near impossible for both parents to work.

They've already done this in our village though probably not to a half mile exclusion zone. The street the school is on is now all double yellow lines as are the side streets. It has just moved all the congestion to the nearest side streets without parking restrictions. Though maybe its spread it a bit thinner over a few streets. They did it as a safety thing as reckoned the parking near the school was getting dangerous.

This would actually make my life very difficult.

We're very rural, and there's no way we could walk. Also, me having to walk a mile every morning and evening would add 40mins travelling time every day.

I drop little one off at 8.30, and have to be in work for 9.30. I just about scrape that every day, I would not if I added in a mile walk, lovely as that would be.

I pick her up from after school club at 4. Later than that, which it would be if I had would cost me £7.50 a day, that's an extra £150 a month.

Another brilliant idea Mr Gove. You can leave now.

Once again the selfish minority spoil it for the majority. Every school has repeat 'offenders'' who park stupidly so their precious darlings don't have to walk far!

The worst 'offender' as our school practically parks on the gates, walks her little darling into school --whilst blocking in about 3 other cars, then drives off to the gym She has been told but is obviously far too important to take any notice.

Gove is as idiotic as his idiotic ideas.

Why do so many working parents think that everything should be designed to fit round them, perhaps they can try fitting round others for a change

Who does having to walk at least a mile every school drop off 'fit around'? Who does it benefit? Instead of cars snarling close to school, they will be snarling half a mile away, and for around 45 min longer. Every person who previously stopped for a few minutes will now be parking up for around 45 min extra a day. How does this advantage people? The elderly, disabled and toddlers can't walk half a mile all that quickly. Employers are going to lose their school hours staff for at least 45 min a day. How does this fit around other people? People who live within half a mile of a school will have residents parking imposed on them and will have to fuck about with permits all the time.

Why do so many working parents think that everything should be designed to fit round them, perhaps they can try fitting round others for a change.

Do you not think working parents are actually fitting around the hours dictated to them by their work? And that we have enough to bloody do trying to fit in the school day, and school holidays, whilst working/paying taxes/not living off the state. Can't bloody win.

They don't hth x

Seriously, can anyone find a report of this online?
Is it true?

Its almost worth registering for school again.
Why do so many working parents think that everything should be designed to fit round them, perhaps they can try fitting round others for a change

Don't be so utterly ridiculous.

The other point is that residents parking is zoned - usually in half-mile areas or thereabouts. So if you live within half a mile of the school, you'd be able to park in the residents parking zone right next to school, using your permit. The only people it'd exclude from driving to school would be those who lived further than half a mile away. For a lot of urban primaries with tiny catchments, that'd be, er, nobody. Someone really hasn't thought this through..?

We live in a rural hamlet and did not get our village school, which we could gave walked to across fields, but instead were allocated a school we had not looked at three miles away. We appealed because I have a very severely disabled child, another child in another school but we didn't get any joy. So he attends the allocated school. Which is fine by the way. But there really is no way we could walk there given our other responsibilities and the route we would have to take.

Incidentally, although we appealed and our social worker was involved, at no point were we told we are entitled to free transport provided by the council yo school, I know we are entitled to it but have driven him there and fetched him each day at a cost to ourselves.

If these measures are brought in I will have no choice but to use the council paid for service. I doubt I will be alone. I don't think Gove has spoken or met people off his planet