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?)

If there was a park and stride site for as many schools as possible, that was staffed by people being paid, then all those that could not walk the additional half a mile proposed, could drop their children off by car to this site, and the staff on site would be responsible for their safe arrival at the school gate.

Reduction in school run time for working parents, fewer incidents of inconsiderate parking and hopefully healthier children, who have learned some road sense through walking the half mile each day.

BoomBoomsCousin Please don't expect the government to cause a cultural shift towards walking to school or anything else. Not their job, at least not in a society with any claim to freedom of thought.

It's not about distance. At all. Come rain or shine, I rather enjoyed the walk I had to Dd's primary school when I was on MAT leave.

The issue for me is time. Getting DC to school, then getting to work is such a balance, as is the reverse journey for the pick up.

There are no flexible working hours for me as a teacher. If I were able to, I would park a good distance away and walk'.

Andrew Why would the government doing it be any worse than the corporations who have caused us to move away from walking?

My OH can't walk. My DS2 used to go to school on a hill, with a carpark. They wouldn't let him use the carpark. They said he could park on the road next to the school because it 'wasn't far'

They didn't understand the concept of 'can't walk'.

So I had to do all the school runs. I have had to sort my working life around school drop offs. Not because I am a LP or because my OH is lazy but because the school wouldn't accommodate our needs.

Scroll forward five years and he now uses a scooter so can now pick our youngest two up (different school) . Its bloody brilliant! I can't tell you how amazing it is.

But I am telling you this because don't for one minute imagine that schools are going to be able and/or willing to cater to the needs of families with disabled members.

I understand those who have finely tuned school runs. I used to have to take my car on the days I work and I hated it. The school run is horrible and it took me longer to drive than it did to walk ffs.

I have now arranged to go in later so I can walk and then walk home to pick up my car.

That is not possible for everyone.

On the other had there are loads and loads of parents who don't need to drive but do. I don't think we can dispute that.

But Gove is an arse who is as far removed from reality as every other member of his sodding government.

BoonsBoomsCousin What corporations? If you mean the businesses which have sold us cars, we've chosen to buy them, and in many ways it has enhanced our lives, and some of us have chosen to use them where we need not.

Please tell us how the government should go about causing the cultural shift.

Yes! Run enough small mini buses that rural DCs don't spend 40&65 minutes to do journeys that take 10&15 minutes in the car.

Ah ,but then what happens about breakfast and after school clubs and 3 year olds going to nursery?

Can their parents park by school since they are at the wrong time or too little for the bus?

And what about nursery aged children's older siblings, it's not fair they don't have to walk.

Mr Gove it just doesn't work!!!

This is in p9 of the print edition of today's Times, making it clear it's a Medway Council idea. No mention of Gove. It came up as a proposal at an obesity conference in Kent.

Any council that implemented such an idea w

Mind you, I'm quite busy pissing myself laughing at the idea that this is a London-centric idea. Most London schools are surrounded by permit-only parking anyway.

Oops, rogue phone post:

Any council that implemented such an idea would have to be pretty sure it wasn't sending siblings to different schools due to lack of places, or sending children to school miles away from their local communities because of unfair admissions practices.

Still pissing myself, mind. It's as if anything disagreeable must be London-centric, regardless of logic.

Andrew they could provide more lollipop men/women. They could engage in advertising as they did when they tried to cause a cultural shift away from drink driving. They could encourage walking busses and buddying up. they could insist schools open playgrounds earlier. They could make it clear parents won't be questioned simply for letting young children walk. They could make it clear to schools that it is up to the parent to decide at what age their child is able to leave school without an adult. They could invest in policing driving around schools at start and school times to help ensure roads are safe enough for young children to walk and cross near. They could increase fines for traffic violations near a school at start/end times. None of which is about destroying any one's ability or freedom to think.

Just to be absolutely clear GOVE HAS NOT SAID THIS

IT IS NOT A GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL

BoomBoomsCousins Point taken and I would not disagree with any of those except the advertising which savours of mind-control. The comparison with drink-driving does not work: that is a crime and so it should be, but I don't think you are suggesting that driving your DCs to school should be made one.

BMW6 You are pissing into the wind by mentioning that fact . . .

THIS IS NOT HAPPENING. It is not reported anywhere that Gove or anyone else has said any such thing about school runs. We are getting our knickers in a twist about NOTHING. If anyone can give a link to a report of this, I will eat my hat.

Andrew I think advertising by the government could be a way to keep things reasonable enough that it doesn't need to be made illegal. Car manufacturers advertise cars using images that suggest freedom and convenience. Why is that not "mind control" but providing alternative information (like, driving makes the roads more dangerous or walking is great!) is "mind control"? What is it about someone making a profit out of their advertising that makes it more "moral"?

BoomBoomsCousin With a corporation you know where they are - out to make money. But the Government is supposed to be there for all of us going about our lawful occasions, so it should not be advertising in favour of those who choose not to do the school run and therefore against those who do. It's their world too. That, I think, is the difference.

"We need to ensure that those parents who don’t play their part in ensuring their children attend school, ready to learn and showing respect for their teacher, face up to their responsibilities. We will, later this year, be outlining detailed proposals to ensure parents play their full part in guaranteeing good behaviour and outlining stronger sanctions for those who don’t."

Indeed vindscreenviper, that is more menacing and worrying.

Thingamajig, try the Times website, or go out and buy a copy. As I said, page 9. I don't pay to get behind the online paywall, so no link I'm afraid.

But yeah, not Gove.

Is Gove starting really clever whispering campaigns where someone leaks some kind of slightly bonkers but kibd of believable policy idea (banning To Kill a Mockingbird/school run), getting all his enemies frothing nicely before pointing out this is, in fact, not what is proposed; leaving his opponents looking like twats... Trolling/gas lighting as political strategy?

Ooh thank you for noticing me LastMinuteLil I thought I was invisible .

I really hope the Lib Dems buckle and let Gove pass these laws, it'll be the end of his political career and lose the next GE for the Tories. Every other party would promise to repeal such a stupid law as soon as they got into power and I don't think there would be enough time between the law being introduced and the next GE for any parent to actually be sanctioned (I hope).

JR, I'm looking at the times and I can see nothing about school runs. Plenty about full literacy, though

Very interesting thread, judging from the thread as a straw poll I don't think it would ever ever be implemented.

Of course for those able bodied people its do able, if DC at one place!

But my, wouldnt it make like that little more miserable and horrible.

Our school has a big sized carpark down the road and a few lollipop road crossing supervisors on all the streets around the school. There is no space to stop on the road in front of the school. Parents or families where there is a child with a disability have a designated zone in the staff carpark that they get given a permit for (if they don't already have a disabled parking permit). It works well. It's only about a two minute walk from the carpark to the school, so not a huge amount of time, and there is another road crossing supervisor on duty in the carpark to herd children in the right direction for those who want to drop and run. The carpark is huge (it's actually the carpark for a big sporting ground which is used at evenings and weekends) so no clogging up roads around the school.

It's stupid. I don't drive so do the school run to our nearest school (1.5 miles away) by bus. DS2 is disabled and uses a wheelchair. In the mornings and when he is on holiday from work DH takes DS1 and DS2 to breakfast club in the car. One afternoon a week DS4 goes to his special needs playgroup. We leave early and I get a lift 8 miles across town to school so I can just get there in time to pick the boys up. Last week DS4 had a hospital appointment at 4pm so DH met us at school and took us there. So many people need to drop off and pick up near the school for lots of different reasons. Loads of the children have blue badges too. DS2 went on an infants school trip recently. 60 children went, with a sn buggy and 3 wheelchairs in the boot of the coach. The owners all have blue badges and several other children do too.

Isn't this just going to move the problem half a mile up the road?