is it unreasonable for DC to make own way to and from school?

[roastedlemon]

Will be in year 4 next year - eight and a half, sensible, mature, school is local and without busy roads.

It would certainly make life easier.

What do other parents do?

Sorry roastedlemon - just realised you are indeed the OP! The question still stands though

I personally wouldn't have an 8 year old child let himself into an empty house and be there for an hour,no.I think that is way too young to be fending for himself.Sorry,I know that's probably not going to go down well but he is still a very young child.At 11,my answer would probably be different.

Just in terms of expectations and norms, I suppose :) I was definitely letting myself into the house then and there an hour or so until my parents came back home but I know our outlook is different now.

We rarely go in with ds (currently yr3) so school wouldn't know if he'd walked by himself or not.

However in our case, he's a bit of a daydreamer and there are busy roads (albeit with traffic lights) so I'd be a bit dubious, and we have to take ds2 to nursery anyway and school is on the way. Plus school has breakfast club for the rare occasions we both have early starts, and an after-school club which he goes to daily and loves.

If ds were less of a daydreamer and the roads not busy as in OP's situation, then I wouldn't hesitate to let him walk by himself.

I intend for DD2 to be walking in by herself in yr 3, once I've crossed her over our busy road. She'll be nearly 8 but the school gate is only down the road.

My 8 year old walks to and from school himself. His are at the same school until the holidays, but they don't walk together. It's 5 minutes (if he dawdles) and there are no roads. I was the first in my street to let my girls walk themselves (one woman threatened to call SS on me for it!), but now quite a few children walk themselves and they all love it. Depends entirely on the child though - DS was allowed to do it at 7, DDs weren't allowed until 9 because one of my DD's isn't as responsible as the other so you have to judge if your child is mature enough.

Also depends on your school as well. The school my DD's previously attended was bad for telling parents things at pick up so if you weren't there (even if you were just at the next door collecting an older/younger child) you didn't find out things.

I wouldn't have an 8 year old come home to an empty house on a regular basis. I don't think any of mine would have been mature enough to not lose their key regularly and not tell lots of people they had an empty house.

My son is going into year 5 and he will be starting to walk to school and back by himself. However, the route to his new school (he is changing school) is quite safe, there are no busy roads to cross, so we are quite relaxed with him walking by himself.
At his old school we had to cross a busy road without any traffic lights. If he was still going there we would still accompany him.
If the route is safe I would let a year 4 child walk by themselves, personally.

You know your own child, what I allow my ds to do is different than what his friends are allowed to do. As of 8 he has been walking 10 minutes from school-usually taking half an hour wandering through the park! He has his phone and from this year age 10 he will be in the house for up to 1 hour by himself after school as I work full time. He loves the independence.

In all honesty I think he would be fine given its only two days (I didn't like it being every day when I was a child.)

I am a bit worried he may end up being the only one walking unsupervised - don't want this to be commented on!

If dd2 weren't starting reception in September I'd probably be doing this incrementally with dd1, who'll then be in yr 4. I wouldn't let her walk the whole way due to one really tricky road, but would happily let her go halfway (10 minute walk). I'd be less keen on her coming back to an empty house though. Perhaps ok as a one off but I think its too much for a regular thing. I work and intend to keep using after school club right through year 6.

I'm not sure I would have been happy with dd letting herself in at 8, even though I'd leave her alone while I was out nearby for 20/30 mins tops at that age. And only then when I knew next door were home and within calling range and able to step in if needed. I think the letting in is the main thing rather than being home alone, you need to allow for what happens if they lose the key, come home to a power cut, attempted break in and lock jammed, finding a break in. And even just leaving them there's a big gap between being sensible enough to stick to rules about answering the door and using kitchen appliances, and being sensible enough to know what to do if you get a fire through an electrical fault. Burglars and fires are unlikely I know but still worth thinking through as how they'd respond. In your shoes I'd be looking at after school club or similar for a year or two

Our school didn't let them walk home till year 6 so long as there was a signed disclaimer. They didn't walk till year 6 either. I would not have been happy earlier than that and still only let my 9 year old out alone if she's with her 12.5 year old brother

my 3 children have been getting themselves to/from school independently from the age of 8 and love it. They are 8,10 and 12 and when they get home the 2 youngest change and then cycle back to the park near school to meet their friends. The 12 year old changes and goes our jogging with a friend. They come home for tea. It wasn't allowed until KS2 at our school so I had a couple of years where the 3 of them would set off on their bikes/scooters and I would be on foot. I would arrive 10 minutes after them,check all bikes there and then come home again!! I was so relieved when school said it was okay for them to be indepebndent providing we wrote a letter.It also co-incided with me breaking my leg badly and being unable to walk for 4 months so thank goodness they didn't need me to take them!

If you are very local he should be fine. At our school most kids seem to take themselves from year 5 or 6 depending on how close they live. We are a 10-15 min walk from school with a couple of roads to cross so I wouldn't feel happy about DS doing it yet, he starts year 4 in Sept.

His friend walks from near us with her older brother (Y6). Most parents seem to do a gradual withdrawal. School gate (we have been doing this from year 3 (infants are usually taken to playground), 100 yards, where ever you park the car and watch them etc before they start going on ther own/with friends.