To let an 8 year old walk alone 400m to school?

[hibbledibble]

I am wondering what is considered normal nowadays in terms of freedom.

1. At what age would you let a child walk 400m to school alone through a rural village? Quiet roads and safe rural community.

2. At what age would you let a child walk around 1 mile to school in a city? Rough area, with the walk partially through council estates.

I would let my son who is currently 6 walk 400m to school with a friend by 8. Yes.

Getting a taxi 1.5 miles is bonkers. Get a bike!

There is also a school bus so he could get that and I could wait at bus stop for him if he wanted some independence.

Who the hell lets their 5 year old child walk to school alone?

Well, the trouble is, I think that there just aren't the people on the pavement anymore. When I was child only weirdo parents took their children to school after the first couple of days. But then there were streams of children walking together there and back.

It depends on the child and the school rules. At our school they can walk home with a signed permission form from year 4.

For number 1 I'd be happy for them to walk it from about 9 if they are sensible.

For 2 it would have to be secondary school age so 11.

Dd has been allowed to walk the half a mile to school with friends from the middle of year 4 (once she turned 9). I'm still walking the younger dcs so I'm not far ahead / behind her. She's always been sensible and checks the road carefully before crossing.

Ds is 9 and will be lucky to walk to secondary on his own. He gets too carried away talking to friends and forgets to check the road. A few weeks ago he nearly walked straight in front of a car as he was calling out to friends over the (incredibly busy with idiot drivers speeding and not indicating) main road. Luckily he was right next to me so I could grab him and pull him back.

We walk through a not great council estate every day as we live smack in the middle of one. I wouldn't want the dcs to walk through it alone at night ever but during school run times it's very busy with parents and children walking to/from the 4 primary and 3 main secondary schools in the area. Whether I'm happy with it or not my dcs will have to walk to secondary school either with friends or alone from their first day due to logistics and work.

We are in Iceland and on my way to pick up DD from nursery I see plenty of kids walking home that look about 6 or 7 to me. Often in pairs or threes. We live just under a kilometre from the primary school and I would think that my children ought to be able to walk it by the time they are in second grade at least (age 7).
I know people with first graders who let them make their own way to primary school. I walked to school by myself from Yr 2 onwards, although we did live next door to the school so it was not a big deal at all. I think the culture in the UK has become a bit too anxious about giving children independence. If you teach them the route to go and there are good places to cross the road (if crossing is necessary) I can't see why an 8 yr old can't walk 400m alone.

Ffs if I want to get a taxi I will I'm happy to walk back but I'm not walking up and down several roads every morning with a reluctant 11 yr old and you don't know my circumstances , I have to put my youngest son on his school mini bus to go to his special school they are supposed to be there at 8.10 but they often later ds1 starts school at 8.40 so we are rushing if his dads on lates so can't pick him up I have to get a taxi back home its usually one taxi a day either there or back depending on dh,s shifts we have to get a taxi back to make sure we are home in time for ds2,s school mini bus

I went to secondary aged 10 which involved a train ride of 40 mins then a mile walk the other end. Still can't decide if my parents were naive or if I was very trustworthy

Personally I’d wait until they were 10, but maybe that’s just me. I’d do it very gradually too. I think children learn best by gaining maturity first and having as much mentoring as we can give them.

I was a 5 year old who walked to school on my own, many years ago! It was slack parenting in my mind, no question. I don’t care if everyone was doing it. I got approached by a paedophile. I got bullied once, it wasn’t nice. I still remember not liking it at all.

quite a few parents get a taxi to the school I work at despite living close - say 1.5 miles away

Its usually because they have other children and other stuff to do.

Remember 1.5 miles for the child going to the school is 3 for the parent and other siblings and that's twice a day so 6 miles a day, with a reluctant toddler in the rain whilst trying to get back to a nursery group that starts at a similar time for instance.

my kids walk - small safe village, not many cars
I wouldn't let my kids cross the worst bits of the south circular alone for instance

So an interesting variety of opinions. I currently have school run 2, and am thinking of moving for school run 1.

Currently I wouldn't let her walk alone at all in primary. Our area is really rough, and I even feel anxious about safety as an adult due to the things I see. I see parents who pick up their secondary school children and I totally understand why.

New area I am hoping it would be possible to do a solo school run

I,think it depends on the setting. Rural village with pavement, fine.
Alongside a busy A road probably not. Across a level crossing, probably not.
The idea an 11 year old needs taking to school in a taxi is mind boggling. The notion a mile and a half is too far is a concern.
At 11 he should be getting himself to school without an escort and certainly without a taxi. Let him cycle.

When I was a young child, I used to walk to school with my older brother. He was 7 and I was 5 when we first started. But it was just round the corner from where we lived and we didn't have to cross any roads.

It's very different now, as roads are much busier. My DD1 will be allowed to walk to school from September onwards when she starts year 5. But there is a very busy road that they have to cross, though if they cross where the lollipop lady is there to help it would be ok.

But I'll be going in with DD2 anyway so the question may not come up until DD2 is in year 5 (in 3 years time).

Where are all these schools that allow it? Where I live children aren't allowed to walk home alone until in yr 6.

Why in God’s name would the school be able to dictate how children get to school? I get providing guidelines but it’s not really up to them is it?

It really isn't up to the school. They can of course contact SS if they feel a parent is being negligent but unless the age of the child is exceptionally young or the journey excessively long or difficult then they won't get anywhere.

If we didn't have so many places to cross I'd let mine (young) walk. I know I would get evil looks from other parents though. It's clearly not the done thing and I see many with kids of 9/10 being walked through school to class .

Unfortunately even I don't feel safe crossing, no lollypop lady and the parents on the school run motorists drive like psychopaths and don't look out for kids. Have had several near misses with people texting etc while their children are in the car. People parked all over double yellows so I can't see out. Could cut half the cars on the road by letting children have a safe walk to school and god forbid get some exercise.

OP, we are a similar distance from School. As the yearly letter, reminding us parents that we can't be trusted when to make our own decision about when is the right time to let our children walk to and from school (It is our policy that all children have a responsible adult to drop them off and collect after school) arrived in my inbox this term, I asked them to send me something I could sign to give my DS year 3 permission to walk the 1 minute walk to school by himself. Received a safe guarding letter and a 'in these EXCEPTIONAL circumstances, we will grant permission...yada yada yada....'

There is no law when you can let your child walk to school / home unaccompanied and it should be your choice, based on your judgement and assessment.

Why in God’s name would the school be able to dictate how children get to school? I get providing guidelines but it’s not really up to them is it?

Completely something that a school should be involved in.

It’s not happening at school per se but it concerns a pupil of theirs.

I think it’s really positive for schools to be involved in his kind of thing. Rather than seeing the children as their charges solely between 9-3, they are looking beyond that at the bigger picture, for the benefit of the child.

I think it’s really positive for schools to be involved in his kind of thing. Rather than seeing the children as their charges solely between 9-3, they are looking beyond that at the bigger picture, for the benefit of the child.

They're overstepping and saying they know better than the parent and have authority over a child rather than a parent. It's a fucking slippery slope and not at all beneficial for the child.

It’s so overstepping and while they can make a policy there isn’t anything that they can do about it. So what is the point of the policy.
If a parent wanted to allow their child to walk home and informed the school what are they going to do? Refuse to release the child? Call Social Services- who will do nothing? So why threaten. It’s pointless intrusion into parental rights.

I can't believe all these schools banning children under a certain age from walking. What's it got to do with them?

Of course an 8 year old can walk 400 bloody metres on their own! What is the world coming to.

We have a 20 min walk which involves one main road with a very doddery lollipop lady who stares into space and is reluctant to actually step onto the road but tries to wave her folded up lollipop stick from the pavement, a crossroads with lights at a busy junction with cars trying to beat the lights so sailing across sometimes when the green man is on, a main road with a zebra which some cars ignore or the cars stop one side and as you are crossing the cars in the other direction are trying to do that slowing so they don’t actually have to stop, followed by another fast road with a doddery lollipop man who doesn’t get out in the middle of the road and sometimes cars have been seen going round him! From time to time we also have reports of cars and vans trying to entice pupils into them. So much as though my dd is old enough to walk and I would like to not do the round trip and start earlier at work I don’t think it is viable

Where are all these schools that allow it? Where I live children aren't allowed to walk home alone until in yr 6.

I live in N Ireland and have never heard of a school here dictating how a child gets to school. And it's only from P1 to P3 that I've heard of them being interested in how they get home. Schools here don't seem to be anywhere near as interfering in home life as schools in England appear to be. And we don't have epidemics of children going missing or getting knocked down on their way home from school.

Having said that, it's also very normal where I live for parents to drive secondary age children to school, because a lot of people live too far away to walk, but there is very little public transport so they can't take a bus either.

Oh, and we also have staggered home times with P1 to P3 finishing at 2pm and P4 to P7 finishing at 3pm. Lots of parents allow P4 onwards to walk because there isn't time to get home after 2pm pickup and back to school for 3pm, but there is nothing to do in the area to kill the hour between 2 and 3 either. So letting the older one walk saves getting the younger one all stressed out and bored by hanging round the school gates for an hour.