To allow my son to walk to school on his own?

[tresdreg]

He's 9, it's not that unusual is it? It's about an 8 minute walk, through a village.

Well, technically the school don’t have any say at all, whatever they may think, although of course they are free to refer to appropriate agencies if they believe that the child is being released at such a young age they may come to harm.

What a school may not do is refuse the parents wishes on this matter.

Schools can not determine when a parent chooses to allow a child to walk to school alone. Neither can they demand written permission, that is a parental decision.

That is correct cherry

I would provide permission just so life wasn’t awkward for my child but the school cannot insist on it.

Walking to school , the school can't control.

Walking home from school they can. Year 4 at our school still require an adult to pick up, and won't let your child out until they see you. Year 5s just all come streaming out.

CherryPavlova

School can refuse to release them home it's a safe guarding issue.

Plus do you really think it's wise for an 8 year old or younger to walk home alone?

I don't...

Walking home from school they can. Year 4 at our school still require an adult to pick up, and won't let your child out until they see you. Year 5s just all come streaming out.

No they can’t. They could be really awkward and cause embarrassment to the child and refuse to release them, and they could call SS etc.

Ultimately though it’s not their call and any school I’ve ever worked in that has been challenged by a parent (twice I’ve seen parents challenge this policy, and I did at my DDs school) they’ve adapted their policy and accepted the patents wishes after realising the parents were making a thought out choice that the children concerned were perfectly capable of.

Sounds absolutely fine to me. 9's a perfect age to start this sort of gentle independence if you haven't already (my middle one was doing a similar route at eight and a half, the eldest started doing a longer one through a small quiet town at 9). I'm a bit gobsmacked at the PP above saying 'my dc is 10, no way' - how on earth, with that attitude, do you make the transition to secondary a natural progression rather than a huge wrench?

I live in New Zealand - people are way more relaxed about parenting and children here walk to school pretty early. Mine started at five, but the school was a few doors down.

So I think yanbu.

School can refuse to release them home it's a safe guarding issue.

Can you back this up?

Kids can walk home without an adult from p2 here, so age 5 1/2+
But then we also don't have this utterly ridiculous thing where parents accompany children to the classroom until they are 25.

I would if I wasn't taking a younger one too.

Yes he can, he has to have a phone and a tracker, he needs to know how to make a fake call on his phone etc. So once he's trained he's fine. Y4 is good. My son's school was too far but I really would have liked him to start young. It builds confidence. He knows you trust him. Also, going with a friend is good too.

Gosh some of you are the parents who still pick up secondary age students aren't you!! Of course it's fine OP.

I started going alone to school at five, but the environment is key. It was pretty safe and not that far.

Actually they can’t namechanged

They can refer to police or social services if they think the child is at risk of immediate harm but they cannot overrule a parental decision.

Here in Germany, the official line is still that children are supposed to be walking on their own right from year 1 (so aged between 5.5 and 7, depending on school starting age which varies from state to state). There are campaigns every Aug/Sept for drivers to slow down and be aware of school starters out and about. In reality this has shifted a bit, and I think most parents accompany their children for at least year 1 and often year 2 these days, but the idea remains that they're 'supposed' to go alone and I was definitely on the more cautious/protective end of the spectrum starting mine on walking alone (which they were more than ready for and keen to do) when I did.

YANBU. If he's happy to walk alone and you trust him to be sensible about safety then go for it. Children not walking to school alone by 9 years old is considered very odd here - the summer before 1st grade (6/7yr olds) we were giving a sheet on preparing your child for school where it told us to first practice the route with your child, then let them lead the way including choosing when and where to cross roads etc. then let them go alone. The only thing they stipulate is that they shouldn't be cycling to school alone until 3rd grade although I've noticed now that quite a few in my daughter's class do already.

I know I was walking to and from school alone at seven, I think. I didn’t like it much though.

Are there busy roads to cross and might any other kids (with it without adults) be walking in a similar direction?

There are campaigns every Aug/Sept for drivers to slow down and be aware of school starters out and about

They have those campaigns here too, signs put up by the road which a picture of a child and the words "don't run me over" on it - find it slightly disturbing when I first moved here!

I'd say it's fine, so long as he's sensible.

Final q, will you be home for him?

My 8 nearly 9 year old has started walking part of the way home, just on a Friday. We live about 10mins away from school, and we've been meeting halfway. He was desperate to have a bit of independence. There's a lollipop lady on the road right outside the school, and loads of parents walking nearby.

He's year 4.

If you let them walk to school, are you still home? I leave at 730 and generally home at 530. Ds could easily walk, but I wouldn't trust him to not lose track of time and forget to go to school or to lock the front door.

I think it totally depends on the child- how sensible, street-wise they are etc. But also, it massively depends on the area they live and how long the journey is.
A 9 year old doing an 8 minute journey in a village sounds perfectly fine to me.
My 10 year old DS would have a 20 minute journey through a busy town, so not fine to me.
If you and your son are both comfortable with it, then no, you ANBU!

My school insist that any child under year 5 is accompanied by an adult (must be over 16) until the classroom doors open, years 5 & 6 May go home alone with written permission.

We recently had a parent who wanted their y6 child to “collect” the Y3 sibling and go home together and the head said absolutely not. Also doesn’t allow a 14 year old from the neighbouring secondary to collect a younger sibling.

Personally I think it’s overkill and I don't actually believe the school can enforce these “rules”.

I walked to and from school from age 7 and that was perfectly normal (London borough).

Safeguarding's basic tenets are:
Is the child in actual and present danger? Yes/No.
If the answer is yes, then it is the school's responsibility to remove them from that danger.

Obviously it gets a lot more complex than that, but as the very word "safeguarding" seems to be bandied around like lord knows what these days, it's appropriate to clarify. A child going home/to school alone might be a safety issue. It's rarely going to be safeguarding.Schools ask for all this kind of permission to cover their arses in case of highly improbable incidents resulting from parent decisions that haven't been put in writing. I do an afternoon class with 17 yr olds and have to get written permission from their parents for them to come, and to leave.

Anyway- at 9, through a village, an 8 minute walk- absolutely yes. You know your child, you know the village.

My dd walked from about 8 I think (biggish town but just about a 5 min walk) Busy main road, that I popped her over. On the way back another mum popped her over to our side because I was at work. She had a key and rang me when she got in the house.