Daughter walking home from school

[MrsL86]

My 11 year old daughter has recently started walking home from school alone. It is less than a mile & she was desperate to do it. She starts high school in September where she will have to get a bus to & from so we thought we’d start giving her a bit of independence now rather than throw her in at the deep end in sept. This morning I received a call from who school saying a concerned parent had been into school because they saw her walking home alone. School we’re asking me questions & making me feel like a bad parent for letting her walk home. I can’t stop thinking about the phone call & im now panicking if I have done the right thing. A lot of people I know have said they let their kids walk home in year 5 (she’s in yr 6) so I didn’t think she was too young... thoughts?

I despair. I used to walk to and from school when I was 7. Admittedly, only half a mile. In the days when we had no mobiles. We'd go off and play in the fields without adult supervision at weekends too.

yes, but things are different now.

I would actually be more concerned with the school appearing the be unaware no-one is collecting the OP's child, than with the person contacting the school to express concern. The school really should know this child is walking home alone.

blackprism laugh at me all you like.

I didn’t say that walking home or not was why university students are struggling. It’s the cotton wool way that children are being brought up, it’s doing children absolutely no good. They’re not learning to be independent or resilient.

Increased drop out rates, mental health issues and suicides are a real concern, not a laughing matter.

RiverTam the assumption is that all DC of that age are walking home alone unless the school is specifically informed otherwise where we are.

Don't feel bad, most of our y5's and 6's who can walk home, do, without a parent.

I don't think that's the case in our school - it's the other way around. Inner city, so maybe different?

yes, but things are different now

How? Are child abduction rates higher now than they were in the 1970s and 1980s?

Safeguarding is very different, as a result of child abduction amongst other things, no doubt. Rightly or wrongly it is far more unusual to see primary school children wandering around alone.

lots of children in year 6 are walking home alone at our school.

It extremely weird and they are far too young, but that is only because I am in denial that they and ds will be going to secondary school next year, in my head they should still be in about year 4

some of them have been walking home since year five, if they have had a shorter walk. ds has walked to the car on his own. (too far to do the whole journey, too many busy roads) some children are only just 11 when going to secondary school and it is completely normal for them to walk alone. if yours is older than 11 and a few days, then he is the same age as some Y7s when they started walking home alone, getting buses across town, etc.

The school are being ridiculous

No the school is not being ridiculous. Had they not responded and the child had come to some harm you would be here complaining that the school had been alerted but taken no action. Your's is typical of a school bashing attitude.

At dd school you have to be physically present with your child to sign out or they aren't allowed to leave. And this rule extends to Year 8. Regardless of where you live.

That's sheer madness @pandoraphile

Year 8? That is indeed utterly ridiculous!

Goodness me what a lot of pearl clutching from the school and the “concerned” parent. I’m sure if they had some sort of policy relating to this it would’ve been communicated to you, therefore they can keep their nose out

At prep school I walked about a mile to the bus station, caught a bus to our village 8 miles away and then walked a further mile or so home from Year 5 so that I could gain some independence before I started Senior School 20 off miles away where I needed to commute on foot and via train on my own at all sorts of hours.

How do schools expect your child to become magically independent enough to get to school in the summer between primary and secondary?!?

Yr 8?

How do people cope with 2 kids then.

Excuse me boss can I leave work my 13 year old needs picking up from school

Gawd help us all when this generation grow up and become our next leaders. The current lot are bad enough.

OP stick with it and ignore. You are absolutely doing the right thing. All kids at my DC's school walked to school in year 6. I started walking with them half way in year 5 to give them a little confidence and by year 6 they were ready to walk all the way by themselves. If I remember I think I waited until after Christmas when it was getting lighter before letting them walk home alone but certainly they walked to school by themselves in the mornings. Practically no one picks kids up from secondary school - it would be madness and irresponsible parenting to wait until the first day of year 7 before they are allowed to walk by themselves.

I didn't go to a local school and there was no bus so my mum drove me to school right the way up to age 17. I was still a functioning adult when I went to uni a few months later.

My yr 6 used to walk my yr 1 home from school across our town about two miles, let themselves into the house and watch tv. No problem

@pandoraphile That's insane. Y8 is 13 year olds

Over-anxious parent. Over-cautious school.

Nothing much to add as walking to school perfectly ok in year 6 but does anyone remember the thread about the 6 (maybe 7) year old in Iceland who walked to school and back in the snow and dark?! Or maybe it was a troll thread and I didn't realise!

Ask the school how on earth they imagine Year 7 pupils manage: the vast majority of children of that age get themselves home because their parents are working, picking up younger siblings, or they simply want to because it makes them feel grown-up and independent. Some children in Year 7 have only reached the age of 11 in August and therefore may well be younger than your daughter is now when they start secondary school.

Does your DD know if other pupils walk home without their parents? It could be worth poin

No the school is not being ridiculous. Had they not responded and the child had come to some harm you would be here complaining that the school had been alerted but taken no action. Your's is typical of a school bashing attitude.

How on earth do you make that out, @tillytrotter1? If you'd agreed that your child could walk home, what action would you expect the school to take when alerted to that fact? Surely you don't seriously believe that a parent would complain that the school failed to tell them off?

For our school it's considered good safeguarding practice that the teacher/TA letting the class out ensures that each child goes with a known adult, is going with the after-school provider, or that we know that child is walking home and whether they're responsible for a younger child. Primarily this is to prevent abduction or confusion over pick-ups. But we've had two incidents in the last term where a child has become ill or been injured in PE in the last half-hour of the afternoon and hasn't been able to walk home. Having that info at our fingertips made it a lot easier to get hold of a parent and prevent a younger sibling waiting around in the cold.

Of course it is fine - how times change as a much older mumsnetter I think back to my infant school days when age 4 I walked to and from school quite alone!