To let 7 year old walk to and from school alone?

[RLE2]

DS is in year 3, we live about a 10 minute walk away from the school. We live in a quiet area, he won't be near any busy roads, the only roads he has to cross is our road and the school road. The school road isn't too busy as it's only people going to the school using it and our road is empty apart from neighbours. Is 7 too young? It's not unheard of for year 3's to walk by themselves at his school but most still walk with a parent, a few don't

PCohle on quiet roads children wait until there are no cars in sight or hearing, they don't need to be able to judge speed. On busy roads where this isn't an option there are crossings.

My son was knocked down by a car, outside school at 7. He had run ahead from his dad who was with our DD who was nursery age.

He tried to cross the road on his own but didn't see the car driving towards him. Thank f** she was only going around 15mph. He still ended up with a broken arm, bruised and swollen face and scarring on the back of his eye that sent him temporarily blind that he is still being monitored for now 7 years later.

Imagine if that had happened without a parent being nearby???

But that graph shows "three year averages for 2008-2010 or 2007-2009, or most recent three years of data [it was published in 2012]".

So the data is roughly a decade out of date.

Your definition of quiet is clearly different from mine, if you waited until no cars were in hearing on the "quiet roads" near me you'd be there a while! Blind bends and cars travelling far too quickly because the road is quiet are also issues near me.

A rural Primary School I was involved with had a minor road which split the site in two, so some class buildings on one side of the road, hall, playground and other buildings on the other. This was a very minor road with only a few houses along it, so not much traffic on it and locals were aware it went by a school.

The school had a policy that once the children were Y4, so 8/9 years old, and could show good road awareness (so fits in with the theory that before 8 not good with judging speed etc) they would be allowed to cross this road without adult supervision. Before then a child would have to wait for an adult to cross them.

Then the school had an Ofsted visit. Even though the road had been there since the school was built, so was not a new thing, the Inspector visiting decided that no child, not even Y6s, should be allowed to cross the road without adult supervision. As it was decreed by Ofsted the school had to change its policy. Many parents were up in arms, and the Y4s and above were not impressed.

I think it will be something quite difficult to break in the UK, as so many people drive to schools, partly because quite a few children go to schools out of catchment. Natsku you mentioned that your child knows not to cross the road unless the road is clear or the cars have stopped. Your child would never have crossed the road near DS's Primary School as the cars at school run time were horrendous. I struggled to negotiate them sometimes, so there was no way I would have let DS at 7 try and do it on his own.

Whatever the figures about injury say, roads are really badly set up for pedestrians in this country, certainly where I live. Too few crossings, inconsiderate parking near corners and junctions, nobody to enforce parking infractions. Where I live drivers are very impatient. Once a man even beeped and revved his engine at a crocodile of schoolkids I was escorting over a pelican crossing and he wasn't being funny. Learner moped drivers who overtake and undertake cars unsafely, not expecting kids to be crossing and kids not expecting them to zoom round.

Maybe there is more to learn about roads in the places kids don't routinely walk alone until y5 or 6.

Absolutely not!

I can't find any more recent figures that show the rate so they can be compared

I wouldn't.

Sorry but I feel that is FAR too young. How would you feel if something happened to him? Anything could happen at all. I personally couldn't take that risk

In the 70 s I was going to primary school on the tube on my own, as were many others!
It depends on the child. You need to know that they know what to do in various scenarios and emergencies, and are happy with that.

I did at that age , we are all so paranoid these days , not letting our kids have any independence. If the traffic isn't an issue then why not ?

Sorry haven’t read the full thread, but no! No way - are you crazy? It only takes one man to pick them up and bundle them into a car. It doesn’t matter whether you live in the Outer Hebrides or Piccadilly Circus. Just no.

Then the school had an Ofsted visit. Even though the road had been there since the school was built, so was not a new thing, the Inspector visiting decided that no child, not even Y6s, should be allowed to cross the road without adult supervision. As it was decreed by Ofsted the school had to change its policy. Many parents were up in arms, and the Y4s and above were not impressed.

And what should have happened there is that funding should have been found to have a lollipop person, not ban all the kids from walking to and from school (which even ofsted can’t actually enforce).

That’s just another example of cost cutting negatively impacting children

Yes I would in year 3.
My dd just started at a new school (in year 5) and when I met the head I asked if I needed to sign anything to say she can walk home alone. His response was of course not, most of our year threes walk home alone! Conversely, the school she left didn’t let them walk home alone until year six, hence my question.

Children of that age just can't be trusted near busy roads. They'll see their friend on the other side of the road and then forget to check that the road is safe to cross.

Also, even if they're completely to be trusted, spare a thought for the drivers, who have no way of knowing this.

Why take the risk? People saying there's only a 1% chance of a child being taken or a low chance of getting run over etc etc, it still happens to somebody's child. I personally would feel more comfortable waiting until Year 5/6 when the child is more mature.

bert3400 I'd rather be paranoid than take the risk of something happening to my child (no matter how small) and then never forgiving myself because I thought he needed that level of "independence" at just 7 years old.

No way

I walked to school on my own from the age of 7 and so did my children (in central London). We all lived to tell the tale.

In my children's case they would usually walk a few meters and then bump into other kids and parents from their school. We were fine with them walking alone too though. They also went shopping on their own from about that age and went to a (very) nearby park from about that age. My children were keen on being independent and we let them.

@Natsku that data your graph is based on is about 10 years old.

@blueskiesovertheforest from the same document, the rate of overall pedestrian deaths per million population is 6.3 for Germany, 7.1 for the UK and 5.3 for Finland. For reference all 3 are below the EU average and below Ireland, France, Spain, Italy. It's not like there's some massive noticeable difference between the UK and Germany/Finland.

Just not worth the risk.

No way for me. Our school doesn't allow children to leave without a parent until they are in year 6. I can't believe some 7 year olds are catching the bus alone, I just couldn't envisage my children doing that.

My cousin was killed by a car at the age of 11 walking to school. He was with his mum, they were at a pedestrian crossing waiting for the green man. An elderly gentleman lost concentration for a split second, mounted the curb and dragged my cousin under the car. This was 20 years ago, when roads were much quieter.

My point being, being with the parent doesn't eliminate the risk. But I know my aunt would have been devastated knowing she wasn't there when her son needed her, regardless of how it turned out 😢.

Having read all the views on here, it's a no from me.

No. Even when I was young 80’s-90’s) we didn’t start walking to and from school on our own until senior school and even then it was with a friend.

No way.