Can your child walk to secondary school from your house?

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We are moving to a new area where the secondary school will be a 10 to 15 minute bus ride away from home for the kids and I feel funny about it. My kids aren't anywhere near secondary school age but don't plan on moving again.

AIBU considering only buying somewhere with a secondary/high school within walking distance or is it more normal they have to travel?

Mine has to take the bus. Almost £10 a week. Just short of 3 miles, no footpath‘s for at least 1 mile

Mine couldn't - worked out great.
Free bus- 5 miles, no pavement.

We live about a 40 min walk from the nearest secondary, DD goes to one which is a little further away, would take about an hour. She could get the bus, but I tend to drive her as it is on my way to work. We lift share with a friend so I take both girls and the other parents bring them home. It's working well at the moment but it's good to have the bus as a backup.

My eldest could from our old house. My youngest will be able to in the future from our new house

No, DD school is about five miles away in the city, I take her and collect her every day, takes 1.5 to 2 hours in total morning and evening. But I wanted her to go there, the nearest school bus stop is 2 miles away and to get the public bus she has to walk through a really rough area so I just suck it up. DS will have an hour bus journey each way in September as his secondary is 15 miles away but the school bus stops almost outside our house. He knows this and chose the school over the one next to DDs so I don’t feel guilty!

None of secondary schools nearest to us are walking distance

Yes, we're 15 mins walk from ours and this is probably about the most anyone walks to ours. Typically catchment is within 2km at present.

There is a secondary school 10 minutes walk from our home but ds goes to another than is a 7 minute drive and then another 7-10 minutes bus ride. I had to get two buses to secondary school, 25 minutes and then 50 minutes. Whichever secondary I'd have gone to would have been two buses.

No. DS's school.in a 25 minute drive away. Has been the same since he was at nursery!

Mine will get the bus. The local comp within walking distance is appalling so we are moving to be in catchment for a decent school.

We live in South London. Our house backs onto a mixed secondary school but D.C. went to a single sex school a 6 mile bus ride away. The bus journey home was pretty much the social highlight of their day and the only chance they got to meet friends of the opposite sex!

No my daughter goes out of catchment and walks 10 mins to the bus stop abs then school bus for 30 mins. Even if she had gone to our catchment school if would be either a bus into the town centre for about 10 mins and another 10 min walk.

In theory they could yes, but it would take about 50 mins and school runs a free bus service from our village and it would also be safe to bike it.

If they were catholic yes but they aren't so is a 30 min bus ride

Yes but they prefer to get a lift with me and their younger sibling on the way to the primary. I really like that it's walkable though, and would choose a close one over one further away if all other things were equal.

DS can get to his secondary in four minutes walking. This is usually how long he leaves to get there before the bell despite my nagging!

My eldest walked to their secondary, the middle goes to a different secondary, and has local authority transport as it’s too far to walk, as well as being unsafe for them to walk there. My youngest will go to yet another secondary in a few years, and will have the choice to walk or catch a service bus.

I grew up in a rural area, and busing to secondary school was a pretty standard state of affairs for about 3/4 of the student body.

My DD has a 30 minute walk to/from school. It was one of the reasons I wanted her to go there rather than another one a 15 min bus ride away, it's great exercise every day.

Yes, it's about a mile or so and most of the kids in our estate will all go at similar times so they can all walk together.

There is one within walking distance but the ones we've chosen (both boys in different schools) are both a 30-40 min car journey away (different directions!)

It would take my dc about 3 minutes to walk to our nearest secondary school. They'd be out the house 8.25-3.00 most days. About 50/60% walk to this school the rest bus or drive from nearby villages. Vast majority live within 4 miles.

My dc get the bus to a different one about 8 miles away though, bus stop is a mile from our house. Takes 50 minutes and they are out the house 7.30 - 4.50 ish. It's a selective school covering a large area, most travel by bus, prob only 10% or less can walk, yr7 places allocated up to about 15 miles away.

Really depends on the school and area as to whether travelling is normal for secondary but I will says getting the bus has made my dc far more independent and capable of dealing with the unexpected and the general public than if they'd gone to the school a 3min walk away.

They can but it's 2 miles so mostly we drive them, especially in the morning or when it's raining.

This thread reminds me of how naively surprised I was when I got to university and found out that not everyone just went to the nearest school
It was Oxbridge from the kind of comprehensive you’re all avoiding

are they physically capable? yes.
it's just under 3 miles, they've done it by necessity.

but it's highly impractical as an everyday solution so the routinebis cycling or taking bus or me driving them

We are 20 miles away from nearest high school, children leave house at 8am. I was the same distance away as a teen too, was no bother.