Aibu to ask when and why it became the norm for schools not to allow juniors to make their own way home?

[RedHelenB]

Seems they need parents to collect them from the class teacher up until y5 or 6 now, whereas a few years ago my dc orimary school.Just let them out at hometime and stonewalled home, somewhere collected by older siblings and some by oarents. Just one staff member by the junior entrance.

my dd is 22 and when she was year 6 or 5 it was decided that only year 6s could make their own way home - the rest had to be met

Well, I don’t think it’s a bad thing we’ve moved on from those times, @ChocolateDeficitDisorder!

But it is incorrect to state that the school forbids this. The call is yours, as parent.

Back in the 60s we all walked "alone" except for the first day. Except it wasn't alone because EVERYBODY walked, and the older kids on your road watched out for the younger ones. We had a 40 min walk.

my most abiding memory was walking home in a blizzard and when I got home, mum stood my coat up in the bath. My kids faces were a picture when Granny told them about it (we lived 4 min walk from their school)

I’m assuming the number of latchkey kids in Primary schools is also reduced.

In other countries where children walk home alone from a very early age do they go home to an empty house? Are there childminders/after school clubs?

My DC are in their early 20s. Children were encouraged to walk to and from school alone from Y5-6 by the school, including taking public transport. In preparation for secondary school. We’re in London.

My mom went to Primary school in the 1930s and said that no parents came to pick up the children. She clearly remembers aged about 8 having to walk a 5 year old home because he was crying and couldn't remember the way home! Unthinkable nowadays.
Where I used to teach, only Y5 and Y6 could walk home if we had written permission from a parent. Some did slip through the net, tough. A child from my Y3 class managed to leave the playground and caught the bus home by herself.

I walked to and from school from age seven. My younger sister was six.

@uggmum

I used to walk to and from school at 5 years old (so year 1). This was in London in the 70s

My dc used to walk home from school from around year 4/5. But we live in a small Yorkshire village which is quiet and safe.

Yes, from day 1 we walked to and from school alone unless we were later shepherding/piggy-backing our younger siblings.

And then standing on a box to reach the counter-top and cooker to start the dinner.

I think life is probably safer for young children today in some ways.

Just occurred to me it may be related to when admission arrangements came in and parents were able to apply to schools out of catchment? Instead of all children going to their catchment school? I definitely was able to walk home from quite an early age (along with all my peers) in the 80s but we all lived within a mile or so of school.

My kids walk themselves to & from school by themselves, and they’re in Year 4 & Year 6. I just had to write a note saying I gave permission. It’s only a 5-minute walk though.

@RewildingAmbridge

I went to primary school in the eighties, it was a rite of passage that year six were allowed to walk home workout being collected by an adult, anyone younger wasn't. This was 25 years ago.

I went to school in the 90s. Started secondary in 98.

I was walking home alone with my brother (two years younger) from at least year 5 but I'm pretty sure it was year 4.

I think it was 2007 I left primary. You certainly weren't allowed to walk home alone, even in year 6. It never crossed my mind some primary schools would allow this

I do think that we infantilise perfectly capable children these days. My boys left primary in 2019 and 2020 and at their school you could go home alone from Year 5. But if you were being picked up by a parent you had to wait with the teacher until s/he had made eye contact with the parent and then marked you off on their clipboard and then you could go to your parent. Until 2019 we lived a 25 minute walk from school, with some busy roads, so I always collected my kids. But I was perfectly happy for them to come over to me without being checked off by the teacher, so I signed the form to say they could walk home alone and then usually met them at the first road. There was always a teacher at the gate too and on more than one occasion one certain teacher walked with one or both my boys along to the crossing, 100m from the school gate, where I was waiting at the other side, to make sure they got to me safely. I could literally see them as soon as they left the gate and was clearly going to watch them across the road so I’m not sure why she thought they weren’t safe? When I was in primary in late 80s/early 90s, the doors used to be opened and the children were told ‘if you’re going with a parent and they’re not here, come back to me’ and the kids were let out to find their own parent in the playground (or walk home alone) and trusted to return to the classroom if there was a problem. I think it should still be like that from Year 3 onwards, unless kids have SEN. We seem to be unable to allow kids any sense of responsibility these days.

It also used to really annoy me that if my child had left his coat or whatever in the classroom I couldn’t just say, ‘quickly go back and get it.’ No, he’d have to wait for the teacher to see off the rest of the class and then the teacher would have to escort him back in. I thought that showed a complete lack of trust in the children.

I walked to primary school and back over a mile in the 80s. It was very normal, we lived in a quiet town in Devon, and I was only curb crawled a couple of times.
The 80s were a child abuse bonanza for a reason sadly.

From year 4 at my kids primary. ( youngest now about to sit GCSEs for context. When I was at primary school on 70's we walked home. I remember being met half way home by my 4 year old pre school brother who had come to meet us with my other brothers bicycle AND our German shepherd dog. My mother was both shocked and impressed when we all arrived home. she had another baby and had not noticed the 4 year old had disappeared!!

3 tier system here. End of first school is year 4. Very normal that they are walking to school without adults by the end of year year 4. To go home without collection then the parent has to consent that the school can release them.
Year 5 is the first year of middle school, they all walk to and from school without adults. Granted in big friendship groups. It is very much the norm.

My DD did small parts of the school run independently at the beginning of Year 4 (all off road) then learned to safely cross the single road herself by the end of Year 4, and now halfway through Year 5, she is totally independent doing the 1.5 mile journey herself by bike. The school office just has you fill out a form saying she can be released herself, and no one ever suggested it wasn't allowed. It is my bugbear that parents allow children zero independence then expect them to be able to cope getting to and from secondary with no help. You have to work up to it, and it is more unsafe to let an 11 yo with no toad awareness out than a 9 yo who has had safe risks allowed.

I find it fascinating how much it varies. I started primary around mid 90s. Buses were at the top of a lane. We were just let out of the classroom around year one or two to either walk home, up to the bus, or to carpark (all diff directions). No supervision or checks. Not sure if there was a rule against younger kids walking home alone, but it did happen and no one seemed bothered after reception class.

School was in a village / small town though. Didn't hear of anyone being knocked over or kidnapped. Secondary school was in a busy town, and while kids were old enough to sort their own transport, due to area there were a lot of kids being hit by cars and even a few attempted kidnappings and assaults

Year 6 kids should be given the trust and independence to get themselves to and from school. Especially when after the summer holidays they may be expected to get themselves to high school by walking or buses. They need to learn about the world don't they, easier to learn than be slung in.

I was at primary school in the 1970’s and walked on my own from the age of about 5.
There were no busy roads to cross on our estate.
Nobody batted an eyelid.
I also remember (though I could be wrong!) school finishing at 4:30 and 4:00 in the winter when it was dark. Have I made this up?

Very few parents collect kids at our school unless they are in P1 or P2 or live a long way from school. Most walk to and from school on their own and have always done so.

Of course its the catchment area thing, I hadn't thought if that.
Most of thd kids here in Scotland go to their local school so there are millions of them all walking a fairly short distance.together.

My DC school they can leave however the parents want from grade one. DD6 would walk a few blocks to the park with her brothers aged 9 and 10, plus a bunch of other children of various ages. This is in Australia and most schools have issues with traffic so they don't want to push more parents into drop off zone. Roads are the only issue, so it depends on how many they have to cross how safe the trip is.

My children school in the 80s and all four of them started walking home without an adult in year 4. There was no restriction set by the school on the Age child could walk home Alone.

I can't recall anyone doing practice runs to secondary school before they started because they all had the experience of going on busses etc without an adult. Or is this just a mumsnet thing? They went to the park, town or to friends houses without an adult before secondary school age.

I don't understand this overprotective mollycoddling of children nowadays. They are just as safe now as they were in the 70s and 80s so why aren't we encouraging independence and learning essential life skills and ending up with teenagers scared to go somewhere alone?

Obviously not all families are like this, but they seem to be in MN land.

I used to catch a bus with my 8 year old sister, I was 5. One day she 'forgot' me coming home and I caught another bus on my own. Mid 60s. My mother nearly had a heart attack when my sister got home without me!