For letting DS walk to and from school alone?

[IHaveBeenFallingFor30Minutes]

DS is 11 and in year 7. We live 0.6 miles from the school and DS knows the route. He also walks with a friend who lives 4 doors up.

AIBU for allowing him to walk to and from school alone? 95% of the time we are home when he is so he is not alone.

I am asking because his arsehole father has raised concerns about this and him being home alone as we are going through court at the moment.... this is one thing in a long list of concerns which keep being dismissed so he finds more!

I’m an ex secondary teacher. There were only few yr7s I’ve taught who wouldn’t be capable of it. In our area children starting walking to school summer term of yr 4.

They're fine, they travel in small packs that become larger packs by the time they reach the school gates. Including a significant number of kids with LDs, as they also have friends to travel with.

At less than a mile, so about ten minutes' walking, he'll be home before it gets dark even on the last day of term before Christmas if he lives in the bottom half of the UK unless it's totally pissing down, where he might get a bit wet for ten minutes and get in as the street lights are coming on.

I passed a parent walking a child to school this morning. The girl looked as if she was in year 7 and I noticed because it seemed odd and unusual to me that she wouldn't be walking alone or with friends.

When my dc were at primary the school encouraged independent walking to school from Y5. We lived a mile from school.

When my DS started secondary he had a three mile bike ride to get to school. He managed that fine.

Unfortunately when DD started secondary I had to drive as the school was too far away to walk to , no public transport to the school and she never got on with cycling.

Thankfully she's at a new school now so she has a mixture of a 15 min train journey and a 20 min walk the other end. This was from Y9 but she would have done it from Y7 had she been at that school then.