To tell you the school does not decide when your child can walk home alone

[Itisuptoyou]

I keep seeing this on threads and I don’t want to derail what the thread is about.

But the school cannot decide this. You do as parent. It may be you are broadly in agreement with the school and I am but this is your choice and not the schools.

It irrationally annoys me when people claim ‘the schools don’t allow …’ Not up to the school!

The majority of the population of Scotland lives in the central belt, which is really densely populated. 83% of Scotland’s population lives on 2% of its land.

Yeah but no one should want to be that dickhead parent

They’d have had no choice if challenged. Unless it was a safeguarding issue to the point of SS involvement.

Thats the point of the OP - they don’t actually have the authority to decide.

Its the law, schools are legally obliged to have insurance that covers accidents on school grounds, on school trips and on children's direct (so if they take a detour to a friend's house or the shop they won't be covered, only the direct route between home and school) journeys to and from school. Its to cover the medical costs of any injury as healthcare isn't completely free at point of use here, so if you go to a&e for an accident they ask if its covered by a relevant insurance like school or sports club and if so you fill out a form so you don't pay the fees.

The dickhead parent that makes a valid parenting choice? How's that being a dickhead parent?

@gingercat02 for the sake of it no but there maybe good legitimate reasons why a parent may need their child to walk home alone, maybe it is temporary an illness or broken leg, and they simply can't afford with that parent not working to pay someone to collect or mind child when it is actual a safe decision I would hope no school was so regimented about their rules that they were unwilling to consider an amendment for necessity. on the other hand no school should deliberately make a parents life difficult especially in cost of living crisis because of an arbitary rule when altering it when no safeguarding risk is evident would be so helpful

@gingercat02 i do agree that no one should be a dickhead for the sake of it. It’s a good rule of thumb for life actually!

But making the choice not to be a dickhead is making a choice. I am simply trying to be informative and to say ultimately the choice is yours (general yours.) Not the schools.

I'm sorry but that is incorrect. I have worked in 2 different schools who both have the policy a child will not be released without a parent/Carer etc until year 6.

So this is my point @LovelyIssues , it is their policy, it is not enforceable. The schools policy does not override the wishes of the parent(s).

@Itisuptoyou our response would be quite simple. This is the school policy. This is the school your child attends. Follow the policies or find a new school. We still wouldn't let the child go home alone under year 6. Simple and very much enforceable

And in at least 6 schools I’ve worked in that policy has had to be changed when parents have challenged it…

They only stand because parents accept it.

@YetMoreNewBeginnings wow those schools are very soft compared to the ones I've worked at. Our policy is Our policy. Parents know it before enrolling their child.

Not soft. They just knew when challenged and taking advice from SS they didn’t have a leg to stand on.

Schools, other than private ones perhaps, will generally accept when they’ve overstepped and revise policies when needed. Decent HT’s will in my experience.

And this is definitely one that they mostly realise isn’t their call so once they stop getting away with pretending it is they just accept it.

@LovelyIssues this was the point of the thread, informative.

It does go to show how ingrained that assumption is that ‘the school won’t allow’ when it’s not a decision the school can or should be making. Schools cannot set policies that tell parents how to parent and say find another school if they refuse.

I can't bear people that think like this. "rules are rules and that is that and you will follow them".....it's pathetic. You never got past the thinking of a 9 year old.

At my dc school the Y5&6 children are allowed to leave on their own at the end of the day with parental permission. If they take younger siblings the parent has to write a letter to explicitly say that they accept responsibility for the children's leaving the school site.

I don't believe it's the power struggle some people think it is, schools have a duty of care for the children in their care.

I've heard of some parents contacting the school because little Billy was called names on the bus home. You can't have it both ways.

Its not incorrect. Parents don't have to care about the policies of the school, is the point.

OP, I'm often agog at what I read on here...FINES for taking your kid out of school for a day? WTF? Not in my country. Needing permission from the school for a family funeral or wedding? Insanity. School telling you what age they can walk home at....I think fucking NOT.

The UK appears to have handed parenting decisions to schools wholesale. Ironic when your schools are doing a worse job all the time, you keep giving them more power.

So weird.

The UK appears to have handed parenting decisions to schools wholesale.

Scottish schools don’t have fines, and it’s very common for children to walk home.

English schools don’t represent the Uk as a whole.

For the most part I think that people tend to go by what the majority do, which isn’t a bad thing. As I’ve said, I personally think ten is about right, but I do think what is important is people recognise this is their choice and not the schools.

I am a bit surprised (and I mean that genuinely, not in a PA MN ‘surprised’ way) that so many people believe that the school do have this right - ‘because we said so!’

I don’t think it’s to do with a litigation culture really. In the event of something horrible happening I don’t think many people would seek to apportion blame on the school. I think it’s more that schools will say something like ‘this is our policy’ and no one thinks ‘hang on!’

@LovelyIssues I agree being a dickhead is a bad move but headteachers can be dickheads too by digging their heels in over a policy which is actually causing distress, take a simple example John is in Y4 ( as it's now May almost y5 when he'd be allowed to walk home anyway) his mother has broken her leg and is housebound, his father is a truck driver and works away all week. john's family live relatively close on what would noramlly be called a very safe walking route. John's mother rings School. I am unable to collect John or bring him to school as I've broken my leg, unfortunately his Dad works away so I am informing you he will be arrving on his own and leaving on his own, until my leg heals which will be the end of July at the earliest. I have no concerns about John walking home or to school, he frequently walks from our house to his friends or the shop which is a bit further. I can't afford to put him in after school care as i'm only on SSP and even then I still can't collect him. lots of children from the school walk this way so he won't be completely alone. I am sure you understand that this is necessary and reasonable. I do not think the school could ultimately refuse this request as if Johns mother involved Social services herself they would find it reasonable too. You could not remove John's school place for this reason the LA would not back you up and it is not a safeguarding risk it's just a policy and like all policies it should be reviewed and account taken of circumstances and concluded that in this case John's mother request is reasonable and though against general school policy it would be on this occasion the right thing to do to help John and his family to agree the request.

I totally agree with you.

How dare they try to stop you from taking your own children to a family members funeral. Wtaf is that

At my youngest children's primary school the school rules are that only year 6s are allowed to walk home alone, and that has to be authorised by a parent or guardian at the start of the year. Yes of course i'm sure if a you get child's parents kicked up a stink then there's nothing the school can do to stop the child being allowed to walk home alone, but really why send your child to a school where you don't agree with the rules? Their school is a tiny rural primary and no pavements around, few cars but sometimes idiots driving too fast on the country lanes. I was happy to comply with the school rules as they have clearly thought carefully about them. At my eldest's private secondary they still ask at the start of the year who will be walking to catch a train or cycling home and who will be being picked up by parents in cars. Again it's rural and most are collected. These are clever children, and most are very capable of looking after themselves on a school journey but the school just want to know how they will be travelling so they can be aware I suppose. Again, I knew the rules before he joined so that's fine by me.

@Cottagecheeseisnotcheese are you OK?

Agree, this totally. Yes it may be "just down the road" but your child is walking the same route, the same time every day, is easily over powered and has no experience to get themselves out of that situation. I have a very mature 10 year old, I'd leave him at home when I pop to the shops but walking to school alone? Nope. If he had a mate maybe nearby to walk with but he doesn't.

I think you have may have bigger annoyances with your school and therefore it might be better looking for one that fits you better. For most teachers whether they agreed or not, there are bigger issues. And as a parent who works full time, letting my child walk home would have saved £1000s over the years but I get the school stance on it. A school doing this is only worried about repercussions if something happens to a child. Apart from the concern about what could happen, there are some parents that would sue a school for less. A school where its staff are not paid past 3/3:30 apart from
a scheduled meeting, are not holding onto kids for the fun of it - it’s a major inconvenience. So why don’t you ask your head why the rule is in place and suggest otherwise if you feel the answer isn’t good enough. I never know why a few teachers are so opinionated against their school and fellow colleagues and will choose to go outside the organisation to complain rather than sort things out properly or move