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!

It can have a lot of impact. Obviously it will depend on the SEN, but there are many people whose decision making, risk assessment etc would be impaired

That’s ridiculous. I often sent ds to pick up dd. She was 8 and he was 15.

What has it got to do with socialism?

I'm a bit on the fence about the original question though.
I'll agree with OP that I often think "that's not the school's decision to make" when you see people saying the school won't allow their Yr 5 / Yr 6 to walk home without a parent, but equally the school has a duty of care to younger dc so I wouldn't go for a blanket YABU or YANBU as there is so much "it depends" in every situation.

Totally agree. It's a "thing" which is particular to some English (and Welsh?) schools. No such rules and policies in Scotland, it's left up to the parents. A school's responsibility, IMHO starts when your child sets foot in the playground and stops the second they leave at the end of the day. What happens on the way to and from school is NONE of their business.

Threats of social services for letting 2 children aged 8 or 9 walk on their own is madness. As would be demanding that a parent who lives around the corner be there to pick up their child.

My boy will be yr 5 next year, he already walks to school alone once a week. I want him to walk home once a week next year too, he is capable and far more able and sensible than his 11 yr old sibling who has been travelling to school alone for years. His school is adamant they won’t allow. I want to be that parent, any ideas how I can challenge this without my child getting caught up in a storm and having to wait for ages with upset teachers/ss referrals?

Well, with the caveat that I didn't start walking home from school alone till year 5, I received regular bullying (and sexual assault) in the classroom and on the school grounds, and none whatsoever that I remember from strangers in the street on the way home - so yes, I'd say the school was a less safe environment for me than the walk home ever was.

Dd has adhd and dyslexia

At 10 years old she was negotiating tubes, trains and the replacement bus services on her own to get herself 17 miles across London for her school commute.

I’ve been looking in vain for our school’s policy and can only find one about children up to year 2 being handed over at the classroom door on drop off. Nothing about going home. General opinion with parents seems to be the school ‘allows’ it from year 5, but I hope that the lack of policy on the website means it isn’t a hard and fast rule.

I totally agree that schools have a safeguarding responsibility, but I think that a previous poster already said that good safeguarding isn’t applying blanket rules to all regardless of circumstances. We live in a rural village. Some children live next door to the school, or opposite on a housing estate. Some live within walking distance but down National speed limit roads with no pavement. I really hope that the school wouldn’t apply the same blunt ‘from year 5 only’ rule to all. Apart from anything else, my child is almost a year older than some of the other children in his class!

This. I dont think anyone is saying the school have the legal right to do this, just that its a rule to keep kids safe.

Whats wrong with that? I was almost dragged into a car by some man when I was 10 and walking home alone. It was horrible and upset me for ages after

What would they actually do though? They might threaten this, but they can't keep the kid hostage. Amd Social Services won't give a shit. So just stand up to them. They don't get how to decide how you parent your child.

They've got to keep a primary aged child, if that is the school policy. A school has to have policy and procedures documents which is approved by the LEA. All organisations do. That includes safeguarding and what happens if a parent doesn't physically turn up. I'm surprised that Teachers haven't jumped on this thread and explained this. There's greater coverage about children under 12, it extends to supermarket security guards, if primary aged children are about to leave the store. Very few staff members would make this decision, they are personally responsible. There was a teacher not long ago sacked and put on the barred list.
It would take a meeting with the Head and safeguarding lead to override school policy. Then the decision can be made if that school is an appropriate setting for that family.

@Zodfa I agree that for many children school is less safe than the walk home.

I agree OP and think it is helpful to point out to people in general that public agencies have a lot of control over our lives and that they make mistakes. I’m not saying they are in respect of this issue, but there are many examples of terrible policies blindly followed by schools and other bodies. If more people understood their rights and had more agency, these poor decisions would be more easily challenged. The power should not be in so few hands.

See also my personal bugbear, pregnant women saying/being told ‘I’m not allowed to go beyond x weeks’. It may well be that following that advice is the best for baby but the whole language of being ‘allowed’ is wrong. It’s your body and your baby. Let’s discuss options and take advice like a grown up.

I want to be that parent, any ideas how I can challenge this without my child getting caught up in a storm and having to wait for ages with upset teachers/ss referrals?

Just tell them that you are happy your child is able to make his own way home and therefore you expect them to facilitate this. Don’t ask, don’t explain, you’re the child’s parent and have the right (and the responsibility) to make those decisions. Social services isn’t going to be interested in a capable 10 year old walking home from school. Ask them to give you the legal basis for refusing to release him against his parents wishes. They won’t be able to do that because there isn’t one.

Schools can oversee a CP to level two and have family support involved. SS isn't needed, as such. My DD was allowed to leave school and walk with other children. There were lollipop crossings, because my youngest was getting dropped off by SN transport and I couldn't be in two places at once. But there has to be good reason. As there does why young children are left alone.

So are you saying if I insist on walking home in yr5 the school will withdraw the place?

If you are rich, educated, privileged, sure - you can take that position. You have money, you have a clean house, your child is well looked after and fed, how dare they tell you what to do?

However, if you are vulnerable and you go against the school’s advice, then you might worry about Social Services referrals and the like?

The school may say this, but in your shoes, I would have sent DS, and if they refused to release her phone them and tell them they need to drop her home then. Or keep her overnight and feed her.
Schools say these things, but they can only enforce them if you let them.

Seems like there's a lot of anti school feeling on here. Im pretty sure at our school it's Y5 & Y6 can just go home, with no extra admin, y4 and below would need written permission from parent to release them without an adult. Schools have to have some sort of rule to cover their own backs, and prevent parents going:"I was only 5mins late but they let my child out unsupervised and he walked home alone and anything could have happened etc etc etc"

@Jellycatspyjamas there are parents who’ve tried this and school got furious, child was caught up in it.

I'm sure there are studies that show children under 8 aren't as good as older children/adults at judging speed of cars when crossing roads etc. So I do wonder how that works in countries where very young children are walking to school. However, I assume those countries are more set up to enable young children to walk to school safely. Also, there will be safety in numbers and fewer cars around at school run time

"Ask them to give you the legal basis for refusing to release him against his parents wishes. They won’t be able to do that because there isn’t one."

There will be legislative reasons and that's when you can see if you can negotiate. The plan then has to be written by an appropriate staff member to be put in place.

@JustanothermagicMonday1 I do understand that for some people this would be too risky to challenge. But if you are in a position to challenge it, I think you should. It makes me angry that schools make these rules and act as if they can enforce them. They are not parents.

There is a reason that most schools don’t have a blanket rule on this.

My daughters school is urban, centrally located in a fairly large town. Catchment area is probably around a mile all round; lots of busy roads but also lots of safe crossing points.

They don’t have a set age where kids can walk to/from school, because obviously individual children’s walks can be very different. My daughters is around half a mile, through “nice” areas, with no roads. Her friends is closer; but with several roads to cross.

Also, individual maturity and abilities of children can differ. For example, a neurotypical child may navigate their commute more successfully than a non neurotypical child, due to perception of danger. A “rule follower” may be safer than a child who likes to push boundaries. The level of practice that a child has plays a part too - my daughter is too young to walk herself, but we are already “training” her (eg we ask what she would do if the pavement was blocked? What if someone offers you a lift?)

Basically, you could have 30 children of the same age in a class, and for some of them, walking home alone would be a safeguarding concern, but for others it would not be.

I have reported a safeguarding concern about this exact situation, and it was taken seriously. The child was 7; and was running across a busy road without looking several times (then crossing back over to the same side - there was actually no need for them to ever cross a road) - several cars had to stop for them.

The report wasn’t because they were only 7 - the report was because they were unsafe in their behaviours. Had they not been playing on the road; I wouldn’t have called (although I certainly wouldn’t have let my child do the same walk at that age)