11 year olds travelling to school - London

[TeddyIEI]

Hoping some London parents can put my mind to rest or something.
My brother his wife snd 3 children live in south west London. My eldest nieces (twins) turned 11 at the end of July, they are due to start senior school. I've just learnt they will be going to school in central/west London and taking the tube there alone!!
On the first day my brother is going to make sure they get off at the right stop and they have done the walk from their stop to the school before with their mum before. They have to be there for 08:10 and will leave at 16:50ish, so will almost definitely be caught in the rush.
My sons are 13 and 15, we live rurally and right now they can do whatever in our village, walk to the bus stop for school (school provided bus), my 15 year old has been allowed into the nearest town to go for food with friends and I wouldn't mind dropping to the cinema/picking them up or similar. But the thought of them going into central London alone, at peak times at 11 makes me feel a little ill. They will be on the tube for nearly 30 min (no changes) and a 5 or so minute walk either end.

Is this normal? Do lots of kids in London do this? AIBU to think this can't possibly be safe ?

Yes it's normal. What do you think the risk is and why do you think it's greater than the risks your sons take?

Absolutely normal, I did it as did DH 30 years ago. It seems alien to you but if you grow up there it’s completely the norm.

Well it's none of your business... so there's that.

Lots of children travel on the tube to and from school alone. They'll be fine, it's a regular thing here.

Well my sons walk 5 minutes to the bus through a quiet village, get on a bus only for pupils at their school, then do the same on the way home.
When my son goes into town its a small town not a massive city.

It's fine. DH and I both did this 50 years ago. His tube journey was direct but mine was long with a change and a bus at the end if I was too lazy to walk (I was!). We both got ourselves to school for primary too walking and buses. I'd say it's safer now than it was then

Why, specifically, do you think that's more of a risk?

Completely normal. Have you ever actually been to London? Surely you must have seen the hordes of kids on the tube and buses at school chucking out time.

OP i find that terrifying also.

@Whataretheodds
Well if there are delays or cancellations on the tube they will have to navigate that alone, they are going further from home, bigger city so naturally bigger risk.
If my sons bus is cancelled the school informs parents and arranges alternatives.

It is normal and it is frightening. I think boys are more at risk than girls as older teenagers tend to target younger boys for mugging, very common on the way to and from school.

My own experience wasn't great. I used to get abuse shouted at me by homeless people and squashed in the rush hour crowds (I sometimes couldn't get off the bus and no one would move for me, so I'd miss my stop and have to walk back, then would get into trouble for being late to school). My brothers were mugged a number of times by older boys, sometimes at knifepoint.

It's very hard to find schools in walking distance and places tend to be allocated by the council anyway, so unless you can afford to move next to a good school or have free time to accompany your children there's not much you can do about it.

It varies maybe depending on where you live (I'm in central London).

Totally normal for y7, assuming they're going to a school with a large intake area.

It wouldn't even be particularly unusual for y6 to be taking public transport by themselves, although that would generally be a few stops on a bus.

It's great, it gives them a chance to practice their independence, and means they're not relying on parents to give them lifts all the time. What's not to like? We're talking about a daytime tube journey on a normal working day, not a dodgy nightbus at 3am on a Saturday night.

That is how kids in London go to school - pretty much all kids in London. Perfectly normal. Free transport and much quicker than being driven, it really is the only sensible option in many cases.

In many ways a busy tube station is safer than a village bus stop. There are staff there all the time to help. There are help points on every platform. There are transport police. And there are lots of other people 99.9% of whom are good, helpful people who would never let any harm come to a young person. Pupils tend to travel in groups and are protected by that too.

It's normal, and likely they have been used to using the tube already so that will be familiar, and not particularly daunting

If they don't have to change, it's an easy route and the closer they get to school, the more kids they'll know going the same way.

If there are delays and cancellations on the tube they will wait for announcements, like everyone else. Seriously, what do you think will happen to them?

@Seagullchippy
It is an independent school so my brother and his wife have chosen this journey for their 11 year olds.
They have a 4 year old too so my sister in law can't drive them and my brother will not normally leave for work that early.

In my experience that's totally normal in London.

Fairly normal I’d say. Yr 7 is when independence starts to grow.

plus, to be fair it’s not your call.

We also had to run the gauntlet of pimps hassling girls to join up for sex work on my school route, but locations vary.

It is normal. Throughout London, children take the bus or train for sometimes more than hour to a grammar or private school. Happens outside London too. That doesn’t mean it’s perfectly fine. There’ll be things that happen the kids won’t tell their parents. But it’s a parental choice, and your brother and sister-in-law have prioritised the school choice and decided the journey alone is worth it. Hopefully the children will make a good group of local friends to do the journey with. I see the kids on my own commute, the 11yo do look really young and nervous in September, fine later on. It’s not a daily experience I’d personally want to give my kids, the commute is stressful and they have the rest of their life for that, but other parents might say get them used to it early. I don’t think it’s unsafe or ridiculous, and actually I think it’s safer than outside London as there’s so many people and points of contact for help.

My attitude will probably become like your brother though as mine get older. I honestly think London born and raised kids are different, it was all new to me at 18yo, but my 3yo can take themselves to the bus stop, knows what bus stop to get off at and then which way to the train station! Obviously never done it alone, but I was shocked the first time we went for a walk with them leading the way and that’s what they chose to do.

Honestly OP, pop down to SW London on a school day morning. It's heaving with thousands of school children doing exactly that. My boys have been born and raised in London and started using the tube alone aged 11. It's the same as taking the bus.

Normal. My brother got the bus on his own from the age of 9 (in London)

if they’ve been living in London they’re used to navigating the tube and great thing is they’ll be together. I regularly take my country bumpkins into London (in fact I often make 14yo DS go on the train on his own) and tell them where we need to go and get them to figure out how we’ll get there - don’t want them finally getting to a big city as adults and freaking out

My school was near a tube station and about half the girls got there by tube - some even with a change and that was fine. However, that is a mighty long school day plus a long commute!

It really depends on the route. If the transport's almost door to door it's probably easy enough. The ideal is to do the journey with them for the first week or so, showing them what to do or who to speak to if there's a problem (e.g. tube staff). Then hopefully finding other children they can travel with.