To preference a school 35 minutes away?

[Sallyh87]

Going through the process of filling out school selection forms. The best one is a 35 minute walk away and my DDs best friend from nursery is going to select this one. I can’t drive (disability) but DH can. DH can likely drive her 3 - 4 times a week due to WFH.

So my question

• is a 35 minute walk too much for a four year old
• would a closer but not as highly rated school be better
• Is there any kind of older child pushchair I could use???

Granted, I am sure there is a bus service but I find buses so unreliable.

You will be doing this for 6/7 years.

Do you want to walk that far for school potentially every day?

There's a bus service... 🤷🏻‍♀️

What if you’re ill and have to collect? Or they’re ill and need picking up?
If it’s raining and miserable and you have to pick up?
as you can tell it’d be a no from me!

I can give you a golden piece of advice op

You have 7 years or more of primary school and you will massively regret a 35 min walk

Living near primary school means new friends are in the nearby streets. It means you and your child are entering a community. It will be useful on days when you are ill and cant walk your child to school...you can ask friends for Favours. You can organise playdates and pick up swaps easily

Your child will find that walk exhausting in their first years there were times in reception and year 1 we struggled with the 10 min walk home

do not do this ! Also if your local schools are popular put your nearest one first or you may end up with a school nobody else wants

This is not a good idea unless nearer options are dire.

Unlikely to be in distance
Kids change friends like underwear at this age
You'll be doing it for however many years, sometimes in the pissing rain and dark.

No from me.

Will you even get a place at that school? If it’s highly rated, it’s likely everyone who lives closer will put it down and they will get priority.

of course a 35 minute walk is fine, I thought you were going to say a 35 min drive

How long is the drive at 8am?

Yes you'd be nuts to do this. 35 minutes there, 35 minutes back, twice a day. In all weathers. In the dark. And then she'll have reading and other homework to do. School is tiring enough.

She'll make new friends. You'd be best off looking at one much closer to home.

And if your DH has to go back to working in the office? Or the car is in the garage?
You will still need to do the collecting at the end of the day. 35 minutes every day is a long walk for a 4yo. They all get exhausted during reception. And 7 years is a long time...
Are you in the catchment for the school?

I think the bus service may be more reliable than you perceive.

Is it 35 minutes for you, or for a 4 year old? My eldest is in year 2 now, and does the walk to school in about 15 minutes. It took much closer to 30 minutes in reception though. A 35 minute walk for a grownup could be considerably longer for a small child.

I wouldn’t, it’s not just the school runs- think of the playdates! Do you want to be ferrying over there for all the socialising too?

We are choosing schools at the moment and have ruled out schools that are that far away for this reason. Fortunately our village school is good and is therefore going to be first choice.

I wouldn’t use a local failing school, but I’d choose a nearer “good” over further “outstanding” for example-and we have 2 cars!

What are the admission criteria? If it’s a distance away, you may be a fair way down the list, after SEN, LAC, siblings, catchment etc.

Even if you do get a place, what happens if DH can’t drive her, if he’s ill, or has a deadline to meet? A thirty five minute walk in the sort of weather we have here at the moment, would be utterly miserable and to do it twice a day, five days a week, soul destroying.

A 35 minute walk for a 4 year old? That's 70 minutes a day. No, not ok.
I thought you meant high school from your opening paragraph, which would be fine, but not for a 4 year old.

Although any umbrella pushchair or a scooter could ferry her there, you'd be better getting her into somewhere closer and if there's a closer school that's slightly less well regarded you're very unlikely to be in catchment for the first one, and if it's oversubscribed (likely), they measure distance door to door to decide who gets the places.

If you don't drive and have to pick her up unexpectedly during the day e.g. illness or injury or she's forgotten something really important like her lunch or you sent her in uniform on a PE day, how are you planning to get to her? An unreliable bus won't cut it.

Really though, having taught in every grade of school imaginable, there's very little difference between a "good" and "outstanding" school and even the top end of "requires improvement". The whole ratings system is an utter mess and the only schools to really worry about are those in special measures.

It's not just a 35 min walk though is it? She'll then have to do the same at the end of the school day. It'll be a 2 hour 10 mins walk a day for you. I'm reading it that you'll have to cover pick-up/ drop-off for two out of five days.

Could she scoot or cycle?

Personally I'd just stick with the local school unless it really is the utter pits. She'll make friends with kids who live locally.

Could you cycle? That said, I'd opt for the closer school for all the reasons given above, unless it's absolutely dire.

We moved when my youngest child was in Y6 and went from being a five minute walk from school to a 20 minute drive. Longest year ever with going and forth for play dates, after school clubs, evening events etc. Plus child didn't have the opportunity to walk home via the park / shop with all the other Y6s and gradually gain that independence. Had to learn fast when they started secondary.

Thanks all, you have kind of clarified my thoughts on this.

To answer questions

• Yes bizarrely, just in the catchment area
• My husbands job will never return to the office. It was probably two days a week in the office before Covid, one day now.

I am going to preference the school a 15 minute walk away. Even though the other is lovely, the one close is rated good and will work for us.

Thanks again x

I don't drive and my kids are used to walking everywhere but I think 35minutrs is too much. My 6yr old and 3yr old go to the primary/nursery school that is 10 minutes from our house and on days like today when it's chucking it down continuously it really isn't fun. I can't imagine a longer walk with them. On lovely summer days that 10 minute walk can often take upwards of 30-40 minutes as they get distracted by friends etc

My daughter is in year 1 now but she is still tired after school and would not cope with a longer walk. However I guess if it was her routine she would have to get used to it. At the start of reception a year ago she would sometimes sit on her toddler brothers lap in the pushchair on the way home

I also will second a pp when saying having a support network of other local parents who do the same walk is really invaluable. I often collect friends of my children from school/nursery if their parents can't make it and they do the same for me.

Oh and if she's doing 70 mins a day, you're doing 140, so you'll lose almost 2.5 hours of your day every day that you walk her to school.

Will you even get in though? You definitely wouldn't near me. I'd prioritise your local schools.

Unless the local school is utterly awful, I would absolutely not choose a school that far away. The distance will be an absolute nightmare, especially in the winter, and your daughter will have no local friends. Trust me, having friends who are walking distance is way more important than an Ofsted report!

How far is it?
Imagine the misery of dragging a 4 year old miles in torrential rain. Friends mean nothing at this age, she'll make new ones.

Even if the bus is reliable - that's a huge amount of money to spend!! Assuming fares remain capped. It'll be £8 a day for you. That's a huge amount of money!! If you have to pay half fare for your daughter, that's £10 a day 🙈🙈🙈🙈

I had similar for a bit (due to a house move), we mostly drove but walked it once and it was miserable. Cold, wet, my 6 then year old moaned he was tired the bus only went half way. Even driving was a nightmare with rush hour traffic and finding somewhere to park. 3 weeks of this and he went on the waiting list for the local school. Unless it's absolutely dire I'd go for the closest school. As well as the ease of getting there it's been great for making local friends (for both the children and me).