Year 6 only allowed to walk home in summer months?

[Clumsy12345]

My son is in year 5 (age 10) in September he will be going into year 6. I mentioned to a teacher that it will be nice when he can come home on his own in September, she looked at me horrified and said “No he can’t! it gets dark early we don’t allow it in the winter months only the summer when it’s light” I already felt like year 6 was a bit late as most schools allow it from year 5 but now it’s only the summer months? aibu to think this is a bit over the top? his school finishes at 3.15 and it’s never dark at that time even in winter. Does anyone else’s school have this rule (for year 6) as that’s the first time i’ve heard it.

Seems over the top to me. Ours can walk from yr 3 with permission! Although I appreciate that quite far the other way. Mine started yr4.

Ridiculous, my dc we're going to high school on the bus in year 6 (different system!). They walked to and from school some days at least from year 4

I chose to pick up DD when she had her late finishes in winter (4.30pm) due to poor street lighting... but they were allowed to leave from Yr5.

Sounds like them putting too much of a spoke in parents' responsibility to me.

If parents want/are fine with their child in Y6 (or earlier) walking to and from school without an adult, I can't see what business it is of the school.

That seems very over the top. I've worked in lots of schools and never had one only allow it in the summer term of year 6. Most as you say are from year 5, their reasoning also sounds excessive.

Seems mad to me that schools can dictate at all.

In about 1990 I remember very clearly a group of 5 of us, about 6/7 years old, all used to walk 10-15 mins to school together in the morning!

At 10/11 you’re well able to walk home from school on an autumn/winter evening.

And yes as you say, it shouldn’t even be dark at that time.

Madness.

That seems excessive, and it's a parent's decision, not the School's.

It’s not actually up to them. Its your call when he walks home himself.

In 20 years of working in schools I saw many parents challenge that rule and only once did the schools position stand (after they got social services involved as it was part of a wider picture of issues).

Absolutely batshit and IMO not the school's call!

It's ridiculous that the school can tell you what YOUR children are and aren't allowed to do outside of school hours. Because when the bell goes, the kids are back in YOUR care, surely?

Never heard of that - year 5 at all our local schools. I’d query that tbh.

It's your choice to allow him nit the schools. Mollycoddling keads to anxious dc

Ours don't allow it from after school clubs as it is dark, but normal finish time they can walk from year 5. I was fairly happy with this, though when year 7 came round it snuck up on me DS would have to do a much longer walk in the dark from his after school clubs.

Apart from anything else, September isn't a winter month. Lots and lots of daylight in September.

Schools in England certainly seem
to over reach their authority. They cant actually decide what happens with your children after they leave school.

In Scotland kids can (and some do) walk to and from school from P1. It's up to parents to risk asses and decide whether their child is capable and if the routes are suitable. Not the school.

I'm always amazed at what parents put up with in England.

At my kids school they were only allowed to walk home on Move Up Day at the end of Year 6.

When my older ones were in the lower/middle school system they were allowed to walk home from year4 for no other reason than they were expected to walk to and from middle school in year 5!
Youngest went to primary and she was walking home from early in year 5.

I didn't want to come over all 'We had to walk 15 miles to school in clogs in my day' - but after my mum took me for my first day in Reception aged almost 5, I walked to and from school every day with Ruth (aged 5) from across the road! This was from 1963...

I'd be shocked if they actually had the authority to dictate that.

I only know 1 school with a no walking home rule. Said school is in a small village where most of the children who attend live in the other surrounding villages and the nearby town. To access the school from the town or surrounding villages requires walking along national speed limit country lanes with no street lighting or pavement. Sadly there was a horrid accident resulting in a fatality for the child a few years ago involving a school child walking home along said country lanes. The school itself is in the village and the children living in the village are allowed to walk home from yr 5 but any children in the surrounding villages or town are not allowed to walk home.

It's so ridiculous. Our school briefly tried something similar at one point when the kids' were being kept in for after school activities, but had to quickly change it when parents were telling them to stop.

In fact, they have actually learnt and now they've said year 5s in summer term can walk home as a way to acclimatise the kids while the weather is still good etc.

OP, I would query this. For both my kids, I had to give written permission for them to walk back/make their own way home in Yr5/Yr6. My DD (Yr6) takes a bus to and from school with one of her classmates (we live in a village but she goes to primary school in a town a couple of miles away). They've done that since start of Y6 and the school have never had a problem with it. I have put a key safe around the back of the house so that she can let herself in without trouble. It's given her some independence, taught her how to use public transport (and budget her money for the week to pay for bus tickets). Had she gone to the primary school in our village, I would have allowed her to walk to/from school from Y5.

You'll know your child's needs best. If their preferred secondary school involves significant travel then it might be worth enabling them to build these skills up

Used to live in an upper/muddle/lower school area. All kids used walk to and from school by themselves from beginning of year five, including crossing a busy road.

Where is the school? Ours don't allow children to leave unaccompanied at all, which I assume is because of the schools location on an unlit road with no pavement. Seems very OTT otherwise.