What age is considered appropriate before a child can do this...

[Poppymayday]

Get themselves home from a local school, let themselves in and stay home alone for an hour or so until adult gets back home?

My DS has been doing this occasionally this school year - he’s year 6 and turned 11 in September. He got a phone for Christmas so at least next time it happens he can check in with us once he gets home. I generally think secondary age for this but DS is older now than his sibling was when they started secondary.

Oh yes and we know lots of neighbours and he has plenty of people he could go to if there was a problem. We go through the safety rules regularly (no cooking, no answering the door other than to parents, etc)

I'd say 11 - year 7

This is where the ring doorbell would come into its own. You would get a notification and could SEE the child entering the house so you know if they haven't turned up on time

I made my DS go to his childminder after school until he was 13 almost 14. I picked him up on the way home. He did have ADHD and I worried about what he could do. My biggest fear was he'd decide to cook and start a fire somehow or go out and leave the house unlocked and not put house alarm on.

What's different?

If a parent is WFH that's a bit different than walking home alone then being alone for over an hour.

I was 11 years and a week starting secondary school. Who starts at 12/13.. I was 13 at the end of year 9

I would say secondary.

Ds goes to a school too far away to allow him to travel on his own (he's 10).

If he gets into the secondary around the corner it's less than a 5 minutes walk so he'll be able to do the there/back on his own.

12, as advised by NSPCC

Ireland has kids entering first year of secondary at 12/13. Two of my cousins turned 13 the month they started Secondary.

My cousins in Scotland were all different ages starting high school...most 11 going on 12, but a couple were 12 going on 13 as their parents had deferred school due to SEN or being very premature as a baby. One of my Scottish cousins was 17 when they started university.

So if they are nearly 13 starting secondary surely they be making way home at least a couple of years before that

These days, some can't even manage that at 30

I was just answering your question, “who starts secondary school at 13?”

So if they are nearly 13 starting secondary surely they be making way home at least a couple of years before that.

@Gogogo12345
@Thegoatliesdownonbroadway
No surely about it. A lot depends on where the school is. All primary age kids (so up to and including 13 year olds) had to collected at the school by a parent or other known adult in our primary school (Ireland). An exception was made if they travelled on the school bus, or if special arrangements had been made with the parents allowing them to cycle, but only very small numbers did the latter.

I think people somehow forget that a lot of people live rurally. Quite often there are no footpaths and neither is public transport available. The roads are dangerous to walk.

My kids were collected from their secondary school too. It’s in the local town, but walking or cycling home wasn’t an option because of where we live and how busy the local roads are. School buses ran but we’re not in the catchment. Public transport is not available for us and for many others. I’m sure it’s similar in many parts of the UK.

Secondary age for us, so heading towards 12.

That says "for long periods of time" - an hour or so is not a long period of time

I understand if rural in a way but surely the majority would would get the school bus then. My mum did from the age of 5 living rurally and I did on public transport ( although not soon rural) from 8.

But the 11 year olds in the centre of Dublin? Surely they could

That says "for long periods of time". An hour is hardly a long period of time!

Depends on distance,, roads, area but I would say around 11

You’re only eligible for a school bus if you live more than 4.8kms from the school at secondary level. So you need to be some distance away. Lots of kids are a little less than that from the school but parents consider walking home unsafe given the heavy traffic on the roads. That was our situation. They were usually carrying heavy bags too which was another consideration.

If they live within the town with footpaths etc they’d be more likely to walk, but there are no public buses to get home unless you’re somewhere like Dublin or Cork. I’m not sure how kids usually travel home from school in the cities tbh, I’ve no experience of that.

At primary level you need to be more than 3.2km away to qualify for a bus. Primary schools are often in a very rural location though, more so than secondaries. There is no way that the roads near our one were suitable for walking by children so anyone within a 3.2 radius of the school (which was the majority in fact) had to travel by car really. There wasn’t much of a choice.

@Gogogo12345 Also, wrt the school bus at primary level, for the first two years (age 5 and 6) school finishes an hour earlier here than for the remaining 6 years at primary. Small rural schools mostly don’t have childcare available for the hour after school until the others finish and the bus arrives. So, practically speaking, buses are only available from age 7 (approx) upwards.

Secondary school.

Year 5 or 6 for the walk home alone, but ideally with someone waiting for them.
How long would they be alone for?

It would have been younger when I was growing up, though as everyone was doing it but felt safer - more of a community thing going on and, obviously, far less traffic generally.

Hm, maybe tell that the after-school clubs, holiday clubs and childminder. In our area you can't get any cover for a secondary school child and DD turned 12 at the end of Y7.

Also, a child needs to be taught how to be alone and independent. You can't just say "oh, you are 12 so you can be alone suddenly".

It's a lot better to start slowly, letting them be alone for a bit, letting them walking alone to the shops or to friends.

DD went alone from her childminder to the Brownies at 6pm when DH was away on business, she walked along a street for 6 houses, we started at Summer term of Y5.
Then she walked from the car to her gymnastic club, again, just along a road in daylight.

At home we left her bit by bit, up to an hour so she felt ok during Summer term of Y6.

We talked a lot about various scenarios, the school did some role play lessons and I think all of DD's friends who didn't have younger siblings walked alone and had some time alone at home.

We would not have before 11, although I have gone to Tesco for a quick trip and left one younger, maybe 9 or was it 10? Also personality is a factor