Is 9 to young?

[FocusToday]

My husband works from home on a Monday. We live around the back of my DS primary school - I have googled it and we live 112 metres from his school.
Do you think the summer of year 4, so will be 9, is old enough for him to walk home from school on his own?
For context he won’t be crossing a road and the front door will be left open for him to get into the house. My DH has a team’s call every Monday from 3pm till 4pm but will be able to hear him come into the house.
My son goes to after school club atm but doesn’t really enjoy it.
We have not spoken to him about it yet. My husband thinks its fine. I’m not sure.
Would the school even allow this though?
Thank you!

I'm sure 9 year olds are in year 5? Isn't that the old 3rd year juniors? If so I was 9 then

I think it would be fine, I would allow my son to walk home alone from the age of 9 but like you, he wouldn’t need to cross any roads. But like others have mentioned the school might not want him to until year 5

My daughter is 10 and her school is about 15 mins walk and we have to cross 3 roads so we started practicing by eg leaving her half way to walk to school herself or start coming and meet her halfway etc building up to allowing her to walk to school possibly with a couple of friends who live nearby this September.

We also got her a smartwatch so we can track her movement and she can send us messages when she gets to school. The watch has a school mode which restricts what she can do during school hours so she is not getting distracted at school and like your son she is a goody two shoes as well lol and responsible.

You know your son and if you’re sure he will come straight home and is a responsible kid I think it’s worth a trial to see how it works.

Also I once sent my daughter a message asking her to walk home and I was walking behind her to see how she crosses the roads etc and she did great. She didn’t know I was behind her but I wanted to see if all the lessons and practice worked and it did.

In summary it’s worth trying it out since your son is responsible and as you said the school is quite close with no road crossings.

I think it’s absolutely fine but my DC’s primary school would not allow children to leave unaccompanied until year 5.

I'm sure it would be fine. Ours move to middle school at Yr 5 so are 9/10 and are encouraged to walk at least part of the way home. I'm actually q surprised at how far some of the youngest ones are walking!

9 years old is absolutely fine for this. I can’t believe schools in England are so arsey about it. I can imagine the response if they tried to tell the Scots we couldn’t decide if our kids walk home or not! For the first year (maybe two) they will make sure the child is met by someone, but this can be an older sibling. Beyond that, it’s up to parents to decide. I live close to a school and see loads of young children walking to school with their friends from our estate.

Very few schools allow this before year 5/6.

My son started walking to and from school when he was 8, it’s 0.7 miles. He was happy to do it. There’s always loads of other kids/ parents around doing the same walk.

I think it's fine. My son did it. Similar distance. No problem.

It's fine. Especially as there's no road to cross.

Our DC walked home at that age, with one road to cross which had a lollipop person.

Of course it's fine! I wouldn't leave the door unlocked though, if he's sensible enough to walk himself home then he's sensible enough for a key.

My 9 year old would be absolutely fine doing this. We live six miles from school though, so he wouldn’t be able to, but he would be over the moon to be allowed to walk home.

Oddly, my ds was talking to me earlier in the week about walking home occasionally in Yr4.
It depends so much on the child, and the circumstances.
It seems from what you have said that your child would be fine.

If your son is sensible and fairly mature I think do
it. It’s not that far and you’re at home.

What would your DH do if he didn't come home? Can't he try and move that call? Or take it on his mobile with headphones in and camera off?

I'd also offer to pay a school parent something for doing this each day eg £5 a day - cheaper than after school club and you know child is safe if they're escorted to your door. They'll probably say no to cash but then you can offer babysitting or something in return

Both my kids would have been fine doing this at 9. You need to think about your kid, though, and whether he’s easily lead, mischievous (I see you say a bit of a goody-two-shoes, so probably not!), prone to getting flustered if challenged by another parent, etc.

You may have a bit of a fight with the school, some schools are not prepared to deviate from their policies regardless of whether it’s in the best interests of the child or not. But ultimately a sensible 9 year old walking a few hundred yards home without having any roads to cross is not something that amounts to negligence, so there isn’t much they can do except keep him there, at there expense, until your DH is free to pick him up.

It's absolutely fine

DS started walking home in autumn of Y5 when the after-school club suddenly closed. He was 9 (and summer born so only just 9 really). It is a 7 minute walk and he has to cross a main road but it's right outside school and there is a pedestrian crossing. At the time he is walking home there are many other families crossing the road and walking in the same direction so he is almost always walking with friends. We have not had any problems with this arrangement. It has been good for him to have a little bit of independence, particularly as he is going to secondary school this year.

This wouldn't be allowed at my children's school

Given what you have said about your son pushing the school if it isn’t policy doesn’t sound like it would work.

check the school policy and start then

It's absolutely fine.

DS switched to our local school this week and will be getting there and back by himself. It's a 20 minute walk and includes crossing our main road through town (there's a zebra crossing). He's 8. I'm only taking and collecting him at the moment because he's going by bike and doesn't have his cycling proficiency certificate, yet.
Kids here tend to go by themselves from age 6 but we are abroad.

So a one to two minute walk? Absolutely fine. I’m old and when I read MN I fear that some children won’t have crossed the road alone until they go to Uni.

My 9 year old GS walks back and forth to school in his village - there is a road to cross. He also walks to friends' houses and the playground - again a road to cross. He will be fine. Just need to get it past the school rules.

When I was a child I went on a bus ride to school at age 5, and crossed main roads at either end.