To think Year 4 is too young to walk home from school alone

[user63214]

School have just announced years 4 and above can walk home alone. My DS has autism so maybe my view is distorted but he is only 8. Whilst it’s obviously still up to us they seem to be pushing it abit reminding us to sign consent forms.
We are off a fairly busy road and the parking/driving situation at peak pick up times is not always very safe.

I get it from year 6 preparing children for secondary school. AIBU?

Not where I live. There have been some very disturbing incidents.

To all the people who think it is always too young. Did you not walk home from school yourself by the age of 8,? Everyone did in the 70s.

Mine has just started walking home in year5. I wasn’t comfortable with it last year due to the busy road outside school. We did lots of practice last year on safely crossing it and she’s being really sensible this year. I do think it should be year 5 upwards but appreciate that like others say it depends on the child and their particular route home.

My DD did start walking home alone in the summer term of year 4. She walked most of the way with friends, we live in a village and it’s a few minutes walk with no major roads to cross. Depends on the child and location I would say.

I think y4 is a bit young yes. My ds1 is y6 and I started letting him walk home during the summer term of y5. We live about 20 minutes walk from the school. Some parents allowed it from earlier, others later.

Depends on the child and the route. Mine would be entirely capable of it, and we have no roads to cross. But emotionally I suspect he would struggle, there is a big difference between having a loved one collect you or walking alone.

So lots to consider. Don’t sign the consent form if you don’t want to.

Mine were fine to walk home at that age. I have 4 quite close in age though so sometimes I was walking the route either younger siblings or they were walking with siblings etc.
They were allowed out to the park at that age though without adults, or to the shop.

In many European countries children walk to school from around 7. In the UK we are outliers in our attitudes to children’s independence.

We have also become much more protective in the recent generation. My DH walked himself to and from school from younger than that and it was completely normal.

Our school allowed it from Year 4 if the route didn’t involve a busy road - the head felt it was a parental decision and for the right child and the right route a healthy way of building independence. Our Dd walked from year 4 (she is sensible for her age and it is a short walk in a safe area with no busy roads). For other children it would not have been safe and their parents made their own decisions.

If it isn’t right for your child that’s absolutely your call, but that doesn’t mean it’s inappropriate for every other child.

I think it's good they are allowing it if the parents consent.

I live in a different country where children routinely walk home alone from age 6/7 so y4 sounds fine to me. Obviously you have to take the route and the child's maturity into account, so it makes sense to allow parents to make the final call.

I’m in Scotland where the schools have no rules around this sort of thing, after P1 anyway.

My youngest is 8 (P4). We live 1km from the school, couple of small roads to cross but generally pretty safe. I meet her about 2/3 of the way to the school, so she gets to walk a little bit by herself, but I feel she’s a bit young to walk the full way. She loves this little bit of independence.

I walked to school alone at 7 y.o. in the 1980s. 20 min. walk, rural area around a small town where everybody knew everybody. Not in the UK, but elsewhere in Europe. All the kids walked alone to school and came back home alone with a housekey (parents at work). Nobody has ever disappearred and there was no phone. The world has changed so much...

They've possibly been reminded that it's not actually their call when a child walks home alone (unless there are genuine safeguarding concerns).

They're not saying your child must walk home alone, they're leaving it - as they absolutely should - up to parents to decide.

I have 6 kids, four absolutely could have walked home at that age fine - one of them would have taken longer to cross the playground from school door to gate than gate to our house as we literally lived opposite the gate. Two couldn't - one because of where we lived when they were that age, and one because of their impulsiveness.

They're not saying your child must walk home alone

Exactly. The OP and most of the replies make it sound as if they think the school's mandating it! If you don't want your Y4 children walking themselves home, carry on collecting them. The school's merely giving parents a choice.

Mind you, I'm an old codger who walked alone (suburban) from age 4.

Well it could be over protective like my kids school, not allowed till year 6 and any children under year 6 aren’t allowed to be collected by a sibling unless they are over 16 which I think is really over the top!

I know l am a dinosaur compared with many here but, back in the seventies, we walked to and from school independently as soon as our parents deemed us capable. I was certainly doing so in the top infants (year two) and this was quite normal. Usually, we would be with friends. By the time I was eight, I was catching the bus to the next village for my piano lesson by myself. We would also play outside unsupervised as groups of children for hours as long as our parents knew roughly where we were. We had safety rules drummed into us by parents and school and these were reinforced by the truly graphic and terrifying public information films we were shown at school on a regular basis. I think the amount of independence we learnt made us streetwise in the best sense of the word. Stranger danger is no worse now than then. I think the biggest difference is the amount of traffic. By the seventies, it was usual for a family to have one car but these days most people seem to have at least two cars per family. It's a difficult thing to decide but I think year four is about the right time these days for children to walk independently to school unless they have special needs or live in a dangerous, traffic heavy area. Common sense should prevail. I do think that year six is too late.

8 seems very young and mini blondes age but no way is she walking home alone yet

Our local school is from Year 5 summer term

and then into yr 6

Ds walked home in year 4 and he's 24 now so not a new thing. Completely up to the parent as to wether they allow it.

Like lots of schools they'd quickly realise that isn't their call when challenged by a parent.

In twenty years working in education (and having 6 of my own) I've seen schools back down numerous times over their "rule". Only once did I see a school actually take steps to prevent a child walking home alone because it was a genuine safeguarding concern, and part of a bigger picture of concerns.

Not true, my kids school did refuse to let my 13 year old collect my 8 year old even though I was right outside and no they didn’t back down. They just won’t release them it’s that simple and yes they refused to even though I called them and said he is allowed and I’m waiting outside

In Scotland kids can walk home from P1.

In the 1970's I walked home from primary school from the age of 7.

It depends on route and distance and sen should be considered but walking home from school today should be no different to how it was way back when. If the school says it's fine then I think it's something children should do. Kids need to learn independence and what better way is there to do this than letting them walk home alone.

It will surely depend entirely on the child and their particular route to and from school. My Gdd1 would have been fine, human hurricane Gds maybe not.

That's a sensible school.Mine walked home from Y3. Obviously those children who can't ot whose parents don't want them to can carry on being collected but imo we baby children too much.

It's surely up to individual parents and not a demand that you must not pick them up or drop them off from year 4?

In general, I think between 8 and 9 is a good age for children to start walking to and from school without adults- but obviously there will be individual children who this isn’t suitable for- either due to the journey, or additional needs, or immaturity in particular individuals. But I think it’s great that the school are encouraging it, for the majority who will benefit from the skills that come from growing independence.