To think these parents are being overprotective and mistrusting

[Dancergirl]

Parking is a major issue at my dds' school and is a real bugbear of mine. One of the problems is that it is a very narrow road and you get people parking on corners, on the kerb etc causing a lot of congestion.

One of the ideas we have had (I'm a parent governor) is a walking bus from the top of the road. I think this is a great idea and parents could be on a rota to walk with the children. It would mean crossing the road outside the school but is a short walk, about 3/4 minutes.

When I have discussed this with parents I am amazed at the number of parents who insist on going with their child to the classroom door and wouldn't want anyone else doing it. Hence they wouldn't be interested in a walking bus unless they walk every day with the children.

Am I missing something here? I think it would be great to drop them and be able to drive off knowing they were being walked to school. We're all parents, it's a small friendly school, I don't see the problem. One mum said she would only do it if she knew the other parent very well. And another said she felt it was her 'job' to walk them down

Your thoughts?

What's the parking like at the top of the road where they'd pick up the walking bus?

A school near me has a walking bus which the head has decided comes out of the school budget, so they're not depending on volunteer parents. It works really well. The church let them use their carpark for parking to meet up with the bus.

The best walking bus I have ever seen was in Barcelona. About a dozen tiny children (3/4) all holding a rope, with a nun at either end. Sweet. Presumeably the parents trusted the nuns to do the job safely.
Worth a try here (nuns optional)?

presumably (late lunch

pag that's a really interesting thought, and something some cotton wool parents ought to consider.

DS doesn't have SN (beyond a touch of dyspraxia) but I am really enjoying him develop his independence. He's coming up for 10 now and seems to be going through one of those developmental leaps that they have every now and then. It's brilliant.

Funnily enough though after ages and ages of begging to walk to and from school alone, now I've suggested he do so a couple of times he's suddenly not so keen. I think he enjoys the chats we have, which is fair enough. perhaps it's just enough to know that he can go on his own if he wants to.

I've seen a sort of rope yhing with handles along it ghst children can hang on to

Altinkum
you reacting as if all the points made are about you and your child

are we not talking about Year 2 and 3 NT children?
The OP said Year 2 and 3 which is 6, 7 and 8 years . Your child is 4

I would not regard a parent not wanting to do the walking bus at 4 as precious. I walked DD at that age and still do actually.
The thread is about NT primary age children.

Wow, quite shocked by this thread. We are about to move back to UK and I was assuming my children would be able to do something they have been longing to do since we've been abroad, which is walk to school on their own! They are 8 and 7 and they can cross roads fine but am I going to get reported or something?

I'm obviously rather out of touch. At the moment they go to school with local drivers and get dropped off in the road next to school. They've been doing this since reception and would resist any attempt at actually taking them into the classroom.

Oh dear, I'm going to have to talk to them.

happy - you won't get reported but you will want to be sure of the location.
Depending on how long you have been away the parents killing to get their car as close as possible to the school gates has become much worse in the last ten years.
It is pretty hairy walking now which is pretty grim when you think about it.

Fellow parents from the school - ime quite often the ones who also work as lunch attendants or TAs, or go in for a bit of volunteer reading - are not "strangers".

thats fine

Of course you must chose to trust who you will and walk how and when you will

But in the context of the discussion I am still of the view that refusing to let a year 2 or 3 child walk to school under adult supervision, when there are no special circumstances involved, is astonishingly limiting for the child and stupidly over cautious of the parent .
And makes life considerably harder for those of us who would like our children to walk to school but can't because of the millions of unnecessary cars overwhelming the route.

I would regard the idea that they may not know the adults as the most bizarre of reasons. But then I tend to shudder when anyone mentions the fear mongering 'stranger danger' policy.

Pagwatch, we've been away for 7 years, so before dcs were at school. They've always been at international schools with a very laid-back culture of children being responsible for themselves as much as possible from as young as possible. That's what they are used to, no mention of checking other parents or insurance or anything (possibly a bit too far the other way but there haven't been any disasters as far as I know!)so it's going to be weird for them for a while....

Some schools are better than others tbh happynightmare.
And if you have a simple route to school you may be alright - there are a few I see walking independently to the primary school opposite me which is great.

welcome back soon

happy I imagine much depends on where you move to and the school your DCs end up at.

The idea that a group of parents couldn't be trusted to walk a group of DCs to and from school (or around town on a museum visit) would be laughed at at DS's school.

Thank you! Looking forward to some normality, I think.

You are not being unreasonable. In fact, you are being very reasonable to assume that any parent would want to decrease the amount of traffic around schools both for the benefit of other children and the local community. PS - as parent/ Governor, could you not suggest to the committee that measures could be put in place to stop people parking close to the school?

Theboy

same here. Parents often go along on school trips and outings to help out , some of which would not be possible if they were not there.

start with KS2
I would have been happy to have done this with ds

I've been watching this thread with interest. We have walking buses for my dcs primary school and they are very successful. However, school policy does not allow parents of children in yr 1 or above into the playground or classrooms, they have to be dropped off at the school gate in the morning and so parents do not usually see class teachers in the morning. For info, the walking bus is co-ordinated by a parent and there are volunteer parent helpers who are CRB checked (I am one).

It's really not a case of parents leaving their children with strangers as parents tend to come with their children until such time as they are ready to go without. Some parents assist each day and others less. The children also wear high-visibility fluorescent jackets for safety.

'could you not suggest to the committee that measures could be put in place to stop people parking close to the school?

we have yellow lines, zigzags and disbaled spaces tos top the problem

they still park there

DS3's SNU taxi drops him outside school (on premise that I cannot collect ds1 (SN) and be at home to receive ds3 (SN)- ds2, yr 4, will be well able to walk himself soon.

Does soemone aprking on a yellow, zig zag or even the path get a ticket? nope

DOes the great big warioress that aprks in the disabled spaces 'because my car won't fit in the normal spaces' get a warning? Nope, quite the reverse: PCSO said 'that's understandable then'

Does the SNU taxi, after explaining tehy ahd 2 asd kids on board one with a disabled badge, get a let off? Oh no, three warnings and the police have made contact with taxi firm.

Arrrgh

As a aprent, I am CRB checked and often in school to help with reading- so in a small room on my own with them. I;d be happy to help with a walking bus.