Who has a long-ish drive for the school run?

[Mirrorball]

Just wondered if you wish you didn't have to get in the car every morning? Multiple drops offs at different schools? Traffic? Parking???

If you had a school close that you could walk to would you rather send your children there or do you consider the best school worth travelling for?

Mirror - I understand why all of this looks better on paper, but after my dreadful experience I'm really really cynical of 'good' schools.

Music can be done out of school, and so can Art and Drama. Smaller class sizes can be a good thing - but IME only if your child is very very average. Because in a larger class there will be more kids, so they will cater for a wider spectrum.

For example, our old school was a 1 form entry, so only 30 kids in DDs year. She was the only one with dyslexia and the only one who couldn't learn to read. So she was bottom of the bottom table by herself. The new school is a 3 form entry, so 90 kids in her year. She's no longer bottom of the bottom and is learning to read in a group of 6 - which is helping her more than the 1:1 she was getting in the old school.

But it doesn't have to be dyslexia, which ever way you aren't exactly average you will stick out more in a class of 20 than a class of 30, or a year of 90.

Plus kids learn from each other and not just the teacher. I'm totally not convinced small class sizes are better than 30 kids per class. But then - I don't know your children :)

We used to have a long and complicated school run with all 4 of our DCs at different schools. DH used to take DC1,3 & 4. Drop off DC3 first at 8.15 (16 miles), drive up to DC1's school (another 1.5 miles) then on to DC4's school (another 6 miles because he couldn't get straight onto the right direction of the dual carriageway) to be there for 8.55.

Then he'd sleep in the car in a layby all day (night worker) before doing the return pickup at 3.40, 4pm and 4.15.

DC2 was easy because he walked to school.

It cost a fortune in diesel, and in servicing (every 12 weeks ) and new tyres.

With hindsight I wonder if it was actually worth it :(

How many rural counties still provide Free Transport?

I would never drive to school.

Live close to school and DC walk there and back virtually every day (unless we have a 4pm activity at a distance eg swim lessons).

Last week DD had a holiday activity that necessitated a 20-min drive there and back twice a day so not dissimilar to some people's commute on here.

What a nightmare (worth it for the activity but still....) No way would I sign up to that every day of school term. Petrol costs, time, palaver, need to leave earlier than might be necessary in case of traffic, no exercise, not local, no local mates/playdates, etc etc.

JMO obviously.

BTW when you say no real art facilities at local school, what do you mean? And how are they so much better at other school? (Just interested as all state schools should cover art...)

lucinda not many state primaries will have bus arrangements in place unless they are in very rural areas and it is needed. Most people I know go to one of their nearby primaries but then I live in a city (a small one but still a city). We are a reasonable walking distance (tho you might disagree about what that is!!) from at least five primary schools.

My sons school is 7.5 miles away so I do 15 miles in the morning and 15 miles at pickup - despite us having 2 local schools 0.8 mile and 1.1 miles away which we could walk to. This was not our choice, he didn't get into any of our 3 state choices including these 2 so we had to send him to a private school and this was the one we liked the best (there are 2 local ones closer but we weren't as impressed and the other one had some children starting from his nursery etc). It isn't too bad - the parking when you get there is the worse and you do hammer through the petrol/diesel. We are considering moving closer to the school.

This was not our choice and it is only now a year later that I have stopped being pissed off about it - I would always have chosen to walk - for health reasons more than anything not to mention fuel costs/environment - we have to drive past one of thelocal schools and ds always says why cant i do that when he sees them all going up the road on their scooters etc. It is not too bad a drive though in terms of traffic and is just about the right time for a nap for ds2 and we listen to music, phonics etc in the car.

Hvaing said that - have just read through all the posts and do agree that it can be a "bonding time" and we do always use the car trip as an excuse for a chat etc as the ds's are contained and not distracted - we have had some fun journeys singing along to songs and telling silly jokes etc. I don't know because have never done it but I imagine if we walked the ds's would be shooting off on their bikes/trikes/scooters etc so maybe not the same opportunity to chat? Also we talk about what we see, trains, fore engines etc and as we have to drive over a railway bridge they always loved seeing the trains etc.

I also have to say that now being pregnant with SPD I think I would have struggled latterly to walk the local mile and back now so in some ways driving has been more convenient (and you can pull in in a layby etc to breastfeed!) - so there are pros and cons in both I suppose. In balance, I am at peace with having to drive now tho it wouldn't have been my choice. We have had to make an extra effort to ensure he makes local friends as well (weekend activities close to home etc)

We drive 30 mins then walk 10 mins each way. We love it - really good bonding time imo. We chat about the day, they chat about what has happened and then when we get home they go off and do their thing.

But then I do love driving and local school is very small (and I dont like small schools).

Those who talk about bonding time and chatting in the car - I am sure I can't be the only person who chats while they walk as well! It's great (or it was - work means I no longer do it ) to stroll along and unravel the day with them. Or in the morning, all the hassle of getting out of the house, any snarl-ups or annoyances, vanish as soon as we start a walk down the hill.

Here's another thing that's good about walking - an older primary age child can do it themselves, encouraging independence. No way a 10yo can drive five miles to school!

Out of interest what does everyone pay for school transport to secondary? Ours has gone up to £4 a single trip which with 2 kids is a lot.

I have been utterly spoiled as DCs have attended a school very close to where we live ( still have to drive though as rural and no footpaths ).
As of September, one will now go to a different school that is a forty min bus ride away. Very expensive, but better than me driving, I figure.

ohnoherewego our secondary school is round the corner I'm afraid (or well I am very happy about it really!) so no transport costs.

I think a lot of the kids who go there come on bikes or walk, tho some must use the bus I guess. Probably costs about 80p from town, 2-3 miles?

Ilive in a rural area - the local high school is about 11 miles away, and the education authority does provide a free school bus service. However, I drive DS3 (and usually DS1&2 in the mornings as it means an extra 20 mins in bed for them). I feel I have no choice, as DS3 has Aspergers, and the school bus has all the kids who very seriously bullied him (at Primary school) on it. This was SERIOUS, nasty bullying, and he can't cope with contact with these people (it has been ensured none of them are in his classes, but there are still occasional incidents at break times). The buses have no adult supervision, and the behaviour on them is such that police are regularly called to the buses/school to deal with assaults. My elder 2 DS have intermittently been removed from the free bus and put on the service bus for a few weeks(for which they pay full fare),when we have thought the bus behaviour was getting so out of hand someone would get injured.
Also, DS3 Aspergers means he's not very danger aware, so the fact that there is no pavement at the roadside, and the bus stop is 5min walk down a narrow but very very busy rural road means it's really not safe for him.

So I drive. It costs me an extra tank of petrol a week, but I feel it's the right choice for DS3's wellbeing.
It was a chore at first, but TBH it just becomes part of the daily routine after a few weeks, and now I've just started my 2nd school year of doing this, it's just "normal" to me.

Having done the long drive (30+ mins each way) and then switched to a 10 min each way drive I can't believe the difference it has made. The day starts off in a much less stressful way as there is time to chill out - DD even manages to practice her piano before school. The afternoons are great, home at 3.30pm instead of >4.30pm which is just too close to tea time to unwind. Mind you as well as a shorter drive the DC have a shorter school day so it is win, win . It really makes a difference when different DC's stay for different clubs on different days. It is so easy to just nip home between times.

12 min drive. Drop ds on way to station and pick him up at after school care 3 min drive from station and 7 min drive from home.

Local school is 2 mins walk from house but no wraparound care provision. I worked out that the amount of hours I'd have to cut to facilitate a school run was equivalent to school fees (no local CMs would do the hours I need). Ds very happy. Sees lots of his school friends as all are within a 10 min drive and a class size of 15 rather than 32.

I like the drive as ds is a captive audience and we get to talk (or sing very loudly ).