School run

[SunnyDelights]

I hate the school run with an absolute passion. I was dreading the kids going back because of how much i hate it. We have to take the bus and its always so crowded. It’s absolutely awful in the mornings. Its actually making me so miserable. Ive done it for almost 10 years and only have one child there now. Would it he awful to move her school even though she doesn’t want to to a closer one? I cant do this for the next 3 years and she will never be able to travel there alone as i dont what her on the bus alone, there are far too many nasty people around here (had a run in this morning with a rude man) would you move a child if they didn't want to or just be miserable for the next 3 years?

Is it in the childs best interests to stay at the school?

I wouldn’t move my child if they were happy and settled, no. Maybe look into other options - is there a friend that lives local you could pay for a lift, even twice a week? Could you learn to drive? If the route isn’t long, walk / bike?

I dont know, she doesnt really have many friends there its a nice school but the local one seems just as good i think she wants to stay because she is use to it. It wasnt my first choice of school it was the only one that had space as we moved during the year.

It’s too long otherwise i wouldnt get the bus. No one lives local due to how far out we live, we dont see anyone up here.

Also she doesnt have many friends so not really anyone to ask.

I would move mine

I would move her. If she doesn’t have local friends anyway, especially as she gets further into Y4,5,6 when they actually go round to each other’s houses, you won’t want to be doing that journey in the evenings too and on weekends. Having local friends will be a much bigger deal as she gets older.

Is there a space locally?
If so, go and visit it with her.

Is there an option to get an earlier bus and put her in breakfast club, or even a cafe nearby for breakfast? Even if it’s only a couple of times a week.

Yes this. I dodged the peak school run hours for the last 2 years by using breakfast/after school club.

Would she be willing to go and see the other school? Maybe they’d let her do a taster session?
No harm in at least looking at moving her unless she’s absolutely dead against it.
If she doesn’t have many friends now you could sell it to her as a chance to make new ones and a chance to have friends closer to home she might be able to play with after school and on weekends.
If she’s got 3 years left that’s a long time to settle in and make friends before secondary, and I agree she’s going to be too young to do this journey alone until at least end of year 5 so moving somewhere she could walk would be much better for you all.

If she has 3 years to go I would move her. We did things the other way and moved house so we could have an easy school run, but we were going to move anyway as we needed another bedroom. Honestly life is so much easier with a walk to school.

If you've been doing the school run for 10yrs surely she's old enough to go on her own by now?

The op has older children who have moved on to secondary.

Yes i have older children who have left. Leaving earlier wont make much difference we are near secondary schools that start earlier so we would be going the same time as them and i couldnt afford the breakfast club anyway. Later would be the only way to avoid it but obviously we cant do that.

And to mention again she will never be going there alone the bus is full of too many rude people. The man being nasty to me this morning confirmed to me i will not be letting her travel there alone.