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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Would you send your Reception aged child to school in a taxi?

69 replies

Lucky13 · 16/10/2012 19:20

DD (4) is entitled to free transport and the LEA currently provide a taxi service with CRB checked drivers. As of next term I won't be able to take her to school anymore but I'm worried about sending her in the taxi. She probably will be with two other children who she knows, but they are much older.

My other concern is car seats - they don't provide them! She is still under weight for a booster seat, so I wouldn't be happy with her in one of these on a regular journey either.

When they get to school, the driver just drops them off at the entrance and they have to make their own way in with no teacher to meet them. So in theory they could just walk off if they wanted.

What would you do?

OP posts:

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BobblyGussets · 16/10/2012 21:29

We said "No" to the offer of a taxi to a school about 3 miles away for our then 7 year old DS when we move and no local school had a space. We continued the commute to the old school (30 mile round trip, twice a day for about a month) before our personal plea to the headteacher to squeeze him in to their school around the corner was granted.

Don't do it OP. Does she have a Dad on the scene? This is all part of parenting, and if it was not good enough for our 7 yo, it is not good enough for your four year old. If she has two parents, one of you needs to do the school run.

Gumby · 16/10/2012 21:43

If she has two parents, one of you needs to do the school run

Or find a safe alternative - nanny, babysitter, fruebd with school children at same place etc

JustFabulous · 16/10/2012 21:50

I think sending an 8 year old alone in a taxi is terrible so no way would I send a four year old.

bsmirched · 16/10/2012 22:02

We have children who come to school the school where I teach by taxi, but the drivers always bring them to the main entrance and make sure they're handed over to someone. Can you speak to the taxi company directly?

Mspontipine · 16/10/2012 22:03

Taxi drivers are the worst drivers I know. In our town I regularly see them speeding in heavily built up areas, carrying passengers with babies on laps, whizzing over crossings and through green men, ignoring all safety precautions around local school - blocking gates, sat on zig zags, talking on mobile phones while driving - I wouldn't let my ds travel with someone with so little regard for the safety of children I couldn't risk it. :(

MelodyPondering · 16/10/2012 22:09

Mine aren't alone, there are other children who get the taxi too.

marykat2004 · 16/10/2012 22:17

Wow I am shocked. Not just how you would feel, but also how would a 4 year old feel going to school alone without his mum? My friend wouldn't let her son go alone in a taxi and he is 15. That was at night though, but, still, I can't believe that some children are meant to go to school in taxis especially so young. Surely your employer has to give you more flexible working hours? Or find an "extended school" that has breakfast clubs and after school activities?

Original poster

Lucky13 · 17/10/2012 00:45

I don't have a flexibility with working hours as a new job and commute is long.
To make the taxi work I would have to ensure that it is met by a teacher each day. I know they are taken out in the afternoon ok.
It is a small rural school where a 4 year old travelling alone on a bus is quite normal, but still difficult to get my head round.
There are no child minders in the area available - maybe I should set up as that instead of going back to work!
I would be interested in finding out what the legal position is re car seats though.

OP posts:

bigbuttons · 17/10/2012 07:06

hell would freeze over before I would do that to my child. Poor bloody kid. Op I am utterly shocked you even contemplating it.

bigbuttons · 17/10/2012 07:08

Btw it is not ok for a 4 year old to travel anywhere alone. I suspect it would give them life long issues.

outtolunchagain · 17/10/2012 07:14

Lots of four year olds travel in taxis to school in rural areas, schools are not always around the corner from home and parents don't always have transport.They are not scarred for life ,don't be so hysterical.

OP not sure about the car seats issue, I would speak to the council.

Bonsoir · 17/10/2012 07:19

I don't understand why you have a problem with this. When I was at school there was a school bus for children aged 4-18. It is much harder for a 4 year old to take a huge coach with lots of secondary-aged children on it than to be in a taxi with another couple of little ones.

TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 17/10/2012 07:20

OP I am really surprised if this arrangement is acceptable to the LA, did they propose it?

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 17/10/2012 07:22

Well I had this at the beginning of the year when our childminder from last year stoped childminding. I had the same reservations as you about my 4yo being expected to use public transport alone. I can't say I resolved it, the new cm we had got re jogged things so they could pick up.

Can you talk to the school and explain your worries? Mine sound similar to yours - car seats and handover.

Some very unhelpful and verging on hysterical comments on this thread though.

SamSmalaidh · 17/10/2012 07:45

I don't see the problem with a child travelling in a taxi, this thread is getting a bit hysterical - "life long issues"!??

See if you can meet with the LEA to discuss - if you can put your DD in the taxi in a high backed booster, the driver physically hands her and the carseat over to the office staff at the school, and then they install her and the seat in the taxi on the way home I think this would be fine.

MelodyPondering · 17/10/2012 07:51

Good grief bigbuttons, get a bloody grip. It's perfectly normal in rural areas. My boys love getting the taxi, its always the same driver and there are about five other children on the taxi too.

Maybe we are all shit parents? Life long issues? My 13yo dd seems to be pretty well adjusted even though she used a taxi. It's not like calling one and saying 'come and pick up my 4yo'

saintlyjimjams · 17/10/2012 07:52

It is very normal in the SN world.

Ds1 had a taxi in year 1 (he was non verbal with the understanding of an 18 month old). However he was given a booster seat (if smaller he would have been given a car seat) which stayed with him for years. He did have an escort as well as a driver (which I would expect).

He moved onto the bus in year 2 (the taxis are easier for littlies as the journeys on the bus can be much longer).

NT parents will be horrified but it is normal in the SN world - ask parents of older kids what your transport service is like.

saintlyjimjams · 17/10/2012 07:57

Oh sorry is this for mainstream school? In which case you won't get an escort. I'd ask about meeting arrangements, 4 is a bit young to make her own way into school unless it is literally at the school gate. Could a TA meet her? What does the school do with other you g children.

Ignore the hysterics in the thread, thousands of young children travel by bus/taxi every day - it sounds as if meeting needs some arranging, but the actual taxi isn't an issue.

jamdonut · 17/10/2012 07:58

We have children, some in ks1, that come by taxi, (but I think they are paid for by social services.) They are always met by a member of staff at the staff entrance door. (It is like getting into Fort Knox ,at our school, due to safeguarding issues!)

jamdonut · 17/10/2012 08:04

Am a bit at some of the negative comments to the OP. Why shouldn't she consider it? Not everyone has the option to be there 24/7 for their children. If you can...great! If you can't, then I am sure you talk to your children and explain why. They WILL understand, and get over it. It is the way it is

marriedinwhite · 17/10/2012 08:07

The LA is providing you free transport with a CRB checked driver to take your child to school in a taxi along with two older children.

You ring the parents of the other children and see how it is going, check out the continuity with the driver etc. They may actually love it and and the driver may be the nicest, kindest person imaginable.

You ring the school and express your concern about the children being left at the roadside. The driver may be able to bring them in; a ta may be able to come out to meet them.

You call the taxi company about car seats and explain you would either like a booster to be available for your dd in the taxi or you provide a booster for her.

You daughter needs to go to school, you can't take her, a good solution is available for you and you need to make it work for you.

Runoutofideas · 17/10/2012 08:12

If you could find another mum who is prepared to take her, she doesn't have to be a registered childminder as it would be for less than 2 hours per day. You could pay her and it wouldn't be an issue. Is there someone who lives en route who might be happy to do it for a bit of extra money?

TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 17/10/2012 08:18

I really would check with the LA/school as they may change the policy of just dropping off as your child is so young (if the older children are 7 or 8 this may be ok for them but not you).

There is some kind of booster seat in a backpack that you can buy, perhaps this would work for the taxi if they won't keep a booster in the boot for you. I think a full car seat might be a big ask (and she may shoot up in height soon anyway!)

saintlyjimjams · 17/10/2012 08:18

The car seats are usually provided by transport, not the taxi company.

Transport is a good place to start with concerns. They should have procedures/systems - including for young children, which should include not leaving a 4 year old child at the side of a road.

saintlyjimjams · 17/10/2012 08:20

Re car seats - in ds1's school - the car seats of children who travel by taxi usually go in and out of the school/home. They do not stay in the taxi. they stay on buses.

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