How important do you think it is to live close to the primary school ?

[Hideehi]

I am just looking at buying a house in an OK area because the school is close, I would never choose to live there otherwise and think the properties are massively overpriced.

Would DD get more involved in the playdates thing if we lived closer or does that not matter ?

We live very close to the school we go to and I love it. I like being able to walk to school and chat along the way - we often meet up with other parents and kids also walking there and get to chat. It does feel a nice community with that aspect.

Ds1 gets a fair amount of playdates, but to be honest, I couldn't tell you if he gets more because we live close or because we walk as obviously I don't know any different. I just know that being able to walk to school was a big criteria of mine for my two, and will be reason why I'd be very reluctant to move from here while the dses are at that school even if there was a much better house on offer.

Plus, I think you have to also look at how stressful you find driving, how difficult it is to park near the school, how much stress it would be to bundle your kids into the car seat every single morning no matter what their mood... (can you tell that I really love walking )

It's a lot easier if you live close by. Playing will friends is a big part of school life.

Also if you are close by you have an easier life when you have to go to school for parents nights, shows etc.

We live about 2 miles form dd1's school and have to drive as there are no pavements. It is still our closest school.

dd1 still has plaenty of friends to play, and goes to their houses too. A fair number of her friends don't live within walking distance either.

I would ;lovw to wal sometimes, especially when there is more traffic, or when it is lovely weather.

I don't see why playdates or playing with friends would be a problem - playdates are arranged largely at the school gates IME or by phone in the holidays.

how near/far did you have in mind? I would hesitate to live more than about 10 mins drive away

I love living within walking distance of school - it's about 3/4 mile. It means ds1's friends are all fairly local, and it's great picking up people you meet on the way.

Oh, forgot to mention that one of ds1's friends lives 2 doors away as well - so on the summer weekends they'll quite often play out the front together, which is really nice.

If we'd have lived further a way he may have struck up a friendship with a neighbour, of course, but I think they have a stronger friendship because they're in the same class as well.

I am finding it makes little difference at the moment. DD's (private) school is about 3 miles from home. The childen come from various places in and around the city, all driving distances away from school. This hasn't stopped playdates or friendships at all - having 2 or 3 a week on average at the moment.

Our state school would have been walking distance, but because of work most days either Dh or I would have had to drive her there anyway.

As it is the location of the current school is great as both DH and I pass it on our way to/from work.

Dd is also at an independant school, it is about 8 miles away from where we live and children come from up to 10-15 miles away.

I don't think that this has hindered playdates at all, what has done is the fact that I and many other parents all work. I would be unable to invite any child for a playdate although dd has been to one who has a sahm.

There is a children's playground oppositge the school car park and on the days when I am ble to collect her at 3.20pm dd and several other children have quarter of an hour playing there.

Even if dd went to the local state school around the corner I would still have to drive her there on my way to work and to be honest I would struggle as I work about 10 minutes away from school but a good half hour away from the local primary.

i think it's really important. if you have a local school that you can walk to, the children learn about their local communities as well as having friends close by.

We drive. It is about a 45 minute walk or 10 minute drive. Playdates haven't been a problem - there are 4 families on our road at the same school, though 3 closest neighbours are all at different schools. I like the fact that my children can also call on children who aren't at the same school ie they can have a break from school if they want to.

When we moved I wanted to be able to walk to school. However, we had to compromise on something and walking to school was it.

It is about mile and half, so takes over an hour to walk both ways - plus gossiping time at school gate . Hence we drive. Takes 5 mins.

One thing I have found though is to park a bit of a walk away and then walk the final bit so we still get caught up in the walking to school feel and socal side of this. Plus it is easier to park!

For me it has not been a problem, even on the mornings DS has hsi terrible twos on. probably because the journey is fairly stressfree. There are other children in our Close who go to DD's school, but there are others that go to other schools too.

As for playdates, have had no problem. Seems a lot of the parents drive to school here. It is quite popular so draws from quite a wide area.

We had to choose between driving to a school with an excellent educational record or walking to one with a rather more dubious one. We went for the nearest one and I think we are reaping the benefits.

I feel that we are getting much more out of school life because everything is on the doorstep. When we walk to school, we almost invariably pick up a little gaggle of children all walking the same direction and they get a lot out of the whole social experience of the journey to school. And we feel so much part of the local community, in a way I don't think we would if we were constantly driving to the next area.

In our case, it has helped us make two very good friends who live within 100 yards of our house, so yes, it has improved DD1's social life (and mine!). But I'm sure playdates can be arranged by car. Personally, I find walking much more pleasant than driving, so I was keen to avoid having all DD1's friends a car journey away. But maybe you're happy with driving her around?

I wish we lived closer to the school. All the other children do (long story why we chose it) and I do feel that DS misses out on the play after school, but that might also be because he goes to the childminder after school, and I wonder if that puts people off - they think that routine can't be changed and they don't see me often enough to broach it... Don't know. It's bothering me a bit...

I live a 20-25 minute walk from the school. DC do get invites to others house sometimes, it suits me fine that its not every day or week.
I found that once I invited someone to our house, they return the invite and then it gets into a habit.

We live in the middle of nowhere and it has affected DCs social lives at pre-school age because I'm not in the 'village'.

Eldest DD has now started school in a different area to the pre-school. It's still about 3 miles drive (no pavements) but the friendships are now more child-led than parent-arranged so it's no longer an issue.