How long is too long for school run

[Oneofthosedayzz]

We live in Wimbledon. My husband and I can’t agree on a school to send my daughter.

so, we have a girl ( 3 years) and a boy (11 month). Public transport is quite useless around where we live. We got offer from two good schools:

1. one is co-ed, the other is girls only
2. both are good schools, both are till 11. but we believe the girls only would be better for our daughter
3. both offer breakfast club and wrap around till 6pm
4. we plan to send our son to a day nursery when he’s 1.5 years old, and try to see if he can get into Kings through 7+, so likely they will go to different schools.
5. we both work full time, at the moment, mostly from home but that could change as we change job in the future.

we have a tough time deciding between donhead and holy cross. The main issue we can’t agree on is school run. My husband is feeling optimistic and I’m not. I think the girl only school is too far for us, according to Google, it’s between 12 to 20 minutes one way. And if ever, we want to get a nanny to help us, we need someone who can drive.

how long is too long for school runs? Anyone has experience doing school runs of similar distance , say 20 minutes one way due to traffic, how is your experience? Would you recommend against it?

20 min is totally fine!

When l read your heading my first thought was 20 minutes. Think carefully about having two different schools though as the extra organisation could become a pain especially if they both open at the same time etc.

Personally I wou move to an area where you could walk to the school. I enjoyed the school run, met lots of people I'm still friendly with and avoided the frustration of sitting in horrible traffic every morning.
But I'm a child of the 1970s and I walked myself to school ( in a rural village) every day from the age of 6, so that does colour my view a bit

20 mins isn’t that far and I would say a normal amount of time to get to school.

my DS attends a school that is 45 mins away as it’s the nearest school that can meet his needs and at first I was really worried about the journey but it hasn’t been so bad and DS has quickly adapted to the journey.

I know of a little girl same age as primary DS that travels 2 hours each way to attend to school for the same reason’s. 2 hours I would say is way to long and anything over a hour would be as well.

I think the closer the better to maintain friendships. Not many parents are keen to facilitate friendships where DC live too far away.

*As a drop off would be a 40 minute round trip for them.

The school that I went to took us 20 minutes to drive to. So I don't think it's too long, from that perspective.
But do agree with PP that the closer the school the better for friendships being near

20 min drive or walk ?

20 min walk us completely normal

20 min drive means that when they're old enough to walk on their own in Yr 5 / 6 then it's going to be trek

Unless you're going to drive them to school their whole life

An hour is what some teachers travel to their schools so I'd base it on that for me being the longest I'd drive them to school although that's not feasible for me at all because I work

If your not working then it doesn't really matter because you're not rushing off to work

An hour is what some teachers travel to their schools so I'd base it on that for me being the longest I'd drive them to school although that's not feasible for me at all because I work

How would that work? Most DC would hate this and would probably have no friends.

That length of journey in a car is downright cruel. Send DC to their local school. It's a good job you work tbh.

I’ve gone from having a <3 min each way to 20 min each way journey.

The 40 min round trip has made a big difference in my day - it has gone from just popping out to pick DC up, to probably the best part of two hours out of my day by the time we’ve sorted ourselves out to leave, dropped off, waited to pick up and sorted ourselves out when we get back.

20minute in and of itself is fine but is it common for that school. I don't know the schools, are they private or state? A 20 minute drive to a state school in London is going to mean that they have very few if any friends nearby, whereas my friends tell me it's not unusual for private. I chose the closest school as wanted DC to be able to walk themselves when big enough (it is a good school but would've chosen it unless it was absolutely dire) and we've both gained such a network of local friends.

If you want to consider Kings at 7+, why not rather apply to The Rowans or Squirrels Pre-preps, as they specifically prepare for the exams. If you are unsuccessful, you can then move to another prep school in Year 3.

For your daughter you have The Study, Wimbledon High and Putney High as great options.

I would not think that Donhead prepares for the 7+. They have a reputation for being a lovely and nurturing, but a less academic school. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you would have to do a lot of the 7+ prep yourselves.

I do a 20 min drive to a prep school find it ok so far

20 mins each way is 40 mins in the car and whatever time it takes to park, get your DC into the school, and then get away again. That is likely to be around 50 mins for that one school run. Now add in your DS's nursery drop off and then different school ... and then bear in mind that you'll be doing that journey TWICE every day.

I would urge you to find one school that is going to suit both your DC that is as close as possible to your home - pref. walking distance.

20 minutes is a treat even one way.

20 minutes is absolutely nothing. I drive my Foster Son 20 miles taking over an hour in rush hour to Birmingham then another hour 20 miles back home. Then in the afternoon another 20 miles 45 minutes in to collect him then 20 miles and another hour back home. On Thursdays he's at Sandwell so instead of 20 miles it's 25 miles and 1 1/4 hours in then 1 hour and 25 miles back and afternoon 1 hour 25 miles in and 1 1/4 hours 25 miles back home. I would absolutely love just 20 minutes.

Try it out, at the time you'd be going. Then things like parking etc will become apparent too. I'm going to be doing the same, 10 mins drive but will be 20/25 rush hour. You might be able to park a bit further away and walk the last bit (if that helps avoid some of the traffic?).

No drive to school should be acceptable if you live in a city. Walk to the nearest school.

@Rosesanddaisies1
If this is from an environmental perspective are holidays anywhere that involve a plane not allowed either?

This is what I was going to say

I have friends who do 2 diff schools due to sn and it's a nightmare

We do 30 mins each way. It's about 15 miles away. It's ok, we split school run between us and my parents. I would choose the best school and then if you are that bothered you could move eventually.

20 mins is fine. When mine were in primary my journey was 15 - 30 mins, depending on how many milking herds we could avoid in the lanes!