Waking to school - important?

[RunningOnHope]

We're in a fortunate situation where there are 4 local primaries we'd have a good chance of getting in to, so looking around all. One we could walk to in 7 mins - it's on our road. Another more like 15-20. The other two are half an hour, one along a busy road, so realistically we'd drive.

How important does easy walkability feel to you in choosing? Would you sacrifice anything else for the sake of being close? I know visiting and gut feel will be important but our closest one has that it advantage but also a big disadvantage to me in having a 45 intake so split/mixed year groups. Don't know how big a factor the close distance should be.

I really value our walks to school, albeit have only been able to do it recently due to going part time. Walking to morning and after school clubs took too much out of the day.
The difference in the kids from walking is quite marked. They seem calmer. It’s dedicated time with no distractions to have a chat

Ours is about 10-15 mins walk, (10 for me, 15 when I have DD with me!) and I really like the walk to and from school. It feels like a gentler transition from home to school (she's only just started) and it's a nice time for us to reconnect at the end of the day too. I wouldn't like to have to drive every day if I could avoid it.

Walking distance very important. Sets the DC up for the day in calm relaxed way and you can spend the time chatting about whatever. As they get to Y5 and Y6 they might want to start walking with friends which is great for a bit of independence. Plus playdates are more likely to be walkable and you are more likely to chat with other parents and make friends on the walk to school.

It was our first priority. If the school had been terrible then of course may have been different but it makes life and independence in Y6 immeasurably easier

Very important
its not just school that will be within walking distance but friends too and that becomes even more important when your child is a bit older and can walk around him/herself

also. Don’t underestimate how hard it is to park near a primary school. In most cases ids a bloody nightmare

I would not be too put off by the composite classes thing, many schools handle it very well

I think feeder schools as they used to be is pretty rare now. Secondary applications are mostly based on where you live not where you went to primary school.

Walking is important partly because it's a social experience walking home with other families, plus they can walk themselves when older. Only exception is if they are going to be in childcare before and after

I think it's important - the walk to school with my son is where he tells me things about his day/stuff he's worried about (he also does at bedtime but less reliably as he's tired then). I don't think he'd open up as much of we were driving and I was concentrating on negotiating the mad school traffic. W

Oh and he likes walking home with his best friend or going home through the park and playing with his sister. It's just lovely tbh!

For me personally it wouldn’t even factor.

Go around the schools you’ll be so surprised at the differences.
We also have four good schools all pretty much equal distance, although the bus for one leaves from our gate (the other three are a 10min drive). Prior to looking around them we had kind of assumed that she’d go to the easiest but when we went to look around they were very different and good in their own ways. Ones particularly good with SEN, one very academic minded, one pupil centric and one very sporty (to generalise massively).

My point is that they all had a good reputation but until you go and see, you’ll instantly ‘feel’ where you’ll fit.

Everyone's different. I have fruendsvwho happily drive everywhere. For me personally, being able to walk to school was essential.

Unfortunately for us we don't have any local primary schools so we have to drive DD to school. However I do park up a short walk away, where it's a bit quieter to give her the sense of walking to school. I don't know why, maybe because I have fond memories of walking to school with my mum 😄

I would choose the school I preferred.

We have a school 10 mins walk away (rated good) but chose the further away school (outstanding), it’s a 5 min drive but 50 min walk so we drive. There is plenty of parking though even during the busiest times it’s easy to get a parking spot 2 mins walk away.

Obviously it would be nice to walk and I do wish we lived closer, but the school was so much better than our closest one and I’m so glad we chose the one we did.

I plan to park further away from the school during the summer then my DC can ride their scooters in/ have a bit of a walk.

Love being able to walk within 10mins it’s so much easier.

For me it’s not important (or even possible where we currently live) I never walked to school and here the nearest one is a drive away. If it ends up being the one you prefer and you want a bit of that walk you can always drive part way and walk part way.

We chose a school 30mins walk away rather than the one right behind our house because DS had a good cohort of friends from nursery going there, the school has a big emphasis on spending time outdoors, and they were much more helpful and responsive when we first contacted them. In the end we probably drive 50% of the time and walk or cycle 50% of the time. Cycling makes it a bit quicker but a half hour walk in the morning (an hour for me as I have to walk back too!) is actually a really nice way to start the day.

Walking is lovely at certain points and stages but also depends on working patterns, siblings, activities etc.

Our route is brilliant now I’ve got both in primary- it’s sets us up well for the morning , gives us a chance to have a chat etc and avoids the manic car park. it will also be great once my eldest is allowed to walk home herself. We use a lot of after school care so end up driving to collect from that as it’s much later. Lots of parents also end up driving even from walking distance if they’re going to activities straight from school.

our route used to be a nightmare though with a buggy - when I had one at home and one at school I often ended up driving on non-working days as it’s less fun getting a sibling to walk there and back. On working days I had nursery drop-off to think about as well so was often driving anyway.

I would put walkability high up the priority list. My parents live just round the corner from school, and parents end up coming an hour early for the school run to ensure they have a parking place. If you are doing the school run, then that’s 2 hours wasted every day.

(I’m assuming from your question that you’ll be doing the school run rather than using wraparound care).

With regards to mixed year groups, my daughter’s friend is at a school that does this. Her mum seems very happy. They seem very experienced at accommodating the different needs across the spectrum of the two years. Dare I say it, better than our school, which doesn’t mix years. But this could be just down to the individual schools.

We moved during primary school and went from having to drive them to walking and it was wonderful.

It so nice not to have to think about traffic and parking. In the summer of year five my dd started to walk with friends and that meant I could go back to work.

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. I hadn't considered the time to walk with her might be good bonding time. Definitely see the helpfulness of local friends and favours too.

When she starts, we will have an 8 month old so it's at least a decade of our lives...!

Yes that aspect of it was something I hadn't thought about when we moved and went from driving to school to walking.

We went from slightly stilted conversation in the car or listening to something, to genuine chatting all the way. I now have a much better idea what she's feeling about all sorts of things because of this!

It was a top priority for us and in fact we moved house when they were babies so it could happen. The traffic and parking situation looked horrendous, but we had a nice calm easy walk (and like others have said a good chance to chat about their day, as well as exercise!)