How important is it to be able to walk to school?

[MrsMonkey]

Hi - I'm a Brit currently living overseas, but will be moving back to the UK with two primary aged kids next year. We are currently looking for houses and have seen a couple we can afford in the right kind of areas. One you could easily walk to one of three local schools. The other I would have to drive every day. In fact the other I would have to drive pretty much everywhere, where as the first I could walk to local shops.

I currently drive the kids into school - no choice because it is the international school, but parking isn't too bad. However, I hate doing the school run, and dream of the day when we can all walk from home.

The question is, how important do people think it really is to be able to walk your kids to school? I will be walking with a 6 year old, 5 year old, and little one in a pushchair. When it comes down to it, am I going to want to put them all in the car during freezing/wet weather anyway? What is the maximum distance people would be willing to walk to school (bearing in mind as the mum you will have to do it four times a day). I always thought walking the kids to school would give us/them a much better quality of life during the week - but is it really worth coughing up for a slightly more expensive house for?

Cheers!

for primary school, it's vital!

We live two roads away from our primary and the surrounding streets are full of dcs' friends

I've not been able to drive for the last two weeks because of surgery and I don't know how I'd have coped if our school run involved the car - as it is I've had a string of people offering to pick up and drop off, and the good thing is I don't feel like I'm inconveniencing them as they're just walking past the house anyway

Being in walking distance for secondary isn't as important imo, but it has to be easily accessible by public transport - ds1 goes to school 9 miles away but it's an easy, quick train journey which is very sociable as loads of his friends use the same train - there's no way I could drive him there and back every day!

"for primary school, it's vital! "

But not always possibly for everyone.

glucose - many of those parents may then be having to drive on to their own work places, after drop off, hence not using public transport. Also the cst of public transport in some areas is really much higher than people using their own car, even taking into account the parking for drop off.

It wouldn't matter what school DD went to - we'd still have to use the car for drop off at the very least, plus some pick ups - because both DH and myself work. The luxury of a walk to school is not physically possible for some families, especially where both parents work or are unable to have work that fits round school hours.

Oh and we are perfectly capable of chatting the car. We talk about our days, we do reading homework and spellings too, plus timestables pracitse. Gets it out the way for when home. It isn't all doom and gloom if you have to use a car.

I'm (still) trying to decide between a school we can walk to which is up to 7 and one that I would need to drive to that is up to 13. tough one.

yes true that if you have to get straight ot work after drop off a car can be essential
I used to drive dd to school because I didn't have time to walk home again to ge thte car to drive to work.

it was my only consideration when choosing a school for DD, as i can't drive

and it is good exercise, gets them used to being out in all weathers and is an excellent opportunity to actually spend quality time with your child. You can just chat, I loved it.

DD has just started high school, that is over a mile away, and has the choice of bus, bike or walking

she mostly goes on her bike or walks, by herself or with friends

another bonus, is they learn about road safety at an early age

I am fairly confident in her road sense

Thanks so much for all the replies!

Someone mentioned having to decide between a school that goes up to age 7 and one that goes up to 13. We have a similar problem.

It is probably not worth worring about anyway, as we will just have to go with where ever we are lucky enough to get in - but basically we have one school 2 minutes away, quite small, very nice but only goes up to age 7. I think most kids go on to private afterwards. The next closest is also a good school, much bigger, and goes up to 11 I think - slightly further to walk, including crossing a main A-road, but at a crossing with traffic lights.

I would love to put the kids in the very, very close small school, but DD will only get a year there (if she was lucky enough to get a place anyway). The following year DS would still be at the small school but DD would be too old and then I would be faced with getting one to the close school and one to the next closest school (if I'm lucky) - so drop off/pick up would be troublesome.

Should I just forget about even applying for the really close school (literally 100m away so would have a very good chance of getting in under distance alone) and just try and get them both into the good but slightly further to walk school so that we have a more straight forward drop off? I guess if the bigger school has an early drop off scheme that might work.

I think 7 is a bit too young for her to be expected to walk to school on her own, paricularly given the busy crossing.

I think you might be wise to go for the next-closest. I agree 7 is too young, and a year before changing is very short

I agree, and a very very small school might mean that there are less opportunities for a new child to make friends easily - only a few of her age. Whereas in a larger school there will be more possibilities for making friends.

mrsm - we are currently living the 3 dcs in 2 schools scenario, which is slightly preferable to last year's 3 dcs in 3 school/ nursery scenario. if the infant/ junior is not close, and the start/ collect time is similar, it is def not a small consideration. currently i have no option but to drive (but also fill the car up with junior school kids lol) but we are in the opposite position to you - moving o'seas in the summer where the 1 school that will take all 3 children for the next 5 years is two minutes walk from the house. i am beyond joy.

my vote? walk the walk, and find a school that will take them all for the longest. i am done with traffic

lol at a year is too short though. dd1 will be starting her 5th school in august in fifth grade.

My village has no local school, so I drive and while the drive is ok, the parking is a pita.
Plus I think ds misses out on playing with schoolfriends because we live further away and more of a pain for parents to collect their kids.
I wish I'd thought more about the location of schools when we moved here, tbh.

We lived a short drive from DS's school when he first started, and then moved to just round the corner. The difference in quality of life is immense. It is just so much less stressful not worrying about parking / traffic, and there is a lovely feeling when all the children are converging on the pavement and walking together.

I will let DS walk when he is 8 - partly because we have been walking to school, everyy other walking family recognises him and knows who he is, so there is a v strong sense of community. I work f/t, so walking back round the corner with other Mums is the best time i have to talk to them, and get to know what's going on and be part of things. And having so many friends within easy walking distance is brilliant.

For the last 3 years we've been 3 minutes walk from dd's school. It was great.

We are just moving her to a school further away, and will have to drive her there, at least at first.

The reason to give up the walk is that her current school is simply not challenging her, there is no music, virtually no art, no drama. The major problem is that she is so bored and losing interest in education. For that, it is worth giving up the walk.