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Secondary education

How important is being able to walk to school?

38 replies

AnnabellesScarf · 10/08/2016 19:52

Starting to think about applying to secondary schools.

We have 2 good ones that we have a healthy chance of getting into.

One, school A, is a 20 minute walk away.

The other, school B, is in the next town, and would involve a fifteen minute walk to the station, a ten minute train ride and another fifteen minute walk onwards from the station.

I think there might possibly be a school bus as well, I don't know how long that takes or if there would be spaces on it. School is only actually a 20 minute drive away, so perhaps a bus would be quite quick.

Both schools look attractive, and we will go to the open days and look round both.

But we are struggling to decide how much weight to give the fact that a school is walking distance. School B is a lot more shiny and modern and I expect we will all be wowed by the facilities.

Would you pick one school over another purely on distance?

DH went to his nearest school, in walking distance, regrets it and wishes he had gone to a different one a bus ride away.

I had no secondary school in walking distance so had to travel anyway - it didn't particularly bother me (but I disliked that lots of my friends lived far away). On the other hand, one of the reasons we moved here was so that DC could walk to school.

DH thinks we should judge the best school for itself without thinking about location.
I think location is a key factor in deciding which is best.
DS, I suspect, will want to go where most of his friends go, or where has the shiniest facilities (ie, probably school B)

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Davros · 12/08/2016 23:39

Like some others I had an awful journey to and from school and I'm still bitter about it (I'm 56 now!). It was an excellent and highly regarded school and I still have friends from then but I feel the journey was a massive disadvantage. My mum did not drive so that was not an option. If there were any problems with the transport, which there frequently were and it was much less reliable then, I just had to suck it up. I remember crying waiting for a bus on my own for over an hour after netball practice. Everyone else had gone and it was getting dark. Awful! It did make me independent but, looking back, perhaps a bit too much! As I got older I often just went to a friend's after school and stayed overnight, sometimes two or three nights in a row! It was rather odd really

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amidawish · 12/08/2016 19:20

i would always choose a school with a decent journey, which school B sounds to me
i wouldn't choose an amazing school with a hideous journey

but i also wouldn't just go for the closest school

sometimes a bit of a journey to school is good to give a bit of distance/wind down/time out

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ChippyMinton · 12/08/2016 12:23

Mine travel to secondary. 2 catch the bus, one takes the train then walks.
I am happy that they chose the best schools for them. Although it means an early start (7.20am) they can be home by 3.45 or 4pm.

I was initially concerned about the time spent travelling, but realised that the kids who catch the bus to the more local schools have to leave at the same time because their buses are overcrowded.

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HippyPottyMouth · 12/08/2016 12:11

I went to a school in the next town. At the time I was able to have a free bus pass until the end of Year 11, but round here at least, that's not available any more. My mum factored in distance from bus stop when we moved house, and accepted that my social life would largely be in School Town, so was happy to give me lifts to friends' houses and pick me up late from the pub when I was in sixth form. Without that, it would have been more difficult, as it was for friends with less obliging parents.

The journey to and from school was fine. The bus was full of kids going to my school. The only disadvantage was that I missed out on having friends round the corner who I could knock for on the off- chance. I lost touch with most of my friends from primary school as they all went to the same secondary in our town. Socialising took just a little bit more planning. It was a really minor disadvantage, and 20 years on I still have lots of school friends. If the further away school has real advantages over the local one I would do it for my DD in a heartbeat, when the time comes.

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bigTillyMint · 12/08/2016 11:58

Both sound fine - given the public transport one is not that far away. Where do the DC that ho to that school live - would there be many travel lung that same way/living nearby for socialising?

My DC got v used to public transport v quickly and zip about all overy the place to see/with friends/to do sport. After the first week you will wonder what you were worrying about Grin

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ImNotDancing · 12/08/2016 11:52

I didnt go to my local secondary (not walking distance but 10 mins on the bus)
Instead I went to one that was an hour and a half bus journey away (and then another ten minute walk)
honestly, although the one I went to had a better ofsted rating (to begin with at least) I wish I'd gone to the local one
My social life suffered massively, had no way of doing anything after school because it took so long to got home and I lived so far away it was hard to do things at the weekends which led to me feeling totally isolated in and out of school

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Needmoresleep · 12/08/2016 11:50

It is a factor, but just one of many to be weighed up.

DD had a 40 minute commute on bus and tube, which was fine. She then changed at sixth form to a school that only took girls at that point, and had a 10 minute walk. It was so much nicer, which does not mean that the first school was the wrong choice, nor that the journey was not manageable.

A lot may depend on whether there is much going on after school or how easy it is to say, do bits of homework on the journey. Language vocabularly learning perhaps. Or friends to share the journey. Safety, frequency, and alternative routes are also worth considering. DD somehow managed to get all her homework done at school or on the tube Hmm, but we got sick of picking her up if she was playing in a late match or similar. She also had "five bag days" which involved me driving up to meet her at the tube.

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NotCitrus · 12/08/2016 11:46

I think being able to get there themselves is important, method less so. Parents being able to help on special occasions is possibly a consideration.

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LBOCS2 · 12/08/2016 10:46

Shouldn't be a factor.

My secondary was a 10 min walk-10min train ride - 10 min walk away, and that was absolutely normal within my peer group (inner London selective school) - lots of them were on the bus for 40-50 minutes each way. It's not unusual, particularly for a good school or one without a traditional 'catchment' so students come from a wider geographical area.

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catslife · 12/08/2016 10:35

Check the start and end times for the school day. There is a significant difference if they have to be in school for 8.25am to if they have to be there at 9am to start the day when travelling.
What about extra-curricular activities particularly those after school. Secondary pupils often have more equipment to take to school and locker space could be limited. At one stage dd had to carry her trumpet, PE kit and items for DT Food Tech all on the same day which would have been very difficult on a bus or train. If they forget an item of PE kit or their homework, it's much easier for a parent to drop it off at school for them if they are at a nearby school for example.
I would be careful about labelling teenagers as "lazy" it's more that there body clock shifts, so they are wide awake and alert later in the mornings but also keep going to much later in the evenings too.

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heron98 · 12/08/2016 09:45

I went to an excellent school that was a longish bus journey away.

The school was great, but I hated that journey so much. I felt constantly exhausted and none of my friends lived anywhere near me so I rarely saw anyone at weekends or after school.

I think being able to walk to school is a hugely important.

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MarshHarriet · 11/08/2016 19:51

I was two bus rides away from my school and my parents did a lot of taxi-ing once the teen parties started.

I find a school with a close catchment places children in a good social circle - my kids have walked to primary and secondary, and can easily walk to friends houses.

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AnnabellesScarf · 11/08/2016 18:07

Lots of things to think about here. I envisage spreadsheets with pros and cons of each school written on. Very good point made about the difference between keen 11 year olds and lazy teenagers!

DC's primary is a named feeder school (or whatever they are called) for school B, so we have a high chance of a place. It has several feeder schools over a very wide area, so I assume lots of pupils will come by bus or train. Train is reasonably reliable and frequent enough (every 20 minutes)

School A has a very small catchment area, but we live inside it, so again, good chance of a place.

Academically the schools are very similar. School A has slightly better results, but there really isn't much in it.
Pastorally, School B looks to have the edge, but perhaps they are just better at presenting themselves on their website.

I hope I will have more of a feel for which one I prefer for DS when I have been to the open days.
I will take DS's preference into account. I do think if he doesn't want to travel, maybe I ought not to make him, but I know that DH won't agree with that.

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redskytonight · 11/08/2016 18:02

Surely it also depends where his future school friends might live? We live about 15 minutes walk from DS's school and loads of his friends live within a mile (but we live in an area where it's nigh on impossible to get into anywhere other than your catchment school). If we had a second potential school then I could see that other local children might go there too!!

One very big advantage of school in walking distance is that it means DS can stay late on a whim, or even go back into school for event later on, without any need for taxi-ing by us. If DC is normally reliant on school bus that won't run later, and if reliant on public bus, does it get clogged up in the rush hour (which is what happened to me when I was at school a bus ride away - I gave up doing activities after school as it was so hard to get home later than the normal time).

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Honeyandfizz · 11/08/2016 17:46

Dd started senior school last year that includes a bus journey, I am quite happy to drop her but she loves catching the bus. She meets friends on the corner of our road and I've been impressed by her attitude towards it. Importantly though it's only around 10-15 minutes max on the bus then a 10 min walk. Ds starts this year so will see if he settles into it as well.

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AtiaoftheJulii · 11/08/2016 17:42

The train would give more flexibility than a school bus and might be cheaper.

Honestly a 15 minute walk/10 minutes on train/15 minute walk doesn't even come close to my "might be a bit long" boundary. My son's school is about a 20/25 minute walk from the station and hordes of them walk it. There's no chance of getting lost, as long as you follow the right uniform, lol! If your dc were literally to be the only one walking from the station, then you might be put off, but don't write the school off before you've even visited Smile

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catslife · 11/08/2016 17:37

My post sounds rather inconsistent. The school 10 miles away was a possibility 6 years ago and did take pupils from our area, but an increasing number of 11 year olds and changes to other local schools (the other girls school has gone co-ed) mean that it wouldn't be possible now as it's catchment has decreased.
The main reason we considered this school though was that it was single sex so was able to offer a different type of educational experience to the local co-ed school.

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catslife · 11/08/2016 17:32

Would school B really have places available for pupils commuting from the next town? In my area this wouldn't be realistic anyway no matter how much they like the school.
dcs change a lot between the ages of 11 and 16 and what seems doable for an enthusiastic keen 11 year old may change once they hit their teenage years and find it more difficult to get up in the mornings! Would there be a back-up plan if they missed the school bus and how reliable is the train service? Would you be able to drive them to school if they missed the bus or the train was late for example?
We considered a school 10 miles away but dd was less keen once she realised the bus left at 7.30am every morning. She chose a local school that she can walk to instead (20 min walk) and the benefits on a cold, or wet winter's morning are more obvious than in the Summer.

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goldierocks · 11/08/2016 17:19

At the time I was looking at secondary schools for my DS, the only school we are in catchment for by distance was in special measures and had a GCSE pass rate of 30% (5 passes A-C, including English and Maths). We went to the open evening anyway - it had airport-style metal detectors at the entrance and a fight broke out between two groups of prospective parents. It's improved (a bit) now, but I still would not want my child to go there.

We looked at five other schools where we were high up on the over-subscription criteria. Luckily my DS got into his favourite one. It's a 10 min walk to the train station, 15 minutes on the train then another 15 min walk/5 mins on the bus at the other side. It would take much longer if he did the whole journey on the bus. The school has a lot of children who travel in from quite a distance. The vast majority of clubs are held at lunchtime so the kids who have to get public transport home are not disadvantaged. My DS likes his school and has made great friends. He doesn't mind the journey in the slightest and he has never felt that he's missed out by not going to a local school.

All things about both schools being equal, I'd go with whatever one your DC prefers. It might be worth getting them to do the journey on their own, just to check they would be comfortable.

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bojorojo · 11/08/2016 17:08

I think an hour is too much and will create problems with after school activities and time for homework after a long commute home. Having said that, I would choose the best school for your DC but work out if the journey is reasonable and how it will be done and take that into account if you prefer the school that is further away.

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Badbadbunny · 11/08/2016 15:16

All other things being equal (which they never are), then walking distance is clearly better than travelling further. But in reality you need to choose the best school for your child, based on the breadth of subjects they offer, whether non-academic pursuits are important such as sports, art, music, drama, etc as these vary enormously between schools. You also need to consider your child's "feel" for the school, such as whether they like it at the open day, whether they feel the teachers engage with them whilst walking around, what the teachers say they can offer for any particular interests/abilities of your child, etc. And yes, you need to research how good the school is based on numbers achieving higher grades at GCSE and how that fits in with your child's ability. Up to, say, an hour or so of travelling I'd say is fine and yes it does broaden their friendship group as they will meet new friends on the commute, many of whom will live close to you if they're on the same bus/train route, so accessible for them to get together outside school.

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areyoutheregoditsmemargaret · 11/08/2016 12:05

I was able to cycle to school. It made a huge difference as we got older, the friends who relied on buses out to villages etc either weren't so much part of the gang, or - I hate to say - hung around smoking in cafes after school (obvs you couldn't smoke now) with dodgy types on the pretext of "waiting for the bus". I did much less of this, as I could go straight home and wasn't inclined to hang about. I also saw a lot more of local friends at their houses, rather than glue sniffing in the park.

BUT if everyone is bussed in to school b, this may not make for such a divide. It'd have to be a LOT better academically, imo

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PonderingProsecco · 11/08/2016 00:28

I always had to schoolbus to secondary from my village and also for sixth form.
Could never attend after school stuff apart from discos where I begged and begged for lifts! Depends on whether as parents you are prepared to drive for 'extras'; my parents were not prepared to and no public transport.

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J0kersSmile · 10/08/2016 22:04

I work in a school, all the teachers surprisingly have sent their dc to the closest school even if it's not the best in the city.

They have said a bright child will do well in most places but being able to walk to school and be a part of the community is more important then deciding between a mediocre or good school. They have said it's parents that have the biggest influence on whether they'll do well or not at school.

I was toying with the idea of my dd taking the bus next year to get to an outstanding girls school with entrance exams and a 100% gcse pass rate, but speaking to them I'm putting down the closest school. It's not the best school in the city but it does offer a lot plus dd will have friends in the same area. A long commute for an adult is bad enough let alone a teen with loads going on.

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Acornantics · 10/08/2016 21:59

DS, 12, walks to school everyday with a friend, about a mile each way, no major roads to cross. It's a really great school and the walk to/from gives him exercise and a buffer between school and home to chat/mess around with his friend. For him, it's working perfectly.

Now just hoping DC2 gets into the same school next year then they can ignore each other on the way to/from school Smile

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