11 year old getting bus to school

[Chizem]

Would you let your 11 year old get the bus to school? My child is starting secondary school in September and I want her to have a bit of independence however the bus she would need to get on is about a 5 minute walk from the house (including crossing a busy road, it does have traffic lights though) and then changes at the main bus station, it takes about 45 minutes and drops her off directly outside of the school. I just feel it’s a bit much for her, she’s beginning to become more independent, like going into the local shop for me whilst I wait in the car or staying at home for around half an hour whilst I pick the youngest up from nursery, but I feel she’s still too young to be travelling on public transport on her own. My 4 year old is due to start school this year and the two schools are no where near each other which makes it even harder as obviously I can’t be in two places at once and I can’t really afford breakfast clubs. Just wandered if anybody has any experience or advice on the matter?
Thanks

How else will she get to school? This is how I got to school at 11 (way before mobile phones!) And this is how my daughter gets to school. I didn't consider any other options. My daughter turned 11 in August and started taking the bus to school a few weeks later.

My 11 year old gets the bus.

Will she be travelling alone or can you find her a bus buddy doing the same journey? Dc's school set up a system for local parents to contact each other to arrange for kids to buddy up or lift shares before they started school. Since that, they have found their own group of friends to travel with.

At 11 it's pretty normal to get yourself to and from school - as you say parents can't be on 2 places at once and many parents will have younger siblings to take to primary school.

Practice the journey a few times and see if you can find a travel buddy.

My 11yo will be getting a school bus but he has to walk to the stop, remember his money each week, no one is waiting for him to get the bus either end.

I have friends who are doing public transport in y7, perfectly normal.

Don’t most 11 year olds either get a bus or walk to school alone? Mine started Y7 in September and gets the public bus to his school 10 miles away. Not had any issues and helped with independence. When I started Secondary School I had a 45 minute walk.

Most kids travel to secondary school alone, I know I did, on two buses, my mum would never have taken me in secondary and it would have been embarrassing anyway

Millions of 11 year olds do this. I did it as a late Aug born Yr7 well before mobile phones. I had a journey of 2 bus plus 20 of walking etc. There was no other options

Kids seem to grow up very quickly when they move to secondary. Most of my dds friends have got the school bus, the service bus or walked since yr7. 45mins as a second leg seems like a long trip to school though? Is there no nearer option? (Or is it one of those that would take 10 mins in the car on a more direct route?)

Do a dummy run or two with her.

The bus routes are rubbish for where we live to her school, someone has even started a petition to get a direct bus as the schools are all in one town but no direct routes if you live further out (when I say further out, it is literally a 10 minute drive as you say lol)

Guess I’m just nervous for her to do it by herself as she’s never really used the bus, let alone get two, I’m sure she will get the hang of it after a few attempts, we will do a few test runs together and she has a phone. She’s not 11 till august either so still seems so little to be doing grown up things 😂

They grow up a lot between y6 SATs and starting y7. It is almost like someone flips a switch after SATs from what I have seen as a parent over the years.

Use the summer wisely to practice the route and general independence.
Cover 'what ifs'.
Would she really be the only one - no older children doing the same route? They will keep an eye out for younger ones.

Yes, I second the fact that come august she will be more grown up than now.

Do some test runs with her the week before she starts and maybe the first day of secondary ... then give her a kids debit card, plus simple phone she can use to call/text if stuck, a house key ... and then off she goes.

After a week it will feel normal.

Of course it’s fine. All children get public transport for school here. I used to get a 35 minute tram to school and my DC will have a similar journey.

Will any other children be getting the bus? Where I live only option is a bus, but it’s a school bus so a bit different. My 11yo can’t manage the public bus home if he gets a detention, but I’m sure if I did a trial run with him he’d be fine.

Secondary school kids get capable of their commute very quickly. It's easier to grapple with a complex commute by learning it in stages in reverse order.

During the summer, a couple of times drop her off at the bus depot where she will be changing buses, and let her get the bus to school, and pick her up from there, so she's used to the last part first.

Then drop her off at the "5 minutes walk away" bus stop for her first week of school in September.

After the first week she can do the whole thing solo.

For the way home - is there any chance you could meet her (with younger child in tow) at the bus station at the end off the day a few times at first

Its likely she will find friends doing the route in no time.

I did when I started year 7 (also an august baby). It was nerve racking for about a week, I was really scared of doing something wrong. After that it was literally just a part of my daily routine.

You do some test runs with her over summer. Walk the route with her, ask her to point out where she should cross the road, what she should be looking out for. Get on the bus with her, and get her to clock all the things on the route so she can work out how close or far she is from her school.

The next time she does this with you but she pays for herself, crosses the road without your intervention etc.

Give her advice on what to do if she is approached by anyone. I had to catch 2 buses to school at 11. I wasn't really used to catching a bus either. Luckily there were 2 boys who also did the same route so although we weren't friends I wasn't alone. Try to find out if anyone else will be walking that route to the bus stop.

Of course she can catch a bus at 11! I used to walk 30 minutes on my own to Primary school when I was 7. Yes, I know, things have changed since the 70s (not for the better IMO)!

Just practice it several times over the summer holidays. Run through scenarios with her. Get her life360 or similar on her phone so you can see where she is.

If she's keen to do it, then I'd be supportive. There will be lots of children also getting the bus.

My dc all had to get a bus to school in the next town 45mins journey. They each did practice runs during the summer holidays, to get used to it. In my experience the majority of older children look out for the yr7's on the bus (ours was a public bus rather than school bus). Over the years my dc made some good friends on the bus, and was an opportunity to mix with different year groups.

My daughter is doing a trail bus run today! She’s also 11 and is used to me driving and collecting her but had car issues this week and the walk to school would be over an hour. Although she was nervous she was excited as her school friends would be on the same route a few stops along. A few trial runs and I’m sure she will be fine - I think mum nerves get the better of us! Xx

Bear in mind also that once she starts school, there will be lots of kids on the bus making the same journey. She won't be alone. Does she know anyone who will be making the same journey?
DD buddied up with someone she was friends with from a club who was going to be at the same school.
Bus journey is now a favourite part of DD's day as she hangs out with friends and listens to music on the bus.
One tip I would have though - prepare her for the occasions it might go wrong, like missing a bus or getting on the wrong bus. Give her some strategies of how to ask for help.

As you say - trial runs over the summer. Talk about what to do in different scenarios if things go wrong. Eg what to do if the bus doesn't turn up or is late, if the bus breaks down en route and the driver kicks everyone off, there's an RTA and the bus can't get through or turn around so it's stuck (all of these happened to my DS) or if she's being hassled by someone on the bus or the local drunk gets on and sits next to her! (I remember the very 1st time I put DS on a public bus service to get home from town 12 miles away as I had to go to a meeting - there was a drunk man at the bus stop with a carrier bag full of booze who was catching the same bus!). Just go through the 'what to do if' and she'll be fine - she's got a phone so she can ring you if she has any problems.
I caught the public bus to school from the age of 9 (middle school) without the benefit of a mobile phone - in fact we didn't have a landline until I was 13 so couldn't have phoned home anyway.
But Secondary school is definitely the time youngsters around here catch the bus although it's one bus and a 20 minute journey.

A previous poster is correct to point out that with high schools there are swarms of kids going in all directions.
Ours is almost 2000 kids. Therefore bus routes in all directions are busy with kids. She won't be on her own