Tube Commute for 11Yr Old

[Sands1234]

Does it make sense to send a 11Yr by Tube to attend a good secondary school?

How don you prepare them for this change?

Many many 11yos and up get the tube to school in London.

Many secondary school pupils get themselves to school across the country tbh - be that walking or bus or bike.

Is your DC not used to getting public transport alone @Sands1234 ? If not and they are likely to need to from September, I would start practising now.

@clary - Child not yet taken Public transport for school commute in primary.

We will surely do multiple mock practise sessions. Possible it's more a parents concern, and good to know there area many who do this and get used to taking Tube etc.

Why not? Get ur DD a zip card.

Depends. How long a journey, how many changes, will the child be travelling on a busy commute route. For example I wouldn’t want my 11yo trying to get on a Northern line train at Clapham Common going northbound in the mornings as it’s very crowded. I also wouldn’t want them doing a long tricky change like the Waterloo & City say. However, a single line and not competing with commuters is a different story.

If there are other pupils travelling the same way and they can band together that also makes a big difference (but can be hard to know this at the school choosing stage).

And of course, how grown up and sensible is your child (my 11yo is definitely not!!)

For me it would matter if they were travelling in or against the flow of commuters and if there are changes. Often my tube to work is so busy one or two need to pass the station before there is room to squeeze in near the door. No way would I want that for my child at 11. Carriages in opposite direction would be very quiet which I imagine prevents its own challenges if travelling alone If it helps the children I often see on the tube going back and fore to school - older than 11 I have to say - are usually in groups of around 4. As pp commented depends on the child and on the route.

My son takes a train to another city and then bus, it’s a very busy route.

I was very worried about it this time last year but within two weeks he was comfortable doing it himself. It’s been very positive for his independence and confidence

I the run up 6 month we got him running errands to local shops, building up to practice runs from home to school with us gradually doing less. We’ve had a few hiccups (train strikes, pass not working, missed trains or busses) but he’s handled it all really well.

I’m fairly sure all my friends thought we were mad, and some more protective parents couldn’t hide their anxiety when they heard our plan. It’s absolutely been the right thing for our DS as his new school is fantastic for him.

I think it depends on the tube line(s) and stations and also what they have to take in to school. At one stage I was taking a school bag, a cooking basket, a PE kit and an art folder to school.

No way would I have managed that on a busy tube train.

I also think it depends on how large / small your child is.

Safety for women on the tube. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/feminism/5016610-safety-for-women-on-the-tube

Not after reading this thread a few moments after yours.

You need to think about matches, clubs, rehearsals, detentions, after school social life.And how he will get home if he's sick.

Low level sexual assaults and harassment would worry me. Travelling on the Tube at university age there were rare cases of being groped in a crowd and a pervert trying to take upskirt pictures. I would hate for a child to have to deal with that.

Both DC travelled to secondary school by bus and tube train. They soon make friends with others doing the same journey. I think there are too many horror stories written about the underground. Tell them to travel in the last carriage - it’s always quieter.

I commuted from 11 on the tube and my DC do. They have experienced zero sexual harassment, and only one issue (religious and / or mentally ill lady). I did train them up by getting them to work out and lead the way on public transport on family trips, and walking places independently in Y5 and Y6, as well as talking about different scenarios and what to do.

Compared to my teenage experience of the tube (a few times I had to change carriages to get away from men rubbing themselves up against me), it seems a lot better. The CCTV helps, and the transport police seem much more on it - they are sometimes at the station handing out ‘have you seen this man’ flyers, and they reply really quickly to texts.

My DDs travelled alone by tube and bus to and from school at age 11. It’s completely normal in London.

So, what would be your suggestion for how they get to school with that stuff?

I'm not offering a suggestion, just pointing out a factor that might impact on the child's journey.

How long is the journey...does it include any changes or stop at any of the really busy stations. I think it's probably fine... especially if a shortish journey and on an outer tube line.

Another factor to take into account is the frequency and impact of tube/train failures, some tube/train are much less reliable than others. How your DC can handle alternative routes in case of interruptions during the trip.

It’s how I got to school from 11, as did my friends and cousins. It was that or a school bus that picked up at 6.30am!

Lots of practice and they’ll be fine. It helps them prepare for adulthood/university.

My DC preferred to take tube even though we had a coach option because it's a lot quicker and there was some mild name calling and bullying in the coach which put him off.

Initially I was anxious so we did a lot of trips together in the first term. We also formed a group of friends who all travel together. I still drop a few days when there are train delays or bad weather but on the whole it works ok and seems to be more common than I expected.

It is perfectly normal for many London kids. Bear in mind though buses are free with a zip card whereas tubes are charged, at half adult fare I think. So the costs do mount up over a year.