How long is your DC's school commute?

[Schoolhelp23]

I'm central London and have a very academic child. Can't move, so weighing up how long a commute is reasonable (for the likes of HBS, St Michael's - if she gets in). So, how long is your child's school commute?

About an hour - though he's just finished. We live in a village - drive to station, train journey and walk.
It was fine

7 miles but the bus stop is a five minute walk away and stops outside the school.

My dc had about 40-45 mins due to us using a specialist language school on the other side of the city centre.

So 5 mins to bus stop, 20 mins to city centre, wait for other bus, 15 mins to school, 5 min walk. Was never a problem, esp for ds who always did his maths homework on the bus!

5 minutes in the car. Not the most local school

10 minute walk to the station. 2 trains taking about 40 minutes then 15 minute walk to school. Ds is in 6th form, goes to grammar school and travels with friends.

dC1 - 10 minute lift yo station, 20 minute train, 10 minute walk (distance 12 miles)

dc2 - 19 minute walk to bus stop, 30 minute bus (distance 5 miles)

Sometimes ease of journey is more important than time/distance. Therefore, one 30 train journey, with a short walk at each end, is better than two bus journeys lasting 10 minutes each.

We're fairly central london - it's a 20 min bus ride

30-40 min walk

A 5 minute walk. We’re in a medium sized city.

7 min walk for my GC ….have timed it

Our local secondary is about a 45 min walk but we're in a part of town where a bus is provided. DS is moving to a private school though and will get their school bus - about 45 mins door to door.

For DS it’s a 25 min train journey and we live about 15 min walk from the station. The school is right next to the station, thankfully.
It’s only difficult when the train is cancelled (a couple of times a term) or on strike. The school have issued him a get out of jail free card for when the trains run late.
The commute doesn’t negatively affect him as far as I can tell

10-15 minute walk. It’s not flat, so how fast they walk up and down the hills depends on their energy levels. The hills are steep!

OP you mentioned live near Waterloo on the other thread. I think most of the students in HBS travel from far, so 1 hour or more one way is the normal average. Commute from Waterloo took similar time 60mons?. St Michael is probably further away.

Most of the parents sign up for both schools focus get in first at this stage rather than think of the commute.

Thanks @PreplexJ. Just feels like a long commute for a child but would also be an opportunity that would be hard to turn down. And yes, there's a very good chance that this won't be something I even have to consider when the time comes 😀 Just weighing it all up.

@Schoolhelp23 Personally I won't consider it a good opportunity that worth this amount of commute. Obviously some other parents weigh it differently. It is just not the stage to think about this until it becomes an option itself.

For my DD, she loves to do extra curricular stuff and would have liked to play another instrument, but the 2+ hours of commuting means she just doesn't have time. But I still think that getting the right school for her matters more.

We leave at 7.30 am, I drop ds at school bus stop at 7.45am, he gets to school at 8.30, so an hour. Same in the evening.

An 8 minute walk (2 teens) to a school in South East London zone 2 that is highly thought of and 'the one' to get into but it's rubbish! Bit at least it's close

About 20 miles for us. Just under half an hour in the car but more like 45 mins on the school bus as it stops a couple more times after our stop and doesn't take the most direct route. That means leaving home at 7.50 and getting home about 16.20 most days which I think is fine. Quite a lot of pupils travel for over an hour to our school which I think makes it rather a long day for the youngest ones, when you consider some year 7s are only just turned 11, but it's a rural area so no choice for some of the children really. They all seem to get used to it anyway

10 min walk we are in a big city

35 minute walk, 20 minute bus / car because the traffic is awful. 5 minute drive out of school time.

Not sure what the definition " very academic" mean. If the child didn't take 11+ or even SATs it is all in the air

Anyway my son had on SATs greater depth on 3 subjects ( academic? ) and will be commuting 40 min, two buses

Primary daughter scoots in, 10 minutes.
Secondary son gets a lift with me, 25 minutes.

Why are so many adults preferring to work from home rather than commute to the office? Same reasons.