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Education

How long does it take your children walk to school?

34 replies

Madmog · 03/04/2013 09:46

How along does it take your children to walk to school? At the moment my Y7 daughter is lucky as she only has a 5 minute walk to school. We're looking at moving though and the only way to get a bigger house is to be on the outskirts of our area entailing a 20-30 minute walk for her. Certainly don't mind her getting the exercise, but just thinking about days when she has her PE kit and violin and it's pouring with rain.

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mumnosbest · 03/04/2013 09:49

Could she ride a bike? Is it a nice/safe walk on a dark evening?
Mine are younger but it's only a 2 minute walk.

gazzalw · 03/04/2013 09:53

30 minutes for a primary school child here and we do it come rain or shine...

DS has a fifteen minute walk to the bus stop (and back) with a rucksack that weighs him down and a PE kit twice a week - he is not a strapping lad either. They just have to get on with it. Not really any alternative.It's part of growing up I would say!

Harsh but true....

Theas18 · 03/04/2013 09:55

Total journey time for my kids is 30-45 mins, walk/bus combo. For secondary school I'd say 1hr total travel is not unusual. I often see kids from local secondaries on the way as I'm going to work before 8am and some will walk all the way 45 mins or so (we have grammars, comps and catholic schools so lots of kids from the locality going in different directions)

She'll cope in the rain. Mine leave instruments at school quite a bit anyway and kit will be in lockers.

As long as she's going to the " local" or to a local choice school she will be with lots of others doing the same anyway IYSWIM! Would be more tricky if you send to to the old school and she walks past other secondaries on the way though.

Re biking, we are in a city and I don't encourage it at all. Too dangerous (or along the canal towpath etc which is safe re traffic but isolated!)

teacherwith2kids · 03/04/2013 09:59

20 (at a very brisk march) - 30 (when chatting to friend) here. DS meets up with a friend very close to our door, though, and they collect others on the way, so it is a social start to his day.

PE kit + massive rucksack + clarinet ... yes, been there. He has a spare pair of dry trousers + socks in his locker at school in case of torrential rain, and luckily is oblivious to the fact that it isn't cool to wear a coat so carries a decent quality waterproof with him.

usualsuspect · 03/04/2013 10:02

Mine had a 30 minute walk to school at secondary. I would say that's a fairly average walk.

TantrumsAndBalloons · 03/04/2013 10:05

Mine have a 13 minute (see how precise I am ) train journey.
A 10 minute walk to the station. And a 10 minute walk from the station to home. Although the 10 minute walk often turns in to 20 minutes when it's sunny and they are with their friends.

Ds2 at primary has a 15-20 minute walk.

WRT weather, PE kits etc, some days ds1 takes 2 bags and a violin, he just manages somehow.
A lot of secondary age children live quite a distance away, I guess they just get used to it. I know mine meet up with friends on the way, go to the shop, have a chat so it isn't as bad as it sounds iyswim

ShowOfHands · 03/04/2013 10:08

We live 4 miles from the school. We have a 10 minute walk, short bus ride and then a 15 minute walk. We do it come rain or shine. You just need decent wet weather gear. This includes the baby in the sling and dd carrying pe kit/rugby kit/gym kit etc. She's been doing it since she was 4 (summer born).

It just becomes your norm. DD always has wet weather gear and a change of clothes at school just in case.

ShowOfHands · 03/04/2013 10:09

When in Y7, I had a 45 minute walk or 15 minute cycle ride to get to school. It's fine.

PearlyWhites · 03/04/2013 10:12

Mine has a forty minute bus ride, I wouldn't want my dd to walk 30 mins in winter especially as they are not allowed to wear coats. Is there not a bus she could catch?

teacherwith2kids · 03/04/2013 10:17

Pearly, surely no school can ban wearing coats while on a journey to school? That's just daft - what about when it's wet / snowing? I know many DCs don't like wearing coats, and it's not seen as 'cool' to wear them, but I have never heard of a school - primary or secondary - where coats cannot be worn on the journey to school. Do the 'coat police' patrol the catchment area??

teacherwith2kids · 03/04/2013 10:18

DS, by the way, could cycle reasonably safely as far as the route vgoes, but it's the carrying of 'stuff' that makes it impractical on a regular basis.

BooksandaCuppa · 03/04/2013 10:21

Sounds mad, but I do know of schools that ban coats being worn around the school grounds AND don't have lockers so that effectively means a ban on coats full stop!

rivig · 03/04/2013 10:31

It's not just the distance - type of road (mine have narrow pavement, heavy lorries etc etc along greater majority of their route so not great) plus one dc bad neck injury from heavy rucksack and lockers aren't big enough plus not allowed to leave instruments at school and if do you can't practice anyway! Coats in winter a problem too as have to carry round all day so a big pain.

mumnosbest · 03/04/2013 10:32

DNs school doesn't allow coats, just school blazers. She wears a thin waterproof that fits inside her school bag on wet days. Silly rule!

bruffin · 03/04/2013 10:35

My dcs school is 7 miles away. They have a 20-25 minute walk to station, 8 minute tain journey, then another 10-15 minute walk to school. DS used to bike to station but had a brand new bike stolen from the station so that stopped.

usualsuspect · 03/04/2013 10:37

A 30 minute walk won't hurt them, Pearly.

bruffin · 03/04/2013 10:38

Forgot to say, somedays dd has had swimming (not just swimsuit as she does lifesaving straight after school) and photography equipment, although when she first started secondary she insisted on taking every book she owned to school everyday.

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 03/04/2013 10:41

6yo DD1 walks to school on the 2 days/week I don't work
it's exactly one mile, and takes about 20mins in the morning, sometimes nearer 30 in the afternoon if she's tired. it's fine.

Schooldidi · 03/04/2013 10:44

30 mins normal (chatting) pace. 15 mins when she's running late and runs the whole way there.

Mine regularly has 2 bags and a flute. She manages. She even slogged through the snow like that and came to no harm. She does take a coat as she's not really interested in being cool, she'd rather be warm.

The school I teach in doesn't allow coats inside school but the kids who walk wear them anyway and just fold them up into their bags at school, or carry them from lesson to lesson.

CaurnieBred · 03/04/2013 10:44

20 min walk/8-10 min cycle/15 min scoot. We only walk if it has been snowing though as too slippery to cycle. DD much prefers the cycle option and we do this most days.

PragmaticWench · 03/04/2013 10:47

Hate to sound 'In my day' but I used to have a 30 minute walk to school, carrying a cello and hockey kit many days. It never crossed my mind that this wasn't normal. Surely we should be walking at least this much each day for health reasons?

gazzalw · 03/04/2013 13:30

Put it in perspective.

MIL grew up in the countryside and went to a school about 15 miles away. She had a very exposed bike ride of several miles, followed by waiting for a bus-ride (which took about an hour) and she would have had all the above and worn a felt blazer (which undoubtedly have been damp all day long if she had been caught in the rain). She did it every day for five years at grammar school and lived to tell the tale.

I'm sorry but we do pamper children these days. DW is always saying how heavy DS's school bags are - they are - but we were saying that we have no lingering memories of being weighed down by school kit and presumably that's because it's not that great a burden in the scheme of things!

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PearlyWhites · 03/04/2013 17:55

They do ban coats on the journey they also ban taking off your blazer as you are supposed to be " advertising the school" and yes the other pupils police it and it's an automatic detention.

teacherwith2kids · 03/04/2013 18:10

So a child, newly returned to school after a period of illness e.g. chest infection or asthma attack, and walking to school through the snow or in the rain, would be put in detention for wearing a coat?????

What planet are the people in the school on, that 'advertising the school' is more important than a child's health and wellbeing - especially as, from your earlier post, it discourages walking for any decent distance and therefore will also reduce overall activity and fitness levels?

Some schools are truly astonishingly petty.

teacherwith2kids · 03/04/2013 18:22

Interestingly, the DofE guidance on school uniform states:
"A school should encourage children to walk and cycle to school and give consideration to this when determining the design and style of uniform."

Although this is non-statutory, I suggest that it would be easy to argue that a school that did not permit the wearing of suitable clothing for cold or wet weather was being unreasonable wrt this guidance.

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