A mum has sparked a debate about the age children should be allowed to walk to school alone after receiving a letter from a head teacher raising safety concerns.
The mother explained on Mumsnet that she had been letting her two children, aged eight and nine, walk to their primary school on their own on some days since March. She said both were "fairly responsible children" and were "never in trouble" at the school, which they had been attending since Reception.
She said the school's location was inner suburb and had a very small catchment area. The distance walked was about 400m, taking them seven to 10 minutes.
Read More: When is the right age to let your child walk to school alone? A checklist for parents
The first 200m or so was to the end of their road of terraced houses, then to a T-junction with a secondary high street. The next 150m was along the high street, which had cafes, hairdressers, a church, pizza place and gym, before turning into the street the school was on. However the mum received an email from the head teacher raising concerns.
She wrote: "This evening DP (dear partner) and I received the following email from their headmistress (paraphrased and abbreviated): 'It has been brought to my attention that DC1 (dear child one) and DC2 (dear child two) are, on occasion, walking to school on their own. This has raised concern for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we do allow Year 5 children to travel to school on their own, but ask that parents let us know, in case a child doesn't arrive. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we are worried that DC1 is responsible for DC2, who is too young to be travelling to school without an adult. This raises safeguarding concerns'."
The mum said she thought, given the ages of the girls, the email was "a bit over the top, particularly the bit about leaving D1 responsibility for D2".
"There's only 17 months between them and it's common for people to think they're twins," she added. "There is obviously a maturity gap between them but ... it's very much two sisters walking to school together compared with one taking the other to school."
She went on to say: "I'm fine to bring the DCs to school everyday but I really wanted to give them the sense of independence that I got walking on my own."
Scores of other parents commented on the matter, though the response was mixed. Some felt the children were still too young to walk to school on their own while others said it was up to parents to decide when their children were ready.
One mum wrote: "That would be too young round here and 8 and 9 sounds too young to me. My 8 year old isn’t walking to school alone and won’t be for some time. It does sound like a quicker and safer route than ours though. The school have a duty to ensure the safety of children so the email sounds reasonable to me."
Another added: "At 8.5 OP’s [Original Poster] DC2 will be Y3 and I think that is too young to be walking to school with DC1. It is likely DC1 will feel responsible for DC2 even though you say they aren’t taking DC2 to school but walking with."
And a third commented: "Because it involves the safeguarding of one of their pupils. Where I live cars take no notice of pedestrian crossings, especially in the morning rush. There's been lots of children killed on them, nationally. The older one is being put in charge. The answer is to walk behind them and meet up as they go into school."
However, several people said it was down to parents to make the decision.
One said: "Surely though that’s up to the parents to weigh up these risks based on many factors including maturity, distance to school, area they live in. Every day we weigh up risks and make decisions. Why should the school be involved in this one?"
At what age did your children start walking to school alone? Let us know in the comments below
Another mum added: "At our school Y5 and Y6 are permitted to walk to school (ie. not have an adult hand them over). DD done it since Y5. She is ALWAYS with at least 1 other child but there are usually 3 and sometimes 4 together. All live on the same street, nice and sensible kids. 1/2 mile away from school."
And one Mumsnet user wrote: "Two issues here: Is the walk in that area safe for children that age? Only you can assess this. We’ve had problems with men flashing little girls walking to school in my (otherwise civilised) area.
"On what basis does the school think they can tell parents and children what to do outside school hours? I’ve been startled how often primary schools hand out orders to parents, they don’t seem to realise that parents don’t actually work for the school.
"Rather than getting into details of the route and child ages, I’d ask the head why she thinks school policies are relevant to what your family does outside school hours away from the school site.
"But do bear in mind that she means well and is probably genuinely worried about the children. I know that ‘in our day’ we often walked to school alone from age seven - but the reason that stopped is because there were so many unpleasant incidents of one kind or another."
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