Travel to school - private vs public

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kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: Travel to school - private vs public

Post by kenyancowgirl »

I think you would have to ask your particular school!
BucksBornNBred
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Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Travel to school - private vs public

Post by BucksBornNBred »

kenyancowgirl wrote:I think you would have to ask your particular school!
Fairly sure there is no point as they will just give me the answer I expect (private late bad; public late good as per rules).

Don't get me wrong - I have no reason to be late, just purely curious. I have built in enough leeway to avoid any problems other than exceptional circumstances. I also know how to "play" the traffic when it is busy so can always make up time when I feel we are cutting it fine.
Moon unit
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Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:14 am

Re: Travel to school - private vs public

Post by Moon unit »

If every child who could feasibly travel to school on public transport or school bus did so it would massively ease congestion around schools.
My sons head sent a note to parents recently suggesting that as public transport is so good ( we are in London) apart from in very exceptional circumstances boys should not be driven or collected by parents.
I happened to be helping with a careers event after school a couple of weeks ago and there were loads of parents parked on double yellow lines outside school making it dangerous for other children to cross the road.
This was a sunny afternoon in broad daylight.
Surely if children absolutely have to be collected a few roads away would be fine.
I can’t fathom why anyone in London wouldn’t send their children on public transport.
Amber
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Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Travel to school - private vs public

Post by Amber »

At the primary school near me, and even at the secondary school near where my mother lives, the roads become parked up with parents collecting their children from 230 each day, even though school finishes at 320. Some parents literally sit in their cars,reading, playing with their phones, sometimes even with tiny tots in car seats, and wait for almost an hour every day to get the best spaces. And without being judgmental, some of them, and their children, look as if they might benefit from the exercise that walking for even a fraction of that time instead would offer them.
Tinkers
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Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Travel to school - private vs public

Post by Tinkers »

Amber wrote:At the primary school near me, and even at the secondary school near where my mother lives, the roads become parked up with parents collecting their children from 230 each day, even though school finishes at 320. Some parents literally sit in their cars,reading, playing with their phones, sometimes even with tiny tots in car seats, and wait for almost an hour every day to get the best spaces. And without being judgmental, some of them, and their children, look as if they might benefit from the exercise that walking for even a fraction of that time instead would offer them.
Much the same here, on my road. Even more galling is the fact that my street isn’t in catchment for the school, even though I can see it from my house. They park dangerously, on double yellows, right up to the junction, parking on pavements so parents have to go out into the road, especially if they have pushchairs as well. I get seriously filthy looks when I happen to be trimming the hedge at school kicking out time as it means they can’t park there.
anotherdad
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Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: Travel to school - private vs public

Post by anotherdad »

The only effective measure I have seen to combat this is collective action by residents. I live near four primary schools and all the local roads suffer from inconsiderate and sometimes dangerous driving and parking. At one of the schools, the residents occasionally coordinate themselves and all park their cars on the street instead of their drives, leaving no space for parents to park. They do it sporadically so parents dare not risk assuming they can park and have to park further away and walk. It only pushes the problem down the road of course but it makes the road immediately outside the school much safer for everyone and stops the residents having their drives blocked and their verges ruined.
BucksBornNBred
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Re: Travel to school - private vs public

Post by BucksBornNBred »

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Last edited by BucksBornNBred on Sun Oct 21, 2018 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Moon unit
Posts: 654
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:14 am

Re: Travel to school - private vs public

Post by Moon unit »

Even if door to door public transport isn’t available it should be feasible to drop a secondary school age child to a bus or train station or drop them a mile from school and let them walk the last stretch.
Same in reverse in the evenings.
Dropping or picking up from close to a school should only be necessary in exceptional circumstances.
If everyone followed the above it would ease congestion,make roads around schools safer and children would get some much needed excercise.
BucksBornNBred
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Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Travel to school - private vs public

Post by BucksBornNBred »

Eek... something just went wrong. I was trying to edit my post but it all disappeared and now I can't get it back.

Moon unit, I agree with your argument but not every child is perfect so sometimes different solutions to different problems need to be found. The worse offenders for dropping at the gates are actually those children who go by taxi and not the parents from what I see. And IMO congestion would not be such an issue if freedom of choice had not been introduced meaning that parents had to find a way to get their DC to the school of their choice rather than the local school. I think you said you are in London so a whole different world; yes, many DCs use public/school buses from here but we did what was convenient for us when DS started at secondary. And tbh, if I didn't drive him I am not sure he would ever talk to me being a typical teenager :roll: :lol:
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