[David9694]

Today’s subject is the school run and the horse run by two drivers with personalised plates that I see on my 45 minute cycling circuit. 
The names have been changed… 

E14 JAN lives a level and very pleasant mile from the stables, where I presume she has a horse – I guess she has a lot of pony tack and feed, etc to carry back and forth. I often see the car parked at home, or at the stables. The car looks very pristine. 

UK 22 LYN – don’t ask – does the 2.5 mile school run, from her village to ours, 10 miles a day, c2,000 miles a year. I see her come past, I see her come back a few minutes later; I pass the car parked at home on my ride.
Her route takes her within 200 yards of the school that serves her village. Time wise, it must account for a half-day a week. She must have her reasons – perhaps she rates our school as better, but why not spend that “lost” time helping to make her local school better? 

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18701804.bcp-council-urging-families-avoid-driving-school-run

PS a novel angle in the Echo – “they keep closing down local bank branches – I have coins to deposit – so am forced to drive.” 

Topic

[Zigster]

School places are a nightmare

School places are a nightmare.  When my two were younger, they were allocated places at different primary schools at opposite ends of town, with 5 mins difference in drop off and pick up times.  It simply wasn’t possible to do the school run on foot or by cycle – it wasn’t actually possible to do it by car either.

I still see some local (secondary school age) kids waiting at the bus stop near my house, virtually outside the local secondary school, wearing the uniform of the other local secondary school which is a few miles away.

[Hirsute]

I just looked on google maps
I just looked on google maps for my trip to junior school – 800m which I walked and cycled when I had passed my proficiency test. The good old days !

[Captain Badger]

David9694 wrote:

running late – a badge of pride.

Ooooh, look everybody, look at me. I’m soooo busy, look at me!!

[Captain Badger]

A friend of my daughter gets

A friend of my daughter gets driven to school and picked up every day. She lives 500m (according to G maps – I thought it was less have to admit) from the school, on the same quiet, tree-lined, residential road. 

 

[Awavey]

Does he drive just there and
Does he drive just there and back ? I’ve often heard people who do school runs like that justify it to themselves as much as anyone else because they combine it as a trip to the shops,or pick up something else, dropping kids of becomes just part of the journey

[Kapelmuur]

There are 4 schools within a

There are 4 schools within a 1 mile radius of my house, all popular and over subscribed.   So their students come from a local catchment.

Despite this significant numbers are delivered by car.    The behaviour that I find especially annoying is that with little on road parking near the schools parents arrive up to an hour before the kids are let out in order to bag a space.

Then they sit with the engine running, air con in summer/heater in winter until their child turns up.

[OldRidgeback]

hirsute wrote:

My colleague tells me she sees a neighbour drive round the greensward to school, some 200m. The distance across the greensward is about 60m.

I do read too often of parents unable to get their child into the local school and being forced to travel when that is the last thing they want.

A neighbour of mine drives his kids to school every morning in his large 4×4. The distance is about 400m. He’s very overweight and the kids are going that way too. These are all quiet back streets, so he doesn’t even have the excuse of having a busy road to cross with them. 

[brooksby]

I remember, years ago, my

When my children were pre-school we moved to our village precisely because it has a primary school and a secondary school.

I remember, years ago, the primary school had a map of the vilage and surrounding area up in the reception area.  It had a dot for the home of a child at the school, and that dot was coloured on whether the child walked, cycled, was driven in a private car, or came by public transport.

There were two big circles drawn on it, centred on the school and with one mile and two mile radii, showing that pretty much the entire village fitted within a circle having a diameter of two miles.

And yet the vast, VAST majority of the dots showed children who were brought to school in a private car…

 

EDIT: I once walked from my home into the village centre to get a takeaway (this was pre-Covid).  Five minute walk, maybe ten if I strolled.  I passed a neighbour getting in his car.  I met him at the takeaway.  And when I came home, I passed him getting out of his car with a carrier bag of takeaway food.  So many people just don’t even consider not driving.

[David9694]

be a governor,  PTA if

be a governor,  PTA if applicable, volunteer to help kids with their reading or on trips, fund-raise. 

running late – a badge of pride.

[Hirsute]

My colleague tells me she

My colleague tells me she sees a neighbour drive round the greensward to school, some 200m. The distance across the greensward is about 60m.

I do read too often of parents unable to get their child into the local school and being forced to travel when that is the last thing they want.

[EddyBerckx]

“Her route takes her within

“Her route takes her within 200 yards of the school that serves her village. Time wise, it must account for a half-day a week. She must have her reasons – perhaps she rates our school as better, but why not spend that “lost” time helping to make her local school better?”

I’ve often thought this…but tbh, most people wouldn’t know how to do it or know how to go about it, myself included. So many problems could be solved by making this easier than it currently is, and stopping the ridiculous, uneccessary school run. My local roads are the same. Lots of drivers from outside the immediate area driving and parking like idiots because they are always running late.

[Author]

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