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Parent FAQs
Below are a list of issues frequently faced by parents around walking to school. We provide advice and support. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, contact us. If you are a school, use our school FAQs.
Is it illegal for my child to walk to school alone?
There are no laws around age or distance of walking to school. We have more information on these two specific instances below, but for any other enquiries about legality, this document, produced by the Family and Parenting Institute may be useful: Is it legal? A families' guide to the law.
What age can my child walk to school?
Living Streets position is that there is no set age when a child is ready to walk to school independently. Parents should assess the risks associated with the school route and their own child’s confidence. Parents should work with children to build up their independence, while walking to school, through route finding, road safety skills and general awareness.
Is it legal? A families' guide to the law highlights a survey by Kidscape which found that most parents allowed children:
- From age 9 to cross local roads
- From age 11 to use local transport during the day
- From age 12 to go with a friend to the cinema
- From age 15 to be out with a friend in the evening.
Some parents may encounter disapproval from the school or even social services. If this happens, we suggest you present them with the above information about age/distance of walking to school, and communicate with them, explaining your points of view, considerations and any action you have taken which is relevant, such as walking with your children to ensure they are ready to walk to school, ensuring they are aware of how to cross roads etc.
What distance should we walk?
Living Streets don’t recommend a set distance for walking to school; we strongly believe it is an individual choice and is a decision to be made between you and your child.
We suggest that most children of school age should be able to walk twenty minutes (which is around 1 mile) to and from school. The average distance to primary school is under 1.5 miles.
If you live a long distance away, you can Park and Stride, or if you find 20 minutes a struggle, you and your child could start with a five minute walk and then build up gradually!
Government guidance is as follows, which might indicate wider expectations:
Statutory walking distance for free transport is:
- two miles for pupils aged under eight
- three miles for those aged eight and over
Road safety
It is normal for parents to worry about road safety, but all children will grow up and start making independent journeys at some point in their life, so it is key that they feel confident about walking and staying safe on the roads.
The best way to do this is to walk with your children from a young age, teaching them about crossing the road, learning how to navigate and a host of other skills. This helps them gain the experience and confidence to deal with traffic and wayfinding on their own, in preparation for joining secondary school and walking with friends when they are older.
Since the 1970s there has been a steady downward trend in numbers of children killed or seriously injured. In 2007 the Department for Transport published its Road Safety Strategy aiming to half the number of children killed or seriously injured compared to a 1994-8 baseline. At present, this target has largely been met and this would suggest that the risk of children being involved in a serious accident is indeed reducing.
We have more detailed information and statistics in our Living Streets and Parentline Plus report.
Rural roads
Rural roads have disproportionately high casualty rates so are more dangerous to pedestrians. This is often because many don’t have footways or crossings and traffic is faster. Additionally, by 2031 traffic on rural roads is scheduled to grow by 50%.
With regard to your school journey, it is up to you and your child as to whether you think it is safe to walk to school. Your school travel team or road safety team in your local authority should be able to give you more comprehensive information and advice.
You can ask your local council what speed management strategies they are developing for rural roads? Does their Community Strategy include a strategy on speed reduction? Or you can get in touch with countryside agency (check this? They work with councils on quiet lane schemes)
Living Streets is campaigning for 20 mps in residential zones, 30mph limits in all roads through villages and country lanes reduced from 40mph to 30mph. We also support home zones and quiet lanes and greater public transport options for rural people. Support us.
We want a crossing
If you feel a crossing would make the journey to school safer, you need to talk to your school travel team or road safety team in your local authority who will be able to give you more comprehensive information and advice.
You could also however campaign for a crossing by writing to a local councillor or MP, try to get local media attention, get your local school on board, start a petition or organise a meeting with other parents or local community members and approach council with more gaining support behind you.
My streets aren’t nice to walk in
Living Streets is all about championing safe attractive and enjoyable streets for everyone to enjoy, so, if there’s a problem on your road, or route to school, why not join us and campaign to improve them? See how here.
If you have a specific problem you can get in touch with your council directly by using fix my street.
The weather is too bad
It is so important for children (and parents!) to exercise throughout the year, so with the right equipment, such as raincoats, wellies or waterproof shoes and a bit of preparation, the weather shouldn’t be too much of a barrier.
When did the campaign start?
The Walk to School campaign began in 1995, and Living Streets has been around since 1929. More here.
Who is accountable pupil safety on the school journey?
As a parent, you are responsible for ensuring their children get to school on time and attend regularly- this then encompasses the school journey. Most schools will have their own individual policy outlining where their responsibility for your child’s safety begins/ends (often, this is at the school gate in school hours only). Schools are only responsible for safety on the school journey where they have specifically arranged transport.
A school does however have a continual obligation to alert relevant authorities if they believe a child’s welfare is at risk. This could, theoretically, include the school journey. In our experience, some parents have been approached by schools or social services on these grounds, if schools believed the journey to be unsafe (e.g. children being unaccompanied). If this has happened to you, the ‘What age can my child walk to school?’ section above may help.
I am or my child is disabled, how can we take part?
WoW is suitable for all different types of schools, including those with special needs. The Walk to School campaign is intended to raise awareness about the benefits of walking, it is certainly not intended to exclude or discriminate any pupils. There are lots of ways you can still take part in the campaign- see our WoW rules for more information.
Personal safety
Is it safe for my child to walk to school?
Despite a small number of high profile tragic cases, the risk of a child being abducted by a stranger is very low. It hasn’t increased over the last 30 years- in fact the number of children abducted has actually decreased over the last ten years. It’s a hard message, but the truth is we can do our children’s long-term health and well-being more harm by ‘protecting’ them from the real world. For more information on this, read our report.
We suggest that you either walk with your child or you can always encourage them to walk with other children who live close by or on the way to school.
For further support, visit Family Lives (previously Parentline Plus) and take part in an interactive e-learning module produced in partnership with Living Streets, all about walking to school.
Additionally, the ‘stranger danger’ site provides information for children about how to identify ‘safer strangers’.
I don’t have time
We know that for many parents getting their children to school and themselves to work can be a real headache, leading parents to feel that they just don’t have the time to walk with their children to school.
We have found however, that parents often don’t realise just how long the school run takes in the car, especially when you allow for traffic jams and parking hassle. We also know that people often overestimate the time it takes to walk and underestimate the time it takes to drive. You may well find that walking takes no longer than driving, so why not give it a go?
For some families, it really is too far to walk to school every day. If you live more than a 30 minute walk from school, you could try the ‘Park and Stride’ approach. This involves parking a 15 minute (or more) walk away from the school gate and walking the last stint with your child. Not only do you fit your walk in, but Park and Stride saves you time trying to find a parking space and reduces congestion near the school. If other parents from the school sound interested, why not approach a local pub or community centre, and see if they’ll allow you to use their car park?
If you have children at more than one school or you feel you can’t fit walking into all the school journeys, a good solution could be to get in touch with other parents whose children are at the same school and take it in turns to walk.
My children go to different schools and I don't have time to walk to both schools
Partnering up with other parents may be an ideal solution. This means finding a friend or neighbour with children attending the same schools and arrange for you both to share the responsibility and walk to different schools on different days. We have resources to support you here.
I live too far
You don’t have to walk the entire journey to school. Lots of parents drive in for part of the journey and walk the last leg together. This is called ‘Park and Stride’.
You could set up an arrangement where you and a friend/other parent car share and take it in turns to drive part way to each school and walk the remainder of the journey with the children.
What’s government policy on providing transport to school?
The school journey can certainly be a complicated matter and procedures/policies tend to vary from council to council. Below is some government policy on statutory walking distances:
Local authorities must provide transport where they consider it necessary to ensure that a child goes to school. If transport is necessary, then it must be provided free of charge. In most cases, it’s up to the local authority to decide what transport is necessary. But your child will be automatically entitled to free transport if they:
- are between five and 16 years old
and:
- attend the nearest suitable school, and the school is further away than the ‘statutory walking distance’
The statutory walking distance is:
- two miles for pupils aged under eight
- three miles for those aged eight and over
The measurement of the 'statutory walking distance' is not necessarily the shortest distance by road. It is measured by the shortest route along which a child, accompanied as necessary, can walk with reasonable safety. As such, the route measured may include footpaths, bridleways and other pathways, as well as recognised roads. If there is no such route, the local authority must provide free transport no matter what distance you live from the school.
More info here: Directgov statutory walking distances