Safeguarding Pupils Walking To and From School Alone - Year 5 and 6 only

Parents/Carers must inform the school if they want their child to walk to and/or from school alone by completing the permission form obtained from the school office. School staff will not allow children to leave the site unaccompanied unless this permission has been given.

School reserves the right to ask for a child to be collected if their behaviour when leaving school unaccompanied is poor or inappropriate.

Please read the guidance below:

When deciding whether your child is ready for this responsibility, you might want to consider the following:

• Do you trust them to walk straight home?
• Do you trust them to behave sensibly when with a friend?
• Are they road safety aware?
• Would they know what to do if a stranger approaches them?
• Would they have the confidence to refuse to do what a stranger asked?
• Would they know the best action to take if a stranger tried to make them do something they didn’t want to do (scream, shout, kick or fight)?
• Would they know what to do if they needed help?
• Would they know who best to approach to get help?

Please inform the school office, via email, if you wish your child to walk to and/or from school and complete a permission form.

Parents/carers of children who wish their children to walk home unescorted by an adult must adhere to the following guidelines:

• Children must be in Year 5 or 6.
• It is the parents/carer’s responsibility to check the route that their children may walk home in order to make an assessment of the appropriateness of the journey. Crossing of fast roads, walking through secluded areas are to be discouraged. A single route must be agreed.
• Parents/carers must be certain that children have an awareness and understanding of road safety and stranger danger. It is the parent/carer’s responsibility to ensure they are sufficiently happy that their child is capable of undertaking the proposed journey safely.
• There should be someone at home to meet the child on arrival.
• If a child does not arrive home within the agreed timeframe, parents/carers must immediately notify the school so that appropriate action can be taken, which may include contacting the emergency services.

Parents/carers are always responsible for their child's behaviour, including before and after school. Should their behaviour not be acceptable, they will be asked to be accompanied or collected by parents/carers.