Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

I just found out today that my son's new primary school has an explicit rule that children are not allowed to ride to school until grade 5.
I tried to be polite giving my reaction to that, but it was a challenge.
Part of me thinks 'if I known that before I would never have enrolled him'. The other thinks 'it's a rule that so obviously needs replacing with instead an explicit policy of getting as many kids to ride to school as possible that I'm glad I've found out about it and might be in some sort of position to change it'.

Needless to say I'm going to ignore it for the time being.

That's pretty normal I think.

When I was going to school, I don't think it was allowed to ride to school at all. Walk, catch a bus or be driven as far as I can remember. This was back in the 80s or 90s and I do not ever remember anybody riding a bicycle to school at all.

Funny thing is that in 2006 when I worked in Hurstville, I use to see a school kid, maybe around year 10 age on a pretty fast looking road-bike confidently mixing it up in the traffic on Forest Road most afternoons, evidently on his commute home from school. The school kid rode that bike in the traffic like a long time veteran commuter. How things change.

In my area, I don't think riding to school would ever happen - everyone drives their children to school. Especially around the local private school in the morning, it's a sea of enormous SUVs bumper to bumper and even double-parked, nothing moves anywhere - traffic is completely destroyed.

All you can do is register your absolute objection to the rule and be quite vocal about it. I think you can probably overrule them.

Unenforceable.

How you transport your son to school is your business. Public roads are not the domain of school control. They may choose to exclude him from use of bike racks, or even prohibit his bike from the premises. However he is free to ride his bike to school and chain it to a pole outside the school, or leave it with someone who lives next to the school. Or maybe get yourself a trailgator and ride alongside him to school, then tow the bike home on the trailgator .

You do have options.

Same here, except it's Grade 4.

It's upsetting, but I think their reasoning is sound. There are so many harried mums driving tractors around the front of the school, that I wouldn't feel comfortable letting my daughter ride in anyway. Of course, it'd be a different story if every other kid rode or took the walking school bus.

Upsetting or not, facts are facts.

Anyhow, after experiencing the frustration of trying to navigate the sea of barges on the first day, my wife has decided to walk my daughter to school as often as possible.

And what's the age limit that kids should be accompanied to school by an adult? Year 5 I recall from my son's old school?
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sogood wrote:And what's the age limit that kids should be accompanied to school by an adult? Year 5 I recall from my son's old school?
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Omigawd!!! Nanny-state par excellence

It should be up to the parents to determine what is safe for their own children.

My wife and I decided that our son wasn't old enough to fide to school on his own into Year 5. Before that I would ride with to school and ride to school in the afternoon to accompany him home.

il padrone wrote:Omigawd!!! Nanny-state par excellence

It's never a one way street. Brain impaired or psycho infused society invariably leads to nanny figures. No responsibility taken and money hungry litigants don't help.

rkelsen wrote:Same here, except it's Grade 4.

It's upsetting, but I think their reasoning is sound. There are so many harried mums driving tractors around the front of the school, that I wouldn't feel comfortable letting my daughter ride in anyway. Of course, it'd be a different story if every other kid rode or took the walking school bus.

Upsetting or not, facts are facts.

Anyhow, after experiencing the frustration of trying to navigate the sea of barges on the first day, my wife has decided to walk my daughter to school as often as possible.

That is the irony. Imagine the uproar if the school banned students from being driven to school.
Ny office is next door to a large north shore private school, and the number of expensive SUVs dropping off kids is crazy, despite the school being also next door to a major public transport hub with buses and trains!

R12RT wrote:It should be up to the parents to determine what is safe for their own children.

Now, you just need to convince the courts and your fellow parents to take the same view. At the end of the day, schools/teachers have to protect themselves from those whinging and litigious parents.

queequeg wrote:Ny office is next door to a large north shore private school, and the number of expensive SUVs dropping off kids is crazy, despite the school being also next door to a major public transport hub with buses and trains!

Think, what excuses would a spouse have in justifying that spanking new SUV if it weren't for their daily children transport duties? Children and spouse gets to ride in comfort and style, car makers make a market, government receives luxury car duty, economy becomes buoyant... Who's to come to stop this?

il padrone wrote:Unenforceable.

How you transport your son to school is your business. Public roads are not the domain of school control. They may choose to exclude him from use of bike racks, or even prohibit his bike from the premises. However he is free to ride his bike to school and chain it to a pole outside the school, or leave it with someone who lives next to the school. Or maybe get yourself a trailgator and ride alongside him to school, then tow the bike home on the trailgator .

You do have options.

I just bought one in fact (as you may know from other threads). Tried to use this morning but it wasn't fastened properly, and didn't have time to fix - or so I thought. If I'd spent another 15 minutes getting it right I would have almost certainly got him to school much sooner (and without breaking his bike, when it fell over on the bus...long story).

It's not about my own personal options, it's the fact that we seriously still even think such sort of rule makes any of sense that dumbfounds me.

Was the same for me in late 80's early 90's, you werent allowed to ride to school unaccompanied until you had done bike-ed (which was grade 4 from memory). Normally im one for allowing people to make their own decisions in these types of situations but I actually agree with this one (and sogood).

sogood wrote:

queequeg wrote:Ny office is next door to a large north shore private school, and the number of expensive SUVs dropping off kids is crazy, despite the school being also next door to a major public transport hub with buses and trains!

Think, what excuses would a spouse have in justifying that spanking new SUV if it weren't for their daily children transport duties? Children and spouse gets to ride in comfort and style, car makers make a market, government receives luxury car duty, economy becomes buoyant... Who's to come to stop this?

Does that make me a communist? Dear God, I'm having a crisis...

Rode to both primary schools i went to, I seem to remember their being more concern about kids getting swooped at the bike racks than actually riding their bikes to and from home and I was in primary school in the mid 90's.

Parents/schools want to stop children riding to school because it's the parents of other children at the school who might endanger their lives???

sogood wrote:At the end of the day, schools/teachers have to protect themselves from those whinging and litigious parents.

What happens on the road to and from school has nothing to do with the school and/or teachers.

im_no_pro wrote:Was the same for me in late 80's early 90's, you werent allowed to ride to school unaccompanied until you had done bike-ed (which was grade 4 from memory). Normally im one for allowing people to make their own decisions in these types of situations but I actually agree with this one (and sogood).

The key word there is *unaccompanied*. I wouldn't have a problem with it in that case. But I was told they weren't allowed to ride at all.

STrewth, I rode to primary (Year 3) and continued riding to school until I got my license in year 11.
This was back in about 1980.

i haven't seen a rule like that in my kids' school. It's probably only a matter of time. It's a wealthy area and the crazy manouvres I see from the tractor-set have gotta be seen to be believed.

I walk my kids to school, we're only 1.2 km away, on my way to work. I was riding with my older one last year when she was in grade 2, but my younger preppie this year is not confident enough to ride yet. I often wonder how I got away with the freedom I had when I was a kid. I rode to school solo from grade 1 in a country town, then we moved to Brisbane and I walked in grade 3. I'm sure there are probably laws around that say children should never be unsupervised until over 12 y.o.

I think for primary school kids, going to the local school, it's part of growing up being allowed to walk/ride to school on their own.

wizdofaus wrote:

im_no_pro wrote:Was the same for me in late 80's early 90's, you werent allowed to ride to school unaccompanied until you had done bike-ed (which was grade 4 from memory). Normally im one for allowing people to make their own decisions in these types of situations but I actually agree with this one (and sogood).

The key word there is *unaccompanied*. I wouldn't have a problem with it in that case. But I was told they weren't allowed to ride at all.

I'd be asking for clarification, possibly just a poorly communicated message.

R12RT wrote:It should be up to the parents to determine what is safe for their own children.

Sad to say, quite a lot of kids have parents that can't be trusted on that score. Here in reality, not all kids get the parenting they should.

But schools have rules, and it's entirely appropriate for the school, if they think there are elevated risks to kids from bike riding, to set a rule about it.

It's for the parents to take the rule into account, and ignore it as wizdofaus will, or challenge it if it's baseless.

But whining about the "nanny-statism" of primary schools... jeepers .

Howzat wrote: But schools have rules, and it's entirely appropriate for the school...

On what basis is it appropriate for the school to determine how I get him from my house to the school grounds? By all means they can forbid me from leaving the bike locked up in school grounds, but the ban is quite clear - children are not to use bikes to get to school until grade 5, accompanied or not. 'Baseless' doesn't even cover it...

wizdofaus wrote:

Howzat wrote: But schools have rules, and it's entirely appropriate for the school...

On what basis is it appropriate for the school to determine how I get him from my house to the school grounds? By all means they can forbid me from leaving the bike locked up in school grounds, but the ban is quite clear - children are not to use bikes to get to school until grade 5, accompanied or not. 'Baseless' doesn't even cover it...

Under pain of death? If you did transport them to school by bicycle what would happen? Private school?

On the basis that they're interested in kid's welfare generally. But without knowing the circumstances I agree it's entirely possible, or probable, that it's just a dumb rule to be challenged at the P&C.

il padrone wrote:What happens on the road to and from school has nothing to do with the school and/or teachers.

In an ideal world yes, but those pesky parents and sensationalistic media will find a way to nail the department, school and teachers. Sad isn't it?