House directly opposite primary school

Davesnave

martindow said:

.  Over protective parents choosing to drive short distances and very inconsiderate attitudes from some....

Out in the sticks where I live now, I can tell when the school run has started, just by the speed of passing cars, which notably increases. We all have stories to tell here of being run off the road by a speeding Corsa, or similar, around 09.00 or 15.00.

I'm not sure what the psychology behind this is. The children live in one of the safest areas of the UK and the school understands that there may occasionally be be issues on the road, so wouldn't turf the kids out in the rain or chastise the odd late entry, but this manic behaviour continues, year in, year out....well, until this year. I've almost missed the sudden increase in the local heartbeat!

Jamaicanmelaff

Niv said:

onwards&upwards said:

Do you work from home?  If you work a bog standard Mon-Fri working week you'll mostly be gone before it gets busy and home after it all gets quiet.  It will get crazy with drop offs and inconsiderate driving/parking between 8.30-09.00 and the same at the end of the school day for pick ups, but apart from that I think it sounds fine.  It won't get developed so you're unlikely to end up looking at ugly new build houses!

No guarantee there, my old primary school got pulled down for housing. 

My nan's house was opposite a primary school when growing up and she absolutely loved it. In recent years, the local council has decided to close all the smaller schools and merge them to create giant ones. Three medium sized comprehensive schools merged into one huge one etc. That primary school was merged with 5 others and has just been left to rot. The bottom half had been closed when I was a kid but left completely untouched so it's completely derelict and really dangerous, now it looks like they're going to do the same with the top half. My nan would be absolutely horrified to see it if she were still with us. I'm sure one day eventually it will be sold off to someone to develop houses though.

Petriix

martindow said:

...If everyone who lived within ten minutes walking distance had actually walked there would not have been many cars dropping off.

My point is that they can't. People have places to be and are juggling all sorts of pressures. It's an incredibly privileged mindset to assume that a parent has all the time in the world to walk their kids to school and back each day. It must be wonderful for those people who don't have to try to work in the short few hours between those school runs, but that's not the reality for everyone. Rather than demonising people, simply having a bit of understanding would go a long way...

It's also not necessarily laziness that makes people need to drop them close to the gate. Sometimes it's like herding cats trying to get kids out the door or to put their shoes on. It can take 15 minutes to get from one side of the front door to the other. Then you have the school enforcing a strict lateness policy with the threat of a fine. It's all part of the rich tapestry of life. Most people wouldn't park over someone's driveway and much of the issue could be averted with a bit more thought from the schools and local authority.

If it's a nice school then there can be a really vibrant community feel around the school run with lots of friendly, familiar faces. I guess if you're territorial about parking spaces or can't bare the thought of the extra traffic then you should probably think about living somewhere else. Otherwise I'd say living near a school would be fine and could be a big selling point when you move on.