Quite different issues arise when children transfer to secondary school from primary school

• The school will be a lot bigger, covering a much wider catchment area, resulting in a much longer journey for most children
• Your child will probably not want to see you near their school, except, reluctantly on parent days!
• Your child will become increasingly independent as years go by

As you check out potential secondary schools check the distance that your child would have to travel, public transport links to the school and cycle to the school when you come to view it. You may need to do the same again if your children change school after their GCSEs.

It is unwise to send a child to a school a long distance away, both from a travel and friendship group perspective.

Travel option 1 - Public transport

There is a good chance that there will be a frequent bus or train service on a route to a London school. Before your child goes to secondary school, take him/her on lots of bus and train journeys. That way they will become confident, independent travellers.

The school journey may also be an opportunity to make new friends in their new school. If you don't have a family car, you have more incentive to 'do the knowledge' on local public transport routes!

Cost

In London children are free on the buses until they complete their schooling. Pupils can also obtain half-price termly or half-termly season tickets on the trains up to their 16th birthdays – and until their 18th if still at school.

For days out the Family Railcard can still be used until the youngest child is 16. It costs just £26 for 1 year or £65 for 3 years and you get 1/3 off adult fares and 60% off kids' fares (2009 prices). Find out more at www.familyandfriends-railcard.co.uk

The Young Person's Railcard may be worth considering for a 17 or 18 year-old who travels a fair amount by train. Find out more at www.16-25railcard.co.uk

Travel option 2 - Cycling and walking

Both cycling and walking allow your child to build exercise into their lives. Nearly all the London boroughs now provided subsidized on-road cycle training, and many schools run cycle training classes. Children need to build up their skills in competent and safe cycling before they start cycling to school on their own.

Issues as the young person approaches adulthood

The lure of the driving licence becomes a powerful factor as the 17th birthday approaches. For many, the driving licence is seen as a rite of passage.

A study of car adverts shown during TV programming for 13-16 year-olds found that most of the adverts linked cars, in an increasingly seductive way, to the pleasures of an adult life to which adolescents aspire.* The best antidote to such 'propaganda' is open discussion. Get your young people talking about their aspirations in life (not easy, we know). This will be less of a problem if they already see their bikes and their oyster cards as their passports to freedom and independence.

Help going car free

Information from the London Cycling Campaign on cycle routes and much more

Find out more about cycle training

Transport for London's resources for public transport journey planning

* Bayley, M, et al (2009) 'Car  adverts and young people in the UK: a content analysis' in Municipal Engineer162, pp69-77