This morning's commute and other commuting stories

the catchment area is literally half a square mile - no-one needs to drive there.

That's when they got their first into that school. Many people then have to move for work/house/family reasons and choose to keep their kids in the same school, now they live more than half a mile away and therefore they simply must drive.

For example, when my daughter got into her primary school she was the second furthest away in her class (as the crow flies) at just under 1km. By the time she left to go to secondary a good number (5/30) of the children in her class lived a good 3+ miles away, some even further.

Some parents at the school have had 15+ consecutive years of at least one of their children being at the school. A lot can happen in that time.

There's a whole load of things in play, not wishing to split up friend groups by moving children to a different school, aspirational parenting (got to keep them in the "Outstanding" school no matter what), and huge perceived chasms in school quality, complete lack of rationality, etc, etc.

What's noticeable (and entirely finger in the air estimation) around me is that when the private schools are off but not the state schools then 75% of the traffic that fucks off fucks off. It's only when both private and state schools are on holidays that it seems really quiet.

local SE very much ordinary state primary school

Perfect description for the school i live opposite. It's a school street so i have cones closing the road right outside my house. On one side kids can run and around and play, on the other side there is a cluster of X5's and MPV's stopped in the middle of the road all with there engines running.