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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.
Both of my boys rode their bikes just under 3 miles to their secondary school (this was 4 yrs ago, not decades). It Is not a massive distance but it is a shame that mainly modern attitudes (but sometimes infrastructure) make this an anomaly.
eskay-
I meant that in the last year of primary a good number (5/30) of the children in her class lived a good 3+ miles away, some even further. So whilst people all lived close when they first started there's a natural dissipation as home situation changes and moves are required. It was a counter to the "why doesn't everyone live within walking distance of their kid's schools" comments.
Secondary is a whole different kettle of badgers. MiniGB's (state) secondary is just under 4 miles away, she doesn't cycle it as she's tired enough from all of other sport she does so she gets a (public) bus. Some of the children come from as far as 10 miles away. Good news is that the vast vast majority use public transport (or walk/cycle) as they no longer need to be accompanied by a parent (*).
* One German parent at the primary school was really annoyed that her Y3 daughter wasn't allowed to walk to/from school by herself, taking her YR sibling with her. The school only allowed Y6 students to arrive/leave by themselves (some local primaries don't even allow Y6 students to do this).
Greenbank
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.