I wouldnt drive more then 15-20 mins to get to school. IMO 60 kms is just waaaayy to far for a littlie, especially on a daily basis. And what happens when another bubs comes along and you have to take them on the school run too? There is nothing worse then a crying tetchy baby and a long car ride.

For convenience sakes, I just wouldnt. There are some days where I may be at the school a couple of times a day. Eg tomorrow DS (who is in kindy) has a mini sports "event" at 1.30. So I need to drop him and DD at school between 8.35-8.45 and then come back again in time for 1.30. Last week I had parent help which started after lunch so was a similar story, was only gone from school a few hours before had to turn around and go back again.

And what happens if the child is sick and you need to get there in a hurry? 60 kms is a long drive when there is a child in the sick bay waiting for their mummy. I hate to give you the worst case scenarios but that is the type of thing you need to think of.

Quite often in kindy, and Pre-primary (well over here in WA) the kids do half days for the first few weeks to ease them into it...it would make for a very long day for you and your DD to be driving to school for them only to stay a couple of hours and turn around again.

Sorry to be in the negative here.
I don't think you are being negative at all, it's very relevant.

I had the same experience, initially I didn't mind the drive at all as it was certainly worth the school ds was going to.

But it is the extras like you mentioned - the half days, the event days etc. I felt like I was in the car all day and poor DD wasn't too impressed.
It's a bit harder to make play dates when you live so far from the rest of the community too.

The school is worth it for sure, but the commuting (not just the idea of it) is a real negative.