11 Plus Exams Forum

Hello all

My daughter would be starting Kendrick from September 2012. We are currently based near maidenhead but we would like to relocate near to school or in and around reading area. Reading itself is a new place to us. Please parents whose children attend the school advise me what my options are. I have seen in the morning lots of girl commute in the train from London Paddington to Reading. What about other areas like Reading West, Wokingham, Winnersh, Earley, Basingstoke, Mortimier. What options I have for Bus travel. Which one is better? I understand that parents whose children already attending the school may not be active on the forum but just trying if I am lucky to find some or may be advise from parents whose daughter is starting school in 2012?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. TA

There is already a similar thread on this:

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 10&t=24989" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would have thought Mortimer and Basingstoke would be much worse than where you are now.

East Reading is simpler for DD. There are regular buses which go up the Wokingham Road (17, 190/193) but they do stop everywhere so journey can be slow, plus Reading buses are the most expensive in the world due to flat fare system.

Quite a lot of people come from the Maidenhead direction - at (sometimes less than) 20 minutes on the train, it's probably less of a commute than some far more local bus journeys! It very much depends on what you are looking for as regarding price, type of area, amenities, whether you also have a commute to consider, etc. Give us some more details of what you'd like and we can give you more opinions

If you are going to the trouble of moving, and have no other considerations other than being nearby (i.e don't have to commute to the North or West of Reading by car, can afford relevant housing), I would think that the East Reading/Uni/"Old Earley" areas are good options as your DD can walk, cycle or take a short bus journey. If you are renting why not rent very close to Kendrick at first , and then you can work out what you like and what works best.

Hi meme,

There are lots of girls that commute from Maidenhead so if you are convenient to the station you might want to consider trying the journey out before moving. About 30-40% of all Kendrick girls use the train so she would have plenty of company going to and from Reading station.

I am aware that girls who live much closer to the school, such as Caversham, have a similar length commute to those who come from Maidenhead area as buses are slow, so you would probably need to relocate quite close to the school , like the areas Darell suggests, to get much improvement. Many of the places you mention would be worse than Maidenhead.

I will pm you too, ks

I'd definitely go for walking distance if you can. Even a dawdling 11 yo can walk a mile in 20 mins so get a compass and draw your own 'catchment area' around Kendrick on a map of Reading. Fallback for poor weather could be a bus. The bus from East Reading (no 17) down Wokingham Rd has a dedicated bus lane from a couple of stops before the infamous Cemetery Junction. Buses from Caversham have to share the crowded roads and bridges with the rest of the traffic.

Many thanks for all the replies. Currently we are renting our house here and we are not very near to train station so anyway we have to move. We are looking for any area easily commutable to Kendrick (train or bus) and is a nice area to live in (not very expensive though!). We are not worried about the primary schools but it should have basic amenities (like transport etc.) At the moment I drive to Basingstoke so anything from where I can join A33 easily? (Ohh my God so many wishes )

Thanks in advance