Travelling to JHGS from Winnersh

[Reading Mum]

I think you have been lucky. I usually reckon on minimum of 45 mins from Reading to M40 slip at High Wycombe. I don't know where the school is from there. I have studied at Burchetts Green for several years and have had far too many occasions where it took me an hour to get there from East Reading and that is only half way to High Wycombe.
I think you will have to resign yourself to some serious commuting until you move.

[advice]

Thanks all for your input. Never even crossed our mind about some students not being at school because of this time of year.

Yes we want our son to attend this great school, as does he, however if our house move ends up taking 6 months +, is it worth it?

Our son hates being late anywhere, and we fear this has the potential to become a regular occurrence.

As a family we have to consider all factors, in conclusion I think it is going to be a risk too far.

Our son is special and we will support him in anyway possible.

[joop]

I think it would be doable if it was for short term only. He will be at school for 7 years so 6 months would be bearable. You might want to sell then rent rather than sell and buy at the same time which could potentially take longer and be more stressful.

[andyb]

Is there a school bus or public bus that the JH boys regularly use somewhere en route - maybe Maidenhead or Henley perhaps? If you could get him to the bus stop on time then any traffic problems between there and school would affect a whole bus load of boys so he wouldn't be the only one who is late - he might not be quite so anxious knowing they are all in the same boat (bus )and the school, I am sure, would be more sympathetic than just one boy being late.

Where there's a will there's a way!

[advice]

Thanks for you kind comments Joop and Andyp.

We do have the will, but just cant seem to find the way!! We have looked into the bus service which is very limited and the time it would take us to get him to the bus stop, we could potentially get him to school. If we consider the bus journey and the travel to the bus stop, it exceeds 1hr.

I know it sounds like we are giving in, but considering all the unknowns it is sensible if we settle for the alternative and we fully support our son in his secondary schooling.

[Maidenhead Mum]

Advice

My son has travelled from Maidenhead to JHGS for the last 6 years (Year 13 in Sept) via a privately organised bus. Over time the school has undoubtedly become more popular for Maidenhead parents and hence there are now a number of these buses running. Whilst organising your permanent move you might want to consider contacting organisers to see if there are any spaces for the last leg of your journey?

To give you an idea on timings my son catches the bus at 7.35am (first pick up), the last pick up in Maidenhead is approx 8.00am, bus arrives at school 8.25am. The bus follows the same route on return, school finishes 3.40pm so my son has the benefit of the first drop off at 4.10pm.

It's a great school, so I can appreciate your efforts to find a way.

Good luck!

[advice]

Thanks Maidenhead Mum,

Is it the Apple School Service you use?

[Rob Clark]

Mrs C does this journey in reverse, travelling to the Royal Berks Hospital (not every day). I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but she always allows an hour and a half if travelling at peak times. That said DS has several friends at JHGS and it seems like a great school so maybe it’s ‘doable’ in the short term…

[advice]

Thanks Rob,

This is our biggest fear - traffic is unpredictable. I think leaving any earlier that 07:30 from home would have a huge impact on our son's wellbeing. We have looked into private and local buses, however them don't seem to offer a good alternative as most leave from maidenhead.

Nightmare all round!

[scary mum]

As mentioned above, your DS wouldn't have got in from Reading most years - according to the allocation profiles only in 2006, 2008 & 2011 and then only in later rounds of allocations, so it could be a bit stressful regardless of any travel problems