11 Plus Exams Forum

Could anyone help me with details of coaches that run from Goodmayes areas to Colchester County High School for Girls please?

gaurvartika wrote:Could anyone help me with details of coaches that run from Goodmayes areas to Colchester County High School for Girls please?

Ninety miles a day. Mainly using the Essex A road which, according to Essex Police, accounts for 25% of all road accidents in the county. Five days a week, nine months of the year, including those when there is snow or fog (and it was pretty darn hazy at 7.30am on September 21st this year, around the Chelmsford section, by the way).

No after school activities. No hanging out in town with new classmates. A ninety mile round trip for you for every parents evening. Or to pick your DD up early if she is taken ill at school. To drop her off for / pick her up from school trips.

etc

But don't let me put you off. If you search through posts from round about last March, I'm sure you will find some from a forum member who was intending to send their DD to ColCHS from the East London / Ilford ('statement', 'not to invite discussion').

Colchester is an ancient and interesting town and there are many nice places to live in and around it. I am just an occasional visitor, but there are several Colchester folk on here who will be able to suggest affordable areas within sensible travelling distance of the grammar schools.

I personally think you're a fool for considering such a distance for an 11 year old but what do I know.

As a Colchester local and Essex native I'd recommend moving in County, anywhere from Chelmsford or better still Witham northwards is manageable

We briefly considered a reverse commute, Colchester to E1 for DS1 (age 18) when it looked uncertain that he would get campus accomodation at uni. The idea was quickly rejected. 3 hour round trip minimum and that is not taking into account Colchesters rush hour traffic which is horrendous! Train is the best option but unreliable and expensive. He came home last weekend to collect everything he had forgotten and was shocked how long it took/ the cost.
No way would I personally inflict this journey daily on a child.
I have a DD at ColCHSG and it is a good school, but not worth that journey. She would also miss out on so much of what secondary school is actually about, academics are not everything, friends and the extracurricular activities are important too.
(Also when DD was in the lower school, we had several paired homework projects, and partners were allocated alphabetically, so if you go down this route you need to hope the next DD in the register doesnt live in Ipswich)

I think that a school journey of that length is ridiculous. If ColCHS is that important to you then move closer, Colchester and the surrounding area is a lovely place to live.

It's not just the journey, it's all the other stuff as well. DD is at ColCHS and we live about fifteen minutes walk from the school. She gets home about 4.30pm because she chats with her mates after school. Year 7 is exhausting compared to primary and she is usually tired already when she gets home, especially if she has been to the school swimming club in the morning. She usually has at least one subject homework, if not two or three which take about an hour and often require printers and laptops and materials (and shouting and gnashing of teeth on my part).

In a couple of weeks she has a parent/tutor conference, which could conceivably start at 4.15pm as we don't have a huge amount of control over date and time. That's 90 miles for you to go back and forth for a five minute meeting. Last week there was an evening presentation about a bushcraft trip they are doing next year. Another 90 miles. In early November the school is closing at midday and all the local/semi-local girls are going home, leaving the girls reliant on trains etc at school. DD has been phoning me at least once a week from the school gate, asking if she can go round to a friends house or to have a friend back to hers (right now mum!). This is just Year 7, I suspect it's going to get busier as she progresses up the school. It's not just a case of getting them there everyday, it's all this other stuff which makes school more than just league tables and results.