11 Plus Exams Forum

Sorry if this has been covered but...what time does your DC have to leave the house to start the journey to grammar school in the morning & what time do they arrive back on a normal day with no after school activities. If your child hasn't started yet, what times do you expect? My DS will have to catch the bus at 7 a.m & I'm wondering if that will be too much. The crazy thing is it's a 10 minute journey by car but the bus goes roooound.

Well my dc leave at 8 and are home by 4, takes them about 30 minutes to walk. And about 10 minutes by car..

My dd's have a long day. They do activities before school and after. They are out by 7am most mornings and not back until 530 pm, This is their choice, they want to be involved in everything. If they did the standard train they would leave at 7.45am and be home by 430pm. It has to be their choice if there is a long journey involved; my dd's journey is not long. but they do other things. I see a lot of miserable dc's at bus stops who perhaps would have been better off at the local school with their friends. We see lots of other dc's around at bus stops and train stations at 7am, some are chattering away with a bunch of friends but many are alone. Will he have friends to make the journey with him? DG

My DD leaves at 7:45 for 25 min walk - registration is at 8:20. She usually stays in the library to do her homework and then gets home before 5pm with homework pretty much all done.

DC leaves the house at 7:15am and gets home around 4:45pm-5pm (dependant on traffic). Bus journey ok, tends to be the social time before school

We've not started yet, but I expect to be driving there and back (I'm self employed fortunately, so I can arrange my time around it).

The bus makes a 10 minute car journey take 52 minutes so I don't think we'll bother!

Thank you for your replies. Quite insightful.

Daogroupie wrote: Will he have friends to make the journey with him? DG

All his friends have chosen a different Grammar to him but he'l be travelling by school bus so he can make new friends I guess. He is not at all fazed by the journey as he sometimes travels to his current school but he leaves at 8 whereas now it will be 7 which is a big difference.

We had it all mapped out where we currently live but the landlord has decided to sell the house but he has offered us another beautiful one. We dont want to accept it if it's going to be too much of a struggle for DS. It's a short journey by car because it's a straight route via an A road & dual carriage way but the road is too busy for DS to walk. If he walks through the residential areas he would still have to cross busy roads & a forest which is a no no with us. We could move closer to his chosen school but we have younger DCs to consider so we need a house in the middle which this house is but the travelling looks like a nightmare...I just wanted to know how other kids cope with the journey times. All the school buses here start at 7 so there will be other kids setting off early too but I just worry lol

I too was worried about the bus journey for my DS's (yrs 10 & 7) but it has become their social lives to the extent I offered to drive them in on my day off last week and they both said No!

My DD leaves the house just before 7:30 to meet a friend at the bus stop. They get into school about 8, with plenty of time before registration. If there's a problems with the buses, she can either ring us or start walking, and still not be late.

School finishes at 3:10 and in theory she should get home about 3:45.

This never happens. They spend ages talking to each other when packing bags etc. It is often well after 4 when she gets in.

On Wednesdays she has a piano lesson which is half between school and home so she stays at school to do her homework then meets me.

DS1 and DD - leave home in time to get train just after 8am (station less than five minutes walk away), 7 minutes on the train then about 15 minute walk at the other end. Potentially home about 4.10pm but it depends on which train they get (even when they get the same one, they hardly ever walk up from the station together ).

If DS2 gets his first choice school, he will be getting the bus (bus stop even closer than station but in the opposite direction) just before ten to eight; this ties in with a ten-minute walk at the other end. If he wants to be lazy and stay on the bus to the interchange and get a second bus up to the school, he may have to start out from home quite a bit earlier if the buses don't tie in.

Of course, I could just send him out at the same time to walk the whole way, but I'm a kind Mummy sometimes and treat them to season tickets. Plus it's so useful to say to them "go on the train / get the bus" when they want to go into town at the weekend