11+ school preferences and daily commute

[ToadMum]

Oh please don't didcourage those posts, this is my favourite time of year, reading all those "how do I get to.." queries followed by the snitty replies. I hugely admire Toadmum who takes the trouble to google journey routes for some people , I hope she gets hundreds of pms thanking her.
.

Not hundreds, no... But I have had a few (sometimes wonder whether the local bus and train companies appreciate just how tirelessly I campaign on their behalf, though ).

[Amber]

Look out for me on April 1 Toadmum. I have thought in the past of setting up another username and then either posting that I am pregnant and wondering if it is too early to start the Bond books - perhaps there are some prenatal audio ones; or else that I live on Skye and my child has got into Colchester grammar but now I see we don't qualify for free transport even though she came in the top 120...

[loobylou]

I absolutely agree that a good comprehensive is better than a good grammar school with a ridiculous commute - but at the same time I think there are pockets of the country, and certainly pockets of N and NW London (which is all I can really comment on) where there is no chance of a student getting into a good comprehensive due to their tiny catchment and the options are dire. When we went to the Mill Hill music auditions honestly I felt so sad seeing some of the children, particularly girls, all dressed up in fancy dresses and lacy socks (seriously - my dd in her jeans and t shirt was ), playing their grade 1 descant recorder - or in one case a (very badly played) harmonica - but then when I talked to their parents and learnt about their options, I kind of understood.
A lot of those parents were first generation immigrants and were doing their very best in low paid jobs to raise their children as best they could - and they wanted more for their children than a substandard education (which was likely where they lived) and a minimum wage job.
There are lots of people who don't consider sending their children to anything other than the local school, regardless of its reputation or their feel for it, and then moan the entire time their child is there. Parents who are trying to help their children rise above the expectations of background, address and finances are to be applauded in many ways.
I appreciate that that doesn't account for everyone considering a difficult commute but it does account for at least some.

[Stroller]

Nice post, Loobylou. I can understand the motives but practicality matters too. Our CAF included a number of comps, none of them outstanding. We all visited every school on DD's CAF at least twice (often in year 4 and 5), many of them more than that. It took ages - and our lives are as difficult as anyone else's - but it really helped us to work out feasible choices we could get to and live with.

There's no excuse for anyone to apply for a school without having looked up the journey online at the appropriate time of the day. Parents need to reach the school too. Secondary schools need engaged parents every bit as much as primaries do.

[tense]

Am glad other people find the 'how long...' posts irritating too! My all time favourite is from many years ago - the boy who got into QE boys in Barnet but lived in Newcastle (oops sorry mods, don't want to be accused of QE bashing!).

[loobylou]

Nice post, Loobylou. I can understand the motives but practicality matters too. Our CAF included a number of comps, none of them outstanding. We all visited every school on DD's CAF at least twice (often in year 4 and 5), many of them more than that. It took ages - and our lives are as difficult as anyone else's - but it really helped us to work out feasible choices we could get to and live with.

There's no excuse for anyone to apply for a school without having looked up the journey online at the appropriate time of the day. Parents need to reach the school too. Secondary schools need engaged parents every bit as much as primaries do.

Yes I do agree with that!

[mad?]

Oh please don't didcourage those posts, this is my favourite time of year, reading all those "how do I get to.." queries followed by the snitty replies. I hugely admire Toadmum who takes the trouble to google journey routes for some people , I hope she gets hundreds of pms thanking her.

[mad?]

I appreciate that that doesn't account for everyone considering a difficult commute but it does account for at least some.

I'm in London as well and I agree with you but...most of the travel posts in my neck of the woods are for people who live 20 minutes from the Slough Grammars but choose to apply to Surrey instead and then panic about the journey. They appear to have never visited the schools and have no reason to apply other than their complete misunderstanding of what league tables represent. Incidentally I'd say the children that Marigold's study refers to correlate with parents who appear unable to say thank you, take what they can from the forum and then disappear having offered no help or support to anyone else.

[PurpleDuck]

My all time favourite is from many years ago - the boy who got into QE boys in Barnet but lived in Newcastle.

[BucksBornNBred]

I wondered whether you dropped off at school on route somewhere else, or was it a 'dedicated taxi service' ; I can see how that can take a fair bit of your time. You mention that a bus would take twice as long. I imagine the reason you do the school runs is precisely because you don't want your DS to have a long and exhausting journey to school - which was the point I was trying to make.

You have caught me out on that one It is partially a "dedicated taxi service" as we have been able to change working hours around to reduce travel (and thus petrol costs) to make sure DS is delivered and collected on time, but it is still out of our way. And you are right, we did decide to do that so that DS would have less commuting time and more free/study time.

You win the argument about parents not thinking about travel before choosing a school... on our CAF and our appeals we only chose those schools that we felt we could get to (albeit with a bit of jiggling).