11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi There,

I know there are a few children who manage to travel to QE and HBS from Redbridge. If anyone does then please can you share how to do this and if a bus/coach is being planned.

Please PM if preferred.

I know a lot of people (including members of my own family) feel that the travel is too far. But we want to consider all our potential options before eliminating any schools.

Any information will be of great help.

I also know a someone who is willing to start a mini bus service to HBS/QE if we can get at least 12 children together. So please PM me if this is of interest too.

Thanks!

HBS and QE boys are good schools but it would be far better to go to good local schools than face a long tiring journey twice a day. If the alternative is not promising then you could consider it but only as a last ditch measure and then please consider moving closer. DG

The journey by car would be terrible in the morning. Your choices would be to either drive over the half the journey (of 14 miles) along the North Circular in Rush hour, or travel through a very congested Walthamstow/Tottenham/Turnpike Lane/Hornsey/Finchley/the A1. That route could take 2 hours in bad traffic:/ If your child is awarded a place there would you move? Parents I know say if they moved they would be too far away from their work (but are happy to send their beloved 11 year old on a journey they consider too arduous for themselves!)

Every year QE boys end up holding tests for entry into Y8 because Y7 boys drop out as they can't manage the journey any more. What misery for them as they have to start again at another school. Please do the journey yourself and then think about doing that twice a day for 7 years. QE boys is not the Holy Grail, it is just another school. Going there does not guarantee good results. Working hard is more important. DG

If you think your DC are going to achieve a place at either HBS or QE, surely they would have no problems getting into one of the grammar schools whose catchment you live in? What about after-school clubs / parents' evenings / concerts / school trips which leave at three in the morning and/or arrive back at midnight? Or do you see the school experience as just being about a place where your DC go for a few hours a day to have academic instruction with homework to do when they eventually get back?

I thought that on another thread a while ago - possibly a post written by one of last year's 11+ takers - someone wrote about how lucky they felt they were with the schools that there were available to them in Redbridge, not just the grammar schools

DS2 achieved a pretty good pass in the CSSE test last year, bless him, sufficient for at least one person to question why he was destined for SHSB and not an OOC place at KEGS? The answer, obvious to us and him, being that however wonderful the school may be, it doesn't have anything that our local grammars don't which would justify sending him on a three-train or unreliable bus journey each way twice a day for the next five or seven years.

Thanks for all the replies. We will be trying out the travel for ourselves for sure (a few times), and right now I am just looking for all the back up options. Our local grammar and those closer to us will be priority options. But given that we only have a week or so to submit our final priority list of schools after results are out, I wanted to check all potential options. Following the exam yesterday, I now need to consider all options and narrow down as DD found the exam very hard.

Just proactive planning on my part.

Happy for this thread to be locked by mods as I feel I have the answers I need - with some helpful PMs too.

Thanks!

Threads are only locked if there is some type of violent disagreement. We are all in agreement here. If your dd found Redbridge hard it is likely she will find HBS harder. How much CEM prep has she done? DG

Its a bit tricky. Have PMed you. I agree that we are not at all violently disagreeing.

The North London Grammars have huge numbers of tutored applicants with very high pass marks. There are 2500 girls chasing 100 places. Your daughter has a better chance of a place in Redbridge (anyone's daughter has ) Children often say an exam is hard and do well and vice versa. What scores was she achieving in tests at home/mocks?

2Girlsmum wrote: Your daughter has a better chance of a place in Redbridge (anyone's daughter has )

Ooh, who hasn't looked at the Redbridge criteria then?

Funnily enough, very similar to St.Michael's, only pertaining to residence rather than religious affiliation .