Travel 10+ miles single journey to a GS or no?

[tiredmama]

Dd got borderline score for a pp place in camp hill. Now I am in a dilemma whether to put FW down on the form as she has more of chance of getting a place there... It is an extremely long journey, we are in solihull/shirley. Our local comprehensive is good (Tudor Grange if anyone knows). I don't know whether it is worth sending dd that far to grammar, I don't think I would commute for work that far!

Any ideas/insights? I guess I am asking would you put a gs as a second choice before your local outstanding comp if your child has to commute for it 20+ miles round journey or would you rather they go to your local comp. She would have to be at the bus stop for about 7.20am and will be back around 4.40pm.

My head is pounding thinking about it, some big decisions we have to make for our children.

[HappyRobot]

That is tough
If u are borderline put camp hill first
If u don't get it, then you may get fw but defo Tudor grange
Tudor grange is an excellent school. If your dd is bright she'll be in the top sets, but the children are of mixed ability in the school, so I have heard that sometimes even the brightest children don't feel pushed enough!
I know of children who commute from Solihull/Shirley to fw.
I think it is too far for me from the centre of Solihull, but from Shirley, it sounds more doable. My ds leaves the house at 7.18 and returns at 5 pm....he doesn't mind, though I do!!!!

[Tolstoy]

If I had a local Outstanding Comprehensive close at hand I don't think I'd even sit the test. I am not familiar with your area though.

Are you saying Camphill is closer but you have a borderline chance of a place.? If that is the case then put it on your form 1st as if DC doesn't get the place then your second choice becomes your first choice without bias.

So in that scenario I personally would put the Comprehensive 2nd as DD will have more time to spend on her studies, extra-curricular and social life. Often people get concerned about younger DC doing the long journey but personally I find it becomes more of an issue as they get older and their workload increases at the same time as they want a more independent social life.

Crossed posts so probably repeating some of Happy robots advice.

[tiredmama]

Are you saying Camphill is closer but you have a borderline chance of a place?

Yes, that is correct. We are near Solihull town centre/Touchwood. Camp hill is doable but dd is very borderline, she scored 211. Pp cut off for camp hill last year was 210 and FW was 206. She will definitely get a place at our local comp - Tudor Grange which is a very sought after school anyways. I just don't know. Hubby keeps changing his tune - our initial 'no way she can commute that far' went to may be' and then to almost 'why not'. Grrr

Thanks for your replies guys.

[tiredmama]

My ds leaves the house at 7.18 and returns at 5 pm....he doesn't mind, though I do!!!!

Where does your ds go if you don't mind sharing?

[kenyancowgirl]

It is not the distance that is the deciding factor, it's the time taken to travel. My sons live 10 miles from their school, but it is a 20-25 minute drive or 35-40 on the bus, depending on traffic. The same 10 mile journey in a city, with hideous traffic could take over an hour....

Go with your heart - if you want Camp Hill, put it first. The next question you have to ask yourself is what would she gain/lose from going to FW over Tudor Grange...and is that worth the not so great journey? The honest answer is, probably not. I think people get so het up with children "must" go to a GS when, in reality there are some equally fantastic schools out there and, more importantly, if they are local, the child will have the benefit of local friends and can completely immerse themselves in all aspects of school life and still get home at a reasonable time to do homework etc.

[Petitpois]

Tired mama, that is the worst dilemma I have seen so far. Tudor Grange is very very good. It is doing a great job even with less able students.

I would say its performance is on a par if not better than some of the grammars certainly Handsworth Boys in my view. Look at the weakness on the English bacc measure around 54%, but high attainers will most likely be doing fine. The other thing is that the performance on A level does not look great. Check out their recent ofsted regarding stretch and challenge for higher achievers

I love examples like Tudor grange, because they show that a great comp education does not have to be the preserve of the few or selectives. The also give credence to the fact that some state comps are an absolute disgrace. I looked at Arthur Terry in four oaks after going to QMHS, so similar demographic, but Tudor G looks like it beats them significantly. It consistently good too.

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/sch ... urn=136310" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will you get the soft networking that you would get in a grammar or at CHG. If you would then your faced with a big old commute for not much gain. Grammars are not the be all and end all, but having been on the end of a pretty shabby comp (that is still just as shabby) it would take a lot for me personally to trust them.

90% of parents would bite your right hand off if you offered to swap their "standard" comp place for a place at Tudor Grange and it was on their doorstep.

Oh go on then I will give an opinion. I would choose Tudor G over KEFW. KEFW came across to me like a high performing comp, so might as well go for CHG and then TG then KEFW. I would definitely not trade KEFW for tudor grange

As always be careful with stats. I just looked in more detail at the 50% of low attainers achieving 5 or more GCSE's - there were only 2!!

[tiredmama]

90% of parents would bite your right hand off if you offered to swap their "standard" comp place for a place at Tudor Grange and it was on their doorstep.

10 min leisurely walk, 5-7 if you hurry. that's what makes my decision even harder. I think I go with my heart, and put camp hill first (fingers and toes crossed) and TG second. I don't need a third choice as she would definitely get TG.

@kenyan, going by the fact that school bus leaves at 7.20 I would imagine the journey takes 70-75 mins

thanks for your replies guys, some really good points that i can put forwards to my husband (who shhhhhh i am now thinking wants a gs place for our dd at any cost just to be able to say she is the first in our family to gain it looking back on generations )

[mimossa]

Hi Tiredmama,

CHG were not able to fill there PP places last year. It was the same for King Edward Handsworth. I remember having a chat with FO, and was told that both schools were unable to fill there PP places due to not having enough PP girls over 209.

so, hopefully your daughter should make CHG on PP.

Mimossa

[Secret]

Tired mama, that is the worst dilemma I have seen so far. Tudor Grange is very very good. It is doing a great job even with less able students.

I would say its performance is on a par if not better than some of the grammars certainly Handsworth Boys in my view. Look at the weakness on the English bacc measure around 54%, but high attainers will most likely be doing fine. The other thing is that the performance on A level does not look great. Check out their recent ofsted regarding stretch and challenge for higher achievers

I love examples like Tudor grange, because they show that a great comp education does not have to be the preserve of the few or selectives. The also give credence to the fact that some state comps are an absolute disgrace. I looked at Arthur Terry in four oaks after going to QMHS, so similar demographic, but Tudor G looks like it beats them significantly. It consistently good too.

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/sch ... urn=136310" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will you get the soft networking that you would get in a grammar or at CHG. If you would then your faced with a big old commute for not much gain. Grammars are not the be all and end all, but having been on the end of a pretty shabby comp (that is still just as shabby) it would take a lot for me personally to trust them.

90% of parents would bite your right hand off if you offered to swap their "standard" comp place for a place at Tudor Grange and it was on their doorstep.

Oh go on then I will give an opinion. I would choose Tudor G over KEFW. KEFW came across to me like a high performing comp, so might as well go for CHG and then TG then KEFW. I would definitely not trade KEFW for tudor grange

As always be careful with stats. I just looked in more detail at the 50% of low attainers achieving 5 or more GCSE's - there were only 2!!

Tudor grange is a top ten DofE non selective school nationwide and featured in the Good school guide 2014 for being in the top list of non selective schools and also featured as one of the the schools where house prices are at a premium to be in the catchment for. My son really liked five ways but he did not achieve the QS score let alone the cut off but he was not heavily prepped to be fair but we thought would give it a go more for the exam experience too. My son is in top sets and we moved to Tudor grange catchment just under 10 years ago also being in good catchments for ks1 and 2. To be fair the facilities at the grammars were the differentiating factor for me and my son loved the kayaking opportunities at five ways!!! But we can give him them opportunities atoll on or earls wood lakes!!! but as far as the education at Tudor grange it seems to me to be a school that will push kids to do better which is all We want