Open morning at JHGS

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BlueBerry
Posts: 1014
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:05 pm

Open morning at JHGS

Post by BlueBerry »

Hi all,

My DS & I went to visit JHGS this morning. We were taken around the tour of the school by 2 Year 8 boys. There were so mature & articulate! My son really enjoyed his visit and loved hearing about how the football squad is looking to expand its size into an A and B team. He was very impressed by their outdoor space and was salivating at the thought of playing football in their AstroTurf pitch.

We asked the deputy head the usual questions. What hit home was how important the journey to & from school is. Don't get me wrong, I won't be living miles and miles away from the school & always thought about his journey etc. But now I'm more focused on the number of hours available for him to go to school, participate in after school activities but to still come home with enough energy to be able to do the anticipated 1hr a day of homework that the school gives him. DS loves participating in after school activities and I wouldn't want to limit his option just because he's got the school bus to catch home etc.

I haven't looked into this yet but I'm hoping that by living in Beaconsfield he can get the bus home on the days that he has an after school club. I'm now off to google journey times!
scary mum
Posts: 8841
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Open morning at JHGS

Post by scary mum »

To drive it would take about 15 minutes without any traffic - if the buses use the A40 (rather than M40) there is often quite bad traffic, but even so, it's not too bad and I would think would be timetabled at about 25 minutes. There are some express buses that go along the motorway (which of course gets clogged up too) but I'm not sure if they go to Beaconsfield.
scary mum
BucksBornNBred
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Open morning at JHGS

Post by BucksBornNBred »

Also the Park and Ride has moved opposite JHGS so that would connect DS to the bus station or train station to make any connections.
MamaBear
Posts: 574
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 6:17 pm

Re: Open morning at JHGS

Post by MamaBear »

ds2 (yr8) was happy about the open morning because it got him out of his biology exam!
BlueBerry
Posts: 1014
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:05 pm

Re: Open morning at JHGS

Post by BlueBerry »

Bucksbornnbred- thanks that's an excellent point to remember.

Ha ha Mamabear, I too would be estatic if this was me!

By the way, what is a reasonable school journey time? I was thinking 45mins door to door?
anotherdad
Posts: 1763
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: Open morning at JHGS

Post by anotherdad »

BlueBerry wrote:By the way, what is a reasonable school journey time? I was thinking 45mins door to door?
I think so, but it's also about how tricky the journey is. A two-bus journey might only take 45 minutes normally, but when winter comes, connections get missed, etc. it can cause problems.
We live 30 minutes from my daughter's school and it's a real advantage to have a relatively short commute, although the school do overly rely upon the local youngsters for staffing open evenings and events....
scary mum
Posts: 8841
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Open morning at JHGS

Post by scary mum »

I agree, I would probably aim for 30 minutes in the knowledge that it might often be 45 with traffic hold ups, winter weather etc.
My DSs go to a school 10-15 minutes from our house, on a route that has little traffic but it still takes half an hour on the school bus because of picking up other people's pesky children ( :lol: ) and going a different route.
scary mum
BlueBerry
Posts: 1014
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:05 pm

Re: Open morning at JHGS

Post by BlueBerry »

Thanks, I'm aiming for a single bus connection. According to Bucks CC website, the school bus will do the pick ups at 8.05am in Beaconsfield so I'm not worried about this journey. I'm more worried when he's got an after school clubs & he needs to use public transport to travel home.
BucksBornNBred
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Open morning at JHGS

Post by BucksBornNBred »

Not sure where you are in BCD but both Arriva and Carousel serve that area, though the Parknride is owned by Carousel so you could only get cheaper/easier zone tickets if the connection was also Carousel (I don't have shares in ParknRide btw, I just know the recent changes have made my emergency journeys much harder!)
BlueBerry
Posts: 1014
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:05 pm

Re: Open morning at JHGS

Post by BlueBerry »

That's super, thanks for the info
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