Hi
Can anyone suggest the best way to get to Camphill boys from Sutton...

Train and bus?

_________________
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

I would do train for as much of the journey as possible- to Kings Norton - then get a bus for the last stretch. I think it's the no 18?

Thank you ToadMum and crazycrofter.. Is getting down at New Street an option too. Guess more distance on train might make the journey time quicker?

Hope to link up with other boys with whom my son could go with...

Yes, he could get off at New St and get the no 50 but bus travel is much slower. And there's also the issue of changing in town which is a bit more intimidating for year 7s. I saw a couple of CHB boys recently on the train to Kings Norton - they were getting on at New St though, but I'm sure there would be others for at least part of the train journey.

I know that boys travel to Bournville (straight train, 30-35 minutes journey from Sutton Coldfield) then walk to the school.
It's about 15 mins walk. Barely 3 mins in a car, though! You can go via the River Rea cycle track too - a scooter could speed things up.
The 35 bus would take you some of the way/up the Cartland Road.
The other option is to carry on to Kings Norton station and get the bus back towards Kings Heath.

When I got on the train at Bournville after school in summer with ds to visit BV at their open day, there were a good number of CH boys there who got on at Bournville and got off at Sutton Coldfield.

Surely much of the feasibility of that journey depends on where in Sutton the journey starts from.
If it's a couple of minutes walk from one of the stations up that way, then it's a long, tiring (But possibly doable) journey.
But let's say you live a 15 minutes walk or drive from the station.
- Presumably you'd allow for getting to the station 5 minutes before your train arrives.
- Assume 30 minute train to Bournville
- You'd definitely have to be doing some kind of power/race walking to get to from Bournville station to Camp Hill in 15 minutes. 20 minutes is probably still a bit optimistic, but lets go with that.

Assuming everything runs perfectly smoothly and on time, you're already looking at a 1 hour 10 minute journey... twice a day... every day. (Including days when your so has a cold, and it's pouring with rain, and he's stayed after school for some club or sport activity)

I actually have Bishop Vesey as second choice on CAF form for my son, which is about a 45 minutes door-to-door journey, the opposite way on the cross city line from Selly Oak.
I'm really conscious of that being a long journey, and if it came about that my son ended up at BV, we would probably look to move to that side of town in the longer term.
I had approximately an hour's journey each way from my home to the grammar school I attended in Kent.
I can say from first hand experience that it does have a major impact on things like homework. Both in terms of fitting it in, and the energy you can summon up for it when it's evening, rather than late afternoon.
If you or your son has their heart set on Camp Hill, then I can understand you exploring every possibility to get there.
But maybe you can weigh up whatever very small, perceived advantage may (Or may not) exist at CHB over somewhere like Bishop Vesey - vs. what extra reading, studying (Or relaxing) he could do without the hundreds of extra hours of commuting each year?

Google maps has 26 minutes: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/King+Edwards+VI+Camp+Hill,+Vicarage+Road,+Birmingham/Bournville,+Birmingham+B30+2LT/@52.4280644,-1.9220929,15z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x4870be9ffad7627f:0xa174499d4c425289!2m2!1d-1.9029747!2d52.4310647!1m5!1m1!1s0x4870be8097ec6295:0x9e87d03c46ae5339!2m2!1d-1.92642!2d52.42698!3e2?hl=en

Thank you crazycrofter, agree New Street would be intimidating for Year 7
we are hoping to find other boys from Camphill to make his journey easier

Thanks solimum.
Did look at Google maps as well. hoping to get some info from someone who make the trip