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KEGS - Braintree area

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 12:59 pm
by ivory
Congratulations to all children who sat the 11 plus. I have a ds in Year 7 at KEGS and last year used this forum to find out a few more details about the school and if anyone had a son travelling from the Braintree area. It turned out we were the only Braintree family but I received some useful information from another mother with a ds who was in Y7 at the time (bus times / passes, uniform etc)/. I thought I would post in case anyone else was in the same situation - please feel free to ask any questions. It all worked out very well with the older boys travelling on the same route welcoming my ds into their group.

Re: KEGS - Braintree area

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:59 pm
by lisawat
Hi there,

My DD has gained a place at ChCHS. We live in Great Notley and understand that the buses are the same. If you have any idea of bus times / bus fare costs I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

Re: KEGS - Braintree area

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 11:23 pm
by ivory
Hi Lisawat, Firstly congratulations - you must be thrilled. We live in Grt Notley too. My Ds gets the bus from London Road, stop after White Court nearest Cut Hedge. His bus leaves at 07.36 and arrives in time for him to have a second breakfast (!) at school. The later one is too much of a risk in case it doesn't turn up or traffic is bad. Some children get he earlier one at 7.26 but in my ds's view they are just mad. The bus journey is fine and the return bus leaves 5 minutes after school so he is normally through the door by 4.25pm if he isn't doing anything after school. In your offer pack you will receive details about termly bus passes which are purchased direct from CSSE (the first term was £370, 2nd £240, and this last term £330). Ds has never had a problem with the bus and the advantage of using a public bus is that there are alternative options if they want to do activities after school. I know of 2 current yr 7 girls who go from Notley to ChCHS on the same bus as my ds. What Primary school are you currently at? We sent ds off on a couple of practice trips to Chelmsford over the summer holiday and then just let him get on with it!
Congratulations again and well done to your dd. Hope you have a good weekend celebrating.

Re: KEGS - Braintree area

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:03 pm
by lisawat
Hi Ivory,

Thanks so much for the information. I didn't realise the bus fares were so high, I'll have to cut down on my shoe shopping! We recieved the essex CSSE transport information but if I'm honest I couldn't make any sense of it so your message has really helped.

My daughter is at a primary in Springfield so I feel a bus journey through the holidays may be in order - or she may have a companion on the first day (much to her disgust I imagine!). If there're any further nuggets of information that you feel may help please let me know.

Thanks again x

Re: KEGS - Braintree area

Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:20 pm
by mclm
Hi lisawat

My DD is currently in yr 9 at ChCHS, so happy to help on any school questions. Feel free to pm me. Ivory is more knowledgeable than I on school a.m. bus as DD tends to come very early with me in the car at commuter time, but can help with afternoon buses. Agree with Ivory though, trial run is a must over the Summer, particularly as on the first day it's just them and year 12 so they haven't got anyone to follow (note: staff understand they may be late / get confused that day - it's part of the process so nothing to worry about) !

Congrats to your DD, I'm sure she will be very happy - it's a great school.


mclm

Re: KEGS - Braintree area

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 9:30 am
by moved
I did the first morning on the trains with both of mine. There were a lot of other mums too.

Re: KEGS - Braintree area

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 3:03 pm
by purplegirl
A few years ago did train journey with DD1 on first day; I plan to do the same this year with DD2.

There were alot of parents accompanying girls on the first day, and many of these parents took pictures of their DD in front of the school. It does make a lovely picture and surprisingly my DD didn't find having photo being taken embarrassing as so many parents/DD were doing the same thing; afterwards she said it gave the girls something to joke about together!
I don't know about the other schools, but at CCHS the first day is solely for the year 7 and year 12. So that means you can't rely on there being older girls on the bus/train on the first day. It does gives the girls a chance to know each other/school buildings. I remember DD1 saying they had a "treasure hunt" type game around the school buildings to get to know the layout and make friends.

By the 2nd day, DD1 took train by herself as by then she knew several girls taking the same trains.