11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi all, what are you the travel options to Colchester Girls grammar from Brentwood/Shenfield/Ingatestone? Looking at options for future. Thank you.

If you have a look at previous threads you will gather information and advice.

Briefly, train to Colchester and then bus.

There used to be a private minibus (that grew into a coach) - others may know if this still runs?

You will also get advice to think very carefully about putting your DD through such a long daily commute.....

I know it's rather like the Irish answer, I wouldn't start off from here and I'm sure your DD has reasons for preferring Colchester over CCHS, but Shenfield or Ingatestone to Chelmsford are less than a ten minute train journey (Brentwood more than twice as long, as it involves a change, but still not too long). Compared with a longer train journey to Colchester, then a bus journey on congested roads, rather than an easy walk. Ingatestone is definitely in the Chelmsford grammar schools' catchment, as must be most of the area between Shenfield and Brentwood stations?

Most of the grammar school children in this area go to the ones in Chelmsford or Southend. There are a handful who commute to Colchester, but you really need to be in Shenfield or Ingatestone to not have to catch a train before 7am. Threads have covered this journey to the nth degree. Highly recommend one to visit the school and try the journey out a few times before making a decision.

Thank you all. I am just looking at options as i heard from the long fine there are coaches going to colchester from Gidea Park ( 40 mins to school on the coach). on google maps its only 30mins from the school to ingatestone hence looking at availability of dedicated school buses/private coaches similar to above.

CCHSG is just over 40 miles from Gidea Park -and unless the coach is timed to arrive at about 7am, I would be very surprised if the driver could, legally (or otherwise, given the traffic in Colchester in rush hour), cover the distance in that time.

Did you and your DD really prefer CCHSG to CCHS so much when you visited the schools, that the journey would really be worth it?

no preference at all at the moment. Just exploring all options at the same time as highlighted thinking through the practicality. Colchester seems to be a statistically stronger school but thats just number crunching. First taste in the world of grammar/state school

MSF wrote:no preference at all at the moment. Just exploring all options at the same time as highlighted thinking through the practicality. Colchester seems to be a statistically stronger school but thats just number crunching. First taste in the world of grammar/state school

If your DD is currently at an indie, which schools do their pupils usually move on to? Indies are perfectly at liberty to advise and promote selective schools - and will do so, as grammar school places obtained sell the school to parents of potential applicants - whereas staff at state primaries are often reluctant to do so. If CCHSG is promoted over CCHS, they may also have some advice regarding actually getting there.

Just to clarify it does not take 30/40 mins to get to Colchester Girls High from Gidea park. I live in Marks Tey in Colchester (3-4 miles away) and it often takes me 30 mins to get to Colchester Girls High in the morning traffic!

Please do also have a think about how you will manage any early starts (there are one or two early start school trips a year - one is 5.30am) or late finishes (things like clubs, rehearsals, Duke of Edinburgh), social lives and parties, bad weather, train problems, parents evenings, information evenings, fairs/fundraising activities and other schools involvement.

Colchester is very congested with traffic so I’d try and do a practice run at school drop off time on an actual school day to see where any problems might come from and how long it might take. The schools are quite far from the train station and the traffic can add a lot of extra time to a bus journey. Regular problems on the A12 means that coaches are regularly late to school.

Stateschooled wrote:Just to clarify it does not take 30/40 mins to get to Colchester Girls High from Gidea park. I live in Marks Tey in Colchester (3-4 miles away) and it often takes me 30 mins to get to Colchester Girls High in the morning traffic!