Anybody from Bristol

[DC17C]

I used to commute from Bristol to Quedgeley ( south of Gloucester ) 20 years ago and I stuck it out for a year before changing jobs. There is no way I'd want that sort of journey for my 11 yr old dd.

We are lucky I guess to have had a choice between SHS and Ribston but Ribston won because it is a bit nearer to us but a much easier and a cheaper bus journey so maybe a bit more money in the pot for extra curricular trips and activities.

[Superflygirl]

Methinks a lot of this is actually more about the adults than the children! They seem to be forgotten as the Pate's status takes over! Im stressed over sending my child to a grammar at the other side of Gloucester from where I live. I totally understand that it is a good school but isn't the children's welfare the most important thing? When do they ever get the chance to do normal children things if they spend so much time travelling?

[stroudydad]

There should be a 'like' button on this forum.

[Superflygirl]

I'm glad someone in agreement. I think I may be saying what a few people are thinking .....

[3kidsmum]

i would like to share my view about commuting for school, as i live in Bristol, we are not as lucky as the ones in Glous who have 7 grammers schools and couples good comps. My DD's has 25 people in her class, 15 out of the 25 is allocated in the linked secondary schools which is a good VA school, it about 10 miles from us and the bus will takes about 30-40min (since it will pass through the town centre), if you are not baptised and want to go to a better comp, then another choice is about 12 miles and take about 25 - 30 mins by school bus, otherwise, you can go a local comp but this is not my cup of tea. We work out the journey to Pates, it takes 40 mins and is 35 miles away. So from my point of view, especially when my DD peg her heart to Pates once she saw their physics experiment during the open day (she said she is born as scientist?!), it is not big difference between 30min school bus or 40 min drive, therefore we opt for Pates. Of course, i won't let DD to take train + bus, it is not for a 11 year old girl!

BTW, i won't agree that parents (at least, not me) feel any special status for Pates, when i told the other mums that my dd go to Pates, they will ask where and why, my answer is: it's in Cheltenham and it's an acedamically very good school, then 9 of out 10 will say: why not you take them to the private? i really want to reply but i didn't, how can i afford 3 kids to private for 1 bread maker in the family? All i feel proud of is my DD determination to get in the school, nothing else.

All in all, what i want to say is : nobody would like to bring an umbrella unless it is raining heavily!

[Superflygirl]

I am by no means trying to say that this will always be the case but in some scenarios on here there are people with good schools closer that are choosing the Pates option. It was simply an observation not a dig. If I was faced with your options, I may do the same.

[stroudydad]

Superfly I agree though I too think I will gain no friends for saying it. Many parents do choose pates just for the status, and in my opinion sometimes against the better interests of their children..(I speak from experience). My children will all sit the 11plus for one simple reason, marling and shs are our nearest schools, Or we have the lesser of two evils in maidenhill or archway, neither of which are at all appealing.

[Stressed?Moi?]

As an (ex!) catholic, I have to say that one thing to take into consideration (bit late now I know) is friends. I was sent miles away to the other side of Bristol to attend a catholic school, whilst all of my neighbours and local friends went to the comp down the road. I had to catch two buses as my parents couldn't drive and absolutely hated it. I had no time to play/meet up with my friends and had a miserable time as I had nothing in common with them. We are sending our DD a bit further away than we would like, but I can nip across in the morning/evening if necessary (dental appointments, after-school clubs, pick-ups for illness, etc). I would be reluctant to have the M5/Almondsbury Interchange as part of her school journey; it's not massively far from Cheltenham to Bristol, but you only want an accident and you have quite a delay. I also commuted from Bristol to Quedgeley and hated it; OK for the first year, but after that........ Sorry this isn't more positive, but it's just my perspective.

[capers123]

Or we have the lesser of two evils in maidenhill or archway, neither of which are at all appealing.

We rather liked Archway. It's certainly not suitable for every child, which is why many parents send their children to TK (smaller & calmer - felt more like an extension of Primary) or Deerpark. I'm also not sure that it's the best place for less-able children, but above average children seem to do pretty well there - Stroud does have a quite a few parents who disagree with the 11+ whose able children end up there (though there are also a lot of parents at SHS & Marling who belong to anti-grammar polical parties).

We happily put it as 2nd choice, in our case above Ribston, as our DD's would have done well there & enjoyed the buzzy atmosphere. It's now out of special measures into which it was put in mainly because of poor leadership from the governors (not much in the local press about that, but the now-retired chair of governors was running for County Council at the time) and problems with the special-needs low ability children not improving enough.

[stroudydad]

There was a small piece in the Stroud Life about archway coming out of special measures this week, and I will say that we were impressed with many of the facilities at Archway, I spend a lot of time in and around the grounds though and I have to say I don't meet that many pupils that give me a great impresion of the school.
Sad but true.
Also from us TK and Deer park are quite a journey, if we could even get a place..