Moving to Gloucestershire - any pointers, pls?
Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators
Re: Moving to Gloucestershire - any pointers, pls?
Marling is an easy walk from. Stroud station, which has parking but is also on bus routes. My mother's family is from Painswick ('the Queen of the Cotswolds' 
https://www.cotswolds.com/information/n ... olds-a2496), which is quite nice, if pricey - but where isn't, these days? Can't speak for its broadband speeds, though, as the only times I've been in the area in recent years was for family funerals and the subject didn't really come up.
Another one slightly boggled at the idea of uprooting one's whole family for an unvisited school in an unfamiliar area, I have to say. Where did he sit the exam, if you haven't visited any of the schools?
https://www.cotswolds.com/information/n ... olds-a2496), which is quite nice, if pricey - but where isn't, these days? Can't speak for its broadband speeds, though, as the only times I've been in the area in recent years was for family funerals and the subject didn't really come up.Another one slightly boggled at the idea of uprooting one's whole family for an unvisited school in an unfamiliar area, I have to say. Where did he sit the exam, if you haven't visited any of the schools?
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
-
Brackenboo
- Posts: 441
- Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:21 am
Re: Moving to Gloucestershire - any pointers, pls?
Originally from Essex and would add that rugby is very much the focus sport for boys in the south west. Did your son sit for any of the Essex/ Hertfordshire schools?
Have you been to Gloucestershire at all, it's very different to the east side of the country, a lot more rain. Marling is probably a good rural area, and possibly easier to get into London from that way via the train than Gloucester or Cheltenham
Have you been to Gloucestershire at all, it's very different to the east side of the country, a lot more rain. Marling is probably a good rural area, and possibly easier to get into London from that way via the train than Gloucester or Cheltenham
Re: Moving to Gloucestershire - any pointers, pls?
My son is at STRS and they are quite rugby focussed. Having said that there are lots of boys that don’t play. My son was massively into football before he started and had never played rugby before - but he now loves it and plays for the team. He also plays for the school football team (but there hasn’t been a team before yr 10) There are some great local football teams that lots of boys belong too. I’m not sure if either Marling or Crypt have football teams. Stroud is a shorter commune to London on the train and Gloucester & Cheltenham are both easier for a Bristol train commute. I would definitely recommend coming and visiting the schools. I’m sure that his school wouldn’t mind him missing a few days …. Yr 6 sats are months away.
Good luck with your decision.
Good luck with your decision.
-
SwimmingUpstream
- Posts: 38
- Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:19 pm
Re: Moving to Gloucestershire - any pointers, pls?
Gloucestershire is definitely a rugby county! But all the schools you mention have football teams too.
Gloucester, Cheltenham and Stroud all have (the same) a direct train to London. It’s pretty much hourly and takes around 90 minutes from Stroud, a bit longer from Gloucester and longer again from Cheltenham. Stroud doesn’t have a direct service to Bristol, although the others do. If that’s how you’d plan to get to Bristol you have to either go to Gloucester or Swindon and change, or drive to Cam & Dursley station to go direct, if you were going from Stroud.
Obviously there’s the big difference that Crypt is mixed and Tommies and Marling are all boys. That may or may not be some sort of deciding factor.
Stroud, as a smallish market town, is less ethnically diverse than Gloucester, but all the schools you mention take from huge catchments and so are all diverse. You should be fine for good broadband in both Gloucester and Stroud and lots of the surrounding villages. There’s full fibre broadband in loads of places (speeds and availability can be found via fastershire website)
Gloucester, Cheltenham and Stroud all have (the same) a direct train to London. It’s pretty much hourly and takes around 90 minutes from Stroud, a bit longer from Gloucester and longer again from Cheltenham. Stroud doesn’t have a direct service to Bristol, although the others do. If that’s how you’d plan to get to Bristol you have to either go to Gloucester or Swindon and change, or drive to Cam & Dursley station to go direct, if you were going from Stroud.
Obviously there’s the big difference that Crypt is mixed and Tommies and Marling are all boys. That may or may not be some sort of deciding factor.
Stroud, as a smallish market town, is less ethnically diverse than Gloucester, but all the schools you mention take from huge catchments and so are all diverse. You should be fine for good broadband in both Gloucester and Stroud and lots of the surrounding villages. There’s full fibre broadband in loads of places (speeds and availability can be found via fastershire website)
Re: Moving to Gloucestershire - any pointers, pls?
I had a chat with my DD yesterday that made me think of this conversation.
Your DS has dreamed of going to grammar school, but does he actually know what one is? From what I understand of the Gloucestershire grammars, there's very little difference between them and the comprehensives, apart from the cohort, and the Glos grammars are nowhere near as difficult to get in to as some in other areas. Many very bright kids here don't bother with the test and attend the local comprehensive and so they're all used to stretching bright kids. I'd just be concerned that the reality won't meet his expectations.
I think before you move you really need to discuss with him why he wants to go to grammar and be realistic with him about the (lack of) difference between a grammar and a comprehensive. If he still wants it, then go for it, but just make sure he understands what to expect so it's not a disappointment.
We only bothered because the closest schools are all grammars and none of us want the kids to spend 10 hrs per week traveling! (There are closer comprehensives, but we are too far from them to have a chance of a place.)
On a separate note, I'd never thought about an area being into a particular sport until I moved here. Gloucestershire is definitely a rugby focused county. There's lots of other sporting options, but rugby is the sport. Felt quite odd to an outsider
Your DS has dreamed of going to grammar school, but does he actually know what one is? From what I understand of the Gloucestershire grammars, there's very little difference between them and the comprehensives, apart from the cohort, and the Glos grammars are nowhere near as difficult to get in to as some in other areas. Many very bright kids here don't bother with the test and attend the local comprehensive and so they're all used to stretching bright kids. I'd just be concerned that the reality won't meet his expectations.
I think before you move you really need to discuss with him why he wants to go to grammar and be realistic with him about the (lack of) difference between a grammar and a comprehensive. If he still wants it, then go for it, but just make sure he understands what to expect so it's not a disappointment.
We only bothered because the closest schools are all grammars and none of us want the kids to spend 10 hrs per week traveling! (There are closer comprehensives, but we are too far from them to have a chance of a place.)
On a separate note, I'd never thought about an area being into a particular sport until I moved here. Gloucestershire is definitely a rugby focused county. There's lots of other sporting options, but rugby is the sport. Felt quite odd to an outsider
Re: Moving to Gloucestershire - any pointers, pls?
Hello Charlie,
Congratulations to your DS on a great result.
First comment I’d make is: Don’t be confused by the lower Crypt ranking – the fact that Crypt is the only co-ed (apart from Pates) makes their rankings look different as you obviously have the mix of the girls and boys results – so 210 for Crypt would essentially guarantee a place if you put them top (unless something very bizarre happened with the choices this year).
Our DD is in Yr8 at Crypt and loves it- they’ve done a great job thru lockdown and home learning, and everything is now getting back to normal with residential trips, school clubs and events etc. Our DD has found a lot of new friends and is very pleased with her choice (she could have gone to any of the girl only schools but decided that she wanted the wider environment that Crypt offered).
I did ask my DD about “ethnic mix” and she thinks in total it would be about 1/3 that would be classed as non-“white British”. That clearly covers a range of groups – but I’m not aware of any issues that have come up.
Is it the “best” school? – I’m clearly biased and would say yes; but Gloucestershire is lucky to have a lot of good schools, including the comprehensives – so it’s really down to what you are looking for. Crypt has the new engineering block and also now has permission to extend the main building to add more DT space.
I think there is supposed to be another open day next week (they did two last week and had over 1200 turn up across the 4 sessions) – clearly not seeing the school is not helping, but there are some things on the youtube channel (inc the tour from last year) that might help:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwjmuy ... VfQ/videos" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and there are various twitter feeds related to the school and activities etc.
Main one is here: https://twitter.com/thecryptschool?lang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and the main website is here (with some updated photos): https://www.cryptschool.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
All the Grammar schools are essentially Rugby focussed in terms of boys sport (and Cricket of course), but that’s not all of it and Crypt also has the athletics track etc.
Where to live? Perhaps a more difficult question to answer.
You don’t have to be too far out of the centre of Gloucester to be in the countryside, and Marling (Stroud) even more so. There are lots of specific busses that run in the Cheltenham/Gloucester area that support the schools. I don’t really know much about transport to Marling other than when we look at Cheltenham to Stroud High School transport there didn’t seem to be much available – so I would say that if you decide on Marling it would be better to live more in that area.
Getting to Bristol is not that difficult as there are several junctions on the M5 that work. Train to Bristol is (oddly) probably easiest from Cheltenham. London by car typically means getting to the M4 and getting to Swindon first – but the trains now go essentially hourly from Chelt, Glos, and Stroud/Stonehouse etc.
Housing – depends where you want to be. Cheltenham is pretty expensive for anything. Gloucester and Stroud area are cheaper, but the villages around can end up carrying a fair premium these days.
If you can’t make the open days then I’d suggest a trip for a few days over a half term etc might give at least a chance to explore the area.
Whatever you decide – Good Luck.
Congratulations to your DS on a great result.
First comment I’d make is: Don’t be confused by the lower Crypt ranking – the fact that Crypt is the only co-ed (apart from Pates) makes their rankings look different as you obviously have the mix of the girls and boys results – so 210 for Crypt would essentially guarantee a place if you put them top (unless something very bizarre happened with the choices this year).
Our DD is in Yr8 at Crypt and loves it- they’ve done a great job thru lockdown and home learning, and everything is now getting back to normal with residential trips, school clubs and events etc. Our DD has found a lot of new friends and is very pleased with her choice (she could have gone to any of the girl only schools but decided that she wanted the wider environment that Crypt offered).
I did ask my DD about “ethnic mix” and she thinks in total it would be about 1/3 that would be classed as non-“white British”. That clearly covers a range of groups – but I’m not aware of any issues that have come up.
Is it the “best” school? – I’m clearly biased and would say yes; but Gloucestershire is lucky to have a lot of good schools, including the comprehensives – so it’s really down to what you are looking for. Crypt has the new engineering block and also now has permission to extend the main building to add more DT space.
I think there is supposed to be another open day next week (they did two last week and had over 1200 turn up across the 4 sessions) – clearly not seeing the school is not helping, but there are some things on the youtube channel (inc the tour from last year) that might help:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwjmuy ... VfQ/videos" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and there are various twitter feeds related to the school and activities etc.
Main one is here: https://twitter.com/thecryptschool?lang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and the main website is here (with some updated photos): https://www.cryptschool.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
All the Grammar schools are essentially Rugby focussed in terms of boys sport (and Cricket of course), but that’s not all of it and Crypt also has the athletics track etc.
Where to live? Perhaps a more difficult question to answer.
You don’t have to be too far out of the centre of Gloucester to be in the countryside, and Marling (Stroud) even more so. There are lots of specific busses that run in the Cheltenham/Gloucester area that support the schools. I don’t really know much about transport to Marling other than when we look at Cheltenham to Stroud High School transport there didn’t seem to be much available – so I would say that if you decide on Marling it would be better to live more in that area.
Getting to Bristol is not that difficult as there are several junctions on the M5 that work. Train to Bristol is (oddly) probably easiest from Cheltenham. London by car typically means getting to the M4 and getting to Swindon first – but the trains now go essentially hourly from Chelt, Glos, and Stroud/Stonehouse etc.
Housing – depends where you want to be. Cheltenham is pretty expensive for anything. Gloucester and Stroud area are cheaper, but the villages around can end up carrying a fair premium these days.
If you can’t make the open days then I’d suggest a trip for a few days over a half term etc might give at least a chance to explore the area.
Whatever you decide – Good Luck.
Re: Moving to Gloucestershire - any pointers, pls?
In terms of ethnic diversity, the grammars are often more diverse that the (non-urban) comps, with about a quarter of my kids' classes not being white British. I think you might find it harder to get the diversity in where you choose to live. A lot of the non white-British kids in grammars are travelling from Gloucester & Swindon. However, if you are looking for a more rural environment, you will find it less diverse.
In terms of travel to London, it may also be worth looking at Cirencester. 1hr 15 train to London from Kemble, and there are school buses over to Stroud for Marling. It has a v different feel to Stroud - you really need to visit these places to work out what suits your family!
In terms of travel to London, it may also be worth looking at Cirencester. 1hr 15 train to London from Kemble, and there are school buses over to Stroud for Marling. It has a v different feel to Stroud - you really need to visit these places to work out what suits your family!
Re: Moving to Gloucestershire - any pointers, pls?
Hi. If your Essex secondary school transfer form has a deadline of 31 Oct, as is the case for Gloucestershire, then you've probably decided which Gloucestershire grammar school is your first choice. However, I'll add my thoughts... We moved from Sussex to Gloucestershire for a grammar school place. We wanted our son to have the chance of the best school based on academic results. Sir Thomas Rich was and still is the best academically (other than Pates which is one of the best schools in the whole of England.) . Check Sunday Times best schools list etc. So we chose STR and found a house to rent nearby in suburb of longlevens. Rents in longlevens are a bit higher than suburbs near Crypt school. No idea of Stroud rents. Both Crypt and STR are 10 mins on a bus to Gloucester Station for direct trains to London and Bristol. Our son hates sports but loved STR. He excelled and is now at Bath University. STR quite a high ethnic minority count. Not sure percentage, would guess 15-20% which is higher than the local longlevens population as many students travel from Swindon and other suburbs of Gloucester. I think higher ethnic minority percentage at Crypt. Countryside just 10 mins drive from both longlevens and Crypt. Slower pace of life than London for sure and a lot less crowded. Welcome to Gloucestershire. Hope this helps your choice of best school for your son.
