11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi,

My daughter is offered a place at WGGS but I am concerned about the journey to get there. If any child is going to the same school and in nearby area, we may form a group of travel buddies? It would really put my mind at ease.

We're not going there, but there are coach services. I don't know whether they go from Woolwich. but might be worth a look.

Thanks 2childmum.

They do have school buses 601 which depart from Thamesmead or Bexleyheath bus garage.

I intend to take her to school in her first week, making her familiar with the route but I am not sure if school bus lets me on though lol

How about do a practice route before term starts. If you can meet up with others doing a similar route, knowing it is a test run with completely unrealistic traffic and part of purpose is to meet others doing the same, all the better. If there are others doing that route it may not help during the first week if DC is either going in car or has you by side at a key time for making friendships???? I can't suggest routes from your area but there are a number of school organised buses that go direct from Petts Wood and nearby areas to Wilmington which would join up with perhaps the 61 bus? Good luck.

If your primary school has an inset day when the grammar school doesn't, you could take / send your DD (plus friends, if they are going to be using the same route?) on the bus so that she knows what it is like travelling at the proper time(s) of the day.

(Like a sardine in a tin, according to a moan on the 'Fixmytransport' site, but the letter was from a couple of years ago so - one hopes - the service may be less crowded now?).

BexleyKent wrote:Thanks 2childmum.

They do have school buses 601 which depart from Thamesmead or Bexleyheath bus garage.

I intend to take her to school in her first week, making her familiar with the route but I am not sure if school bus lets me on though lol

Hi BexleyKent,
I was considering Wilmington for boys, which is just after the girls school, so I went with my son and took the 601 bus. You can definitely take the bus, there were some adults. You can use your oyster, if you have one. The only problem I saw was that they put on 4 buses. They all leave one after the other and you need to have a contingency plan in case your daughter misses the bus. I thought about maybe having an agreement with a cab company. I never got that far, as in the end my son went to Dartford for boys and the train takes him directly. Is your daughter in the position of taking the bus directly, or will she have to take another form of transport to get to the bus stop?

I can tell you about the bus journey. For me, it was good. The bus went along picking up students. There were people who knew each other along the way and were chatting, reading, listening to devices, etc.

I know you can take the train to Dartford and then some students walk from there as the buses are not very frequent.

There are people from around your area going to Wilmington. One idea would be for you to ask someone at the school to pass on your details to other parents in the area in case they would like to make arrangements with you. Best of luck.

Hi All,

Thank you for all your advise.

@PettswoodFiona: I took her there by normal buses on a school day for trial. The journey was generally good until I had to cross a main road without pelican/zebra crossing to get to school! For me, it was quite dangerous.

@ToadMum: Good idea. I'll try the school bus with her one day

@Salsa: That's brilliant information. My daughter will need to take a bus from home to get to the pick up point for bus 601. Hopefully, she'll get to know more "travel buddies".

Good luck to All x

This has various routes on that you might be able to join up with, I gather they drop at school so no big road to cross??? http://www.nkst.co.uk/timetables.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No big roads at all. If anything it's a very narrow lane. The only concern is missing the buses as they put on 4 buses which leave within minutes of each other. Also, in the afternoon, if your daughter would like to join a club she would need to go home another way.

@PettswoodFiona: Thank you for the link!!!

@Salsa: Yeah, it is one of my concern. We got off bus B12 and I found the route to the school dangerous. It will be a problem if DD has to take public buses. There is not much I can do though.