11 Plus Exams Forum

This is very big decision i need to make . Should i send my ds to Gravesend Grammar as we line in Gravesend. Or Should i send him Dartford Grammar school as he score high enough. I am so confuse....


I have to take in consideration Travel...

Is there any children who go to DGS from Gravesend?

A couple of my son’s friends travel from Gravesend to Dartford Grammar. Quite simply their parents think Dartford Grammar is better than Gravesend Grammar and so have committed their sons to a 7 year commute to school, when they could quite easily walk to Gravesend Grammar. One boy resents having to travel and the other doesn’t!

Have you visited both schools? Which did you prefer? Can you afford the train fare for 7 years? There are buses from Gravesend town centre to Dartford town centre but I’m sure you know that the morning traffic is awful in the area.

See when the open days are and visit both schools. Then you get a ‘feel’ for which school you prefer.

A grammar is a grammar and a bright motivated kid will do well whichever one you send them to. I would always go for the easier commute, with the added bonus of living near friends and having more time to get homework out of the way before dinner. Life is going to be disciplined and hard enough for them, without adding an hour or two of commuting to their lives every single day.

My son attends Gravesend Grammar and it is a great school. The most recent Ofsted report rated the school as outstanding in all areas. The boys do A levels in the sixth form and Dartford offer IB. The 480 bus will get you to dartford and a walk from the town centre to the school or a train to Dartford and a walk from the station to the school. Have a look at both schools . Both great schools and well done to your ds. Have a look again at both schools and let him decide

I think you have to think carefully about your decision. Dartford Grammar do the IB not A levels and this is significant depending on the type of child you have. To prepare them for the IB all of them must take 2 languages at GCSE level. One of those languages must be either Mandarin or Japanese and the other either French, German, Latin or Spanish.

During the IB, they do 6 subjects, a project and a community project. So, there is a lot of work involved.

Also, do think carefully about the train journey as although the distance is short, the trains are packed at that time, not the same as children travelling from the London boroughs as they are going against the "commuter tide", so to speak.

Salsa

Thankyou ladies