11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi All, I am trying to find out if any one is going to commute to Wilson's school from Horley and surrounding areas from September 2016.
My son got in to Wilson's and we are very happy about it. But would like to find out if any like minded parents willing to share the commute to Wilson's from Sep 2016.
Thanks in advance.

JK

Did you plan to do that school run every day? looks hideous by public transport.

I genuinely dont understand why parents put their children up for these horrific journeys to school. Why are you all so obsessed with certain schools? Tiffin is great but no greater than any other GS, Wilsons is a good GS but again....
PS There are some perfectly good Comprehensives who stream according to ability

Jk23 welcome to the forum and congratulations to your son. It looks a wonderful school.

I'm sorry the first response to your first post wasn't too welcoming I can't help too much as I'm in the next door county (Kent) but the Surrey section is quite active so I'm sure somebody will be along soon with better information.

In the meantime I've had a quick look at the website and under "Information/Contact and Directions" there is some quite useful info on buses/trains etc. If not search online "travel to xyz school" under your local authority as I know mine (Kent) have a listing of local school buses. Goodluck

whichwitch wrote:Did you plan to do that school run every day? looks hideous by public transport.

I genuinely dont understand why parents put their children up for these horrific journeys to school. Why are you all so obsessed with certain schools? Tiffin is great but no greater than any other GS, Wilsons is a good GS but again....
PS There are some perfectly good Comprehensives who stream according to ability

What a rude response to our colleague's 1st post!! It is not by force that we always have to reply to a post. Always look out to respond to posts that bring out a positive reaction/reply from you. We all have varied values as parents.

Wilson's looks a relatively easy journey, swapping from train to bus at East Croydon, although I suspect the traffic hasn't improved much in the many years since I used to catch the number 68 from Camberwell to Croydon College every Monday. I wouldn't want to drive in, though - at least the buses get bus lanes - especially not as a special 'school run', as opposed to just dropping off on the way to work.

I assume that the bus element of the journey would've free with a Zip Oyster card, as it is within the Tfl area. Handy for visiting friends after school and at the weekend as well.

Hi JK23,

Well done to your DS, he must be very happy getting the school he wanted.

You have probably already seen Google Maps travel planner, but in case you have not, it does have a very useful tool for trying out various transport options, train-bus combinations etc. plus it allows for real-time traffic variations if you consider driving in.

I agree with ToadMum, though, re. driving to school yourself - that would be quite a journey there and back, twice a day, and unlikely to be much quicker than a train. Your DS will have to be at school by 8.15 or 8.20am at the latest, so you would be stuck in the worst possible rush hour heading into London... Unless you have to do that journey each morning yourself anyway, a train is probably a better bet.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Horle ... 's+School+(Stop+K" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Thank you for some useful posts.
My husband works near Wallington, so he is happy to drop DS at school in the mornings. I am hoping that he can get some company on his commute back from school. Trains from East Croydon to Horley are good and I am sure he will get used to this eventually.
I was hoping to find parents who are in similar situation like me to take turns of school run.
I work 3.5 days a week, so I can't collect him from school everyday.

JK

Sounds like you are half-sorted already, JK23. You should be able to find out during the induction day (I assume Wilson's do those) who lives in your area. Just remind your DS to run a quick poll of his new classmates re. where they live. I imagine there will be others trying to find company for travel to/from school.

Well done to your son.
Just factor in that in the mornings they really can do with being in school at about 8.05 so there is time for lockers and the loo. Wilson's are very tight on punctuality. A member of the SLT is on the door each morning.
Loads of boys get the 154 after school to East Croydon so I'd be very surprised if he ended up doing that leg of the journey on his own.
There are quite a lot of evening events. In the beginning we used have my sons friends that lived a distance away back after school prior to events for tea and then I'd take them back as we are very local.
Now he's a bit older they go into Wallington and get food and then get themselves back.
The tricky bit might be later if he does CCF in year 9 ( which about two thirds do). It often finishes as late as 6.20 and that's once a week possibly twice.
They put a map up in the forms at induction day and the boys put stickers on so they get an idea of who lives close to them.

Thank you.