Hello. My daughter has been offered a place in Rugby High and we live in Leicester (LE3). Is there anyone else whose child will be going to Rugby from Leicester? I wanted to know the options for commuting. Thanks

Hi Mommy78

Congratulations on your daughter’s school offer. I’m sorry that I don’t have any specific information about any children commuting from Leicester to Rugby.

Have the commuting options changed since you applied for a place for your daughter at the school? There are several school services but none (that I am aware of) that serve Leicester. I presume you have also checked the public transport options and found them to be unfeasible.

It would look like the options you have for getting your daughter to school would be driving (30 odd miles?) or by taxi. Are you prepared to do this for the next 5 years? I apologise for my negativity but please consider if any school is worth this journey. My child is finding travelling exhausting and it’s only only 4 miles by road (2 buses or a 10 minute drive occasionally if I’m not working). I have 2 other children at the local comp and they get home an hour before their sibling...... and then there’s all the homework.....Please do not underestimate the toll travelling will have on a child.

If you do find another parent to lift share that opens another can of worms: do you trust them/ their driving/ their punctuality/ their parenting style (a 45 minute commute is a long time). What happens if your daughter and their child fall out/ don’t get along/ have different after school clubs etc etc.

I apologise again for any negativity and also that I can’t help, but if it was me in your situation I would be looking for a school closer to home. A grammar school isn’t the be all and end all. It is just a school and if a child is exhausted from travelling for me that would be the most important thing to consider.

I hope that you find a suitable solution.

There certainly don't appear to be any sensible trains in the morning: https://www.thetrainline.com/train-time ... -2021/0700

Leicester 6:18
Change at Nuneaton
Arr Rugby 7:05

Next service
Leicester 8:18
Change at Nuneaton
Arr Rugby 9:25

See also https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Leicester/Rugby - the shortest (depending on exactly where you are in Leicester) is a good hour's round trip twice a day

Would agree with Nella re long commute - my DS2 had up to an hour each way on various bus/train combinations for 6th form combined with me giving occasional lifts on orchestra days and him (eventually) learning to drive and sharing with a couple of other families. But that was for an exceptional 6th form as his own local comp didn't then have one, and it was only for 2 years

Looking at train times, there is one at 06.18, which takes 47 minutes with a change at Nuneaton. There doesn't seem to be a train at 07.18 (which would apparently be the best bet, if there was a corresponding connection at Nuneaton), so the next one is the 08.18, which connects with one getting in at Rugby at 09.25, so no good at all.

I've only really seen Rugby from the perspective of enforced captivity on a train going through there to or from London, I'm afraid, so I have no idea what there is to do there to kill time at just gone 7 in the morning. Costa?

Does Rugby High School have a breakfast club?

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What time would your daughter need to get up for train at 06.18- I imagine if you live in LE3 you have a commute to the station?
It looks like it’s a half an hour bus journey from Rugby train station to the High school - so if your daughter gets to the station at 07.05, that’ll use up some of the 1 hour and 45 min waiting time for school to start....

OP,

When you chose to apply for the school and put it as a high preference on your CAF form what was your plan as to how your dd was going to travel to and from a school that is 30 miles away from you? DG

mommy78 - is there any chance of looking at other schools nearby? or moving to Rugby - eminently better for adults to do the commuting than for the youngsters to be doing it.

It is really hard as you were probably very keen for your DD to go to RHS but it isn't practical and many of us have seen children who have long journeys quitting within the first year to go to a different school, winter travelling can be really grim - have serious think about whether this is do-able

Tbf, there may have been a train at 07.18 at that point - there has been quite a lot of trimming of rail services over recent months and the first train (Leicester - Nuneaton) has Birmingham New St as a way point, if not actually its destination, I think?

If there was originally a train at that time, when the OP named the school on her DD's CAF, there is the possibility that it will be reinstated by September.

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

I have to agree with previous posts op here...surely you looked into how your child would get to the school before you applied for it?

I think your only hope is that the train schedule is currently minimised because of covid and that it will return to normal. Perhaps get in contact with the train company and see if this the case?

Another poster has said it's a 30 minute bus ride from Rugby station to the school, so even if the 7.18 is reinstated there's a good chance it won't arrive early enough at Rugby for the start of school.

OP, your best options are to apply to waiting lists of schools nearer to you (you will need to do this very quickly) or else move closer to Rugby. Hopefully you don't have any other children in schools whose education would be disrupted by this. If you move over the summer holiday your daughter will be able to complete her time at her primary. If you currently have a mortgage you may need to think about renting in the short term so that you can be flexible on move dates, but that will obviously be expensive if you're paying both rent and mortgage.

I'm sorry that no one has been able to conjure up a better solution.