To send child to a secondary one hour away?

[hibbledibble]

I'm thinking hard about secondary options currently. One option is about an hour away, and an amazing school. It would however involved a train ride and then a bus.

Other options are a bus ride away, and also good, but don't have the same amazing facilities or stellar results.

I'm torn regarding which school to pick as first choice.

Is an hour too much to travel?

Thank you for all the replies. The bus and train are both regular, so that's not the issue. We also have a reasonable chance of gaining a place, as many places are allocated on criteria other than distance.

I've taken all this aboard and will likely put first choice of a local school, if we don't get a place there then we may end up having to do the journey.

Local school will have the bonus of possibly having some friends going, but not guaranteed either

If I get allocated the further away school, then I will seriously consider moving, if I can afford it.

All my kids traveled almost an hour each way throughout secondary school. We were at the very far end of the rural school bus route so they were first to be picked up and last to be dropped off. The Bus was very sociable, regardless of age and gender, and I think that was very beneficial to them.

@Walkaround I asked you to show me where I said a 90min wait for a bus was extreme, you ignored it.
I asked you if you thought the OP's dc would have a 90 min wait between buses. You answered with some waffle about an incredibly easy journey.
I asked why you replied to a post where I said I had plenty of energy & a 1 hour school journey myself talking about 2 hour journeys & you called me disingenuous.

Clearly what you consider satisfactory is different to my definition. But you've illustrated beautifully why education is important so 👏🏻

The bus and train are both regular, so that's not the issue.

Of course they are OP as I'm sure you wouldn't have even considered the option if they weren't regular.

The bus and train are both regular, so that's not the issue.

How long would the wait be, and what would happen if the connection was delayed or cancelled, leaving your DC stranded @hibbledibble?

So say they get on the train fine, get to where they need to catch the bus, the bus is full or cancelled or there's an accident and he can't get to school?

DS14 does 50 minutes but it's all one one bus. It's 6/7 miles but into a town centre hence the journey time. It's not his closest secondary but has still made a good friendship group - with it being in a town centre and them having an early finish on a Friday a lot of them go to the cinema or to the nearby comic/game shop to socialise. There's also quite a few kids near us that go there which helps so he's not travelling solo.

He's up at 6:45 each day which isn't ideal but he only has one evening commitment a week so it's not too much an issue.

iced coffee well, it's not first choice now so a bit of a mute issue, but there are many different routes, and it's easy to walk the bus journey as well, as it's only a few stops. There are also alternatives to taking the train, so no possibility of being stranded.

@hettol

I wouldn't want an 11yo to have wait alone in a train station for that length of time.

I wouldn't want an 11 yr old or a 21 yr old waiting that long so would never live anywhere like that.

I think there is a middle ground though between trains every 20 mins & every 90 minutes.

@hettol - the above certainly gave the strong impression to me that you thought a 90 minute gap between services was extreme, given your comment about middle ground. The middle ground is normally somewhere between two extremes, is it not?

It was normal for the secondary pupils where I lived. Because if the location and timings of buses it did mean that only the very dedicated - or those with a parent able to provide lifts - got to participate in any of the sports clubs after school.

@hibbledibble

iced coffee well, it's not first choice now so a bit of a mute issue, but there are many different routes, and it's easy to walk the bus journey as well, as it's only a few stops. There are also alternatives to taking the train, so no possibility of being stranded.

That's all good, it's just always worth making sure as it wouldn't be a nice situation for an 11yo to be in.

I went for local for my kids short walking distance. I'm pleased I did because my youngest is involved with sports and music extracurricular which often means events and comps in other schools. The school minibus takes them and drop them back at the school around 5 or 6pm one was even 7pm.after a large competition.plus fit in home work.My son wouldn't be able to do this if he also had to fit in an hour plus commute expecially using public transport in the dark during winter.

hettol

It's quite normal when I was growing up in London to travel that for secondary.

It certainly wasn’t when I grew up in London! I didn’t go to my closest school in the next road, but went to another a whole mile away! The only pupils who had a long commute were those whose families had moved and they didn’t want to change schools,

We also have a reasonable chance of gaining a place, as many places are allocated on criteria other than distance.

Could that perhaps be the reason for this school’s stellar results compared to the more local school?

Regarding the bus and train being regular, that doesn’t always translate to being totally reliable, especially in the winter months.

Cecily yes, the intake does undoubtedly contribute, however it also has a very good value added score.

So its a grammar school?

As someone who lives in a grammar school area I can say that traffic can be horrific what with all these who have to he shipped in whilst the locals get shipped out

I did a near two hour journey by train (more than one) and foot to get to school from my 11th birthday. I got back home at half six every day, apart from Wednesday which was a half day.

I coped but it was a bit of treadmill (Wednesdays excepted) with no time for anything not school related.

Overall, it worked for me.

It's actually not a grammar school, and does some places based on distance. I wouldn't be driving, so the journey wouldn't contribute to traffic. We are planning on putting it as first choice now either.