Cumnor House School

[CumnorHouseParent]

Unorthodox this may be, but I thought I may as well try on here I shall also post this on the Preschool education and Primary education boards, so apologies in advance for the duplication.

My DS starts at Cumnor House School in South Croydon in September 2012; specifically the Treetops Nursery based on Woodcote Lane. He'll be there for 2 years until he transfers to Year 1 over on Pampisford Road. Whilst there, he will start at 08:00AM in the morning, stay on at the afternoon club then finish between 17:00PM and 18:00PM (yet to decide on a specific finish time).

We live in South Norwood and neither I nor his father hold a valid driver's licence yet, which means either
(a) taking public transport (approximately an hour's journey door to door); or
(b) going with him in a taxi
to drop him off and pick him up.

We have settled on the latter for practicality reasons and should be able to afford it, although it is of course an extra cost which may be partly avoidable.

I was wondering if there are any parents on here with children at/soon to be starting at Cumnor House (Woodcote Lane) who are in a similar predicament, live nearby to us or en route to the school and would be interested in sharing taxis there and back. Failing that, I had considered waiting till DS starts there and perhaps then finding a parent who would be happy to share the cost and convenience of a taxi or a driving parent/carer who would be happy to assist with us accompanying DS to drop-offs/pick-ups with us more than happily contributing towards the cost of petrol etc.

I understand that asking or arranging for this to happen every single school day might be an unwelcome imposition (be that for cost or other reasons), so set days would also be a possibility.

If this is something that would interest you, then please do get in touch, either on here or via the PM system.

It may be hard to organise this in advance, but once you start the PTA will arrange a "class list", so that you have the names, address and phone numbers of all of the other parents in your class, and you should also be able to get the details from the rest of the yeargroup too. There will almost certainly be some parents close to you, and you may well be able to organise something with them.

If you are very keen to organise this in advance, then you could talk to the school office, though I believe that they can't give you information about other parents. Or you could talk to the PTA who may be able to look through the current class lists for Woodcote Lane and see who else is currently coming from your direction

Finally I had understod that Year 1 would also be at Woodcote Lane, and that only in Year 2 would children move over to Pampisford Road, but I could be wrong. I believe that there is also a minibus shuttle between the 2 sites int he morning, so you may be better off dropping at Pampisford Road.

Thanks Ladymuck. Nursery and Reception are at Woodcote Lane, and then boys move on to Pampisford Road in Year 1. I have given the school a brief call this morning and they have asked that I contact Woodcote Lane directly which I'll do later today. I wasn't aware that there may be a shuttlebus, so will of course remember to ask after that (if there is one, it would be ideal).

The shuttle bus leaves Pampisford Road at 07:45, 08:05 and 08:20, getting to Woodcote Lane 15 minutes later. That said I don't know whether nursery children use it - you can but ask. There is an afternoon shuttle but only at school closing time, so I guess you'll be using a Woodcote Lane afterschool club. At present it is only Nursery and Reception (EYFS) at Woodcote Lane, but Prep school parents were told that the plan was for Year 1 to move there too eventually. That may have changed - Cognita plans frequently do!

The shuttle is free, but I think you need to prebook the 8:05 one as that is the most popular.

Nursery children can, and do, use the shuttle.

Would recommend pre booking, as some days seem to be more popular than others, but you shouldn't have a problem with it.