Relocated to UK: 48 min and 96 min commute to different schools.

[MiniVansAreCool]

First time posting.

We moved over the summer (July) from the US to the UK (SW Herts). Did the required application and rejections to the nearest schools (all self-administering). Then completed the Herts Application for Schools and received the below results.

Our Y7 and Y11 spots are 48 mins and 96 mins each-way by public transit.

We have contacted Herts and submitted a transportation assistance request (do they still do mini-cabs?).

Of course there are a number of schools closer for Y11.

What real options do we have and what would you recommend we start considering?

Thank you.

By public transport if times don’t connect I can see that’s entirely feasible.

Ds’s school is just under 3 miles away. It’s a 10 min drive along the lanes but the buses go bus the main roads. You have to travel in the wrong direction to then connect to a bus which takes you back in the right direction to school. It takes about an hour. The lanes are not safe to walk or cycle down).

However I chose this school over our catchment school & I am in a position to drop him at his grandparents house a 10 min cycle from school. It’s a bit different if you are told you must do that kind of commute on public transport.

You really don’t want to be sending your kids to Westfield academy and I wouldn’t send to Francis Coomb either. Pm me if you want, I might be able to mke some suggestions

For your year 11 there’s Watford and Elstree UTC which might be worth considering but I agree with other posters. I’d try and get your year 11 into year 10 so they can do the full gcse course

I would be getting them a bike.

The much more serious problem is starting in Y11. They’ll have covered most of the syllabus by now.

I think it will be VERY hard for him to pass his GCSES.

Is getting good academic grades important to you / him? Or will he be looking for a vocational qualification?

Thanks for the info so far.

Point 1: Distance/Time, we are mostly rural. I don't make the public transit routes. 96 mins is THE FASTEST using Google Maps/Scheduler. Anyone have a recommendation on another site/app to use? (And no, I'm not lost in the woods, there are 4 great schools within 30 mins of public transit)

Point 2: No, there is no way we can give him transportation.

Point 3: These roads are not safe for kids to walk/bike. And to find a route that would be safe would have to only be longer. Also, it isn't flat out here.

Point 4: GCSEs and Year 11. Why as an incoming parent should I be left with this choice to make? We would assume we would have a conversation with the school, make an assessment of where he is at, and then decide on Year 10 or Year 11?

Answers I need help with:

1. What are our real travel options and what should we expect from Herts?
2. Any chance of getting travel support for both children if we can find a school they can start at together? (do they prorate the support or is it all / nothing?)
3. It seems a few people have thrown out the idea of an appeal, but everything I've seen so far says distance is not an issue. So how/why appeal?

We would assume we would have a conversation with the school, make an assessment of where he is at, and then decide on Year 10 or Year 11?
Errr that's a massive assumption on your part. Your kid is entitled to one year education. You're effectively assuming the school will be happy to educate him/her for free for a year. And that's if the funding authority actually agrees.

Regarding travel, if the nearest schools with vacancies are more than three miles, or an hours journey, they are entitled to free transport - but this might be a public bus pass. If you've chosen those schools instead of nearer ones then you're not entitled to anything.

If the school is the nearest one with a vacancy when you applied, you qualify for free transport at those distances. So get on to the council and see what they say can be done.

Distance is not usually a factor in appeal.

It is however unreasonable to have an excessive length school run. What counts as unreasonable varies (depends on actual local options).

But when there is no school with a vacancy within a reasonable distance, the council can force a nearer school to go over numbers (it's called then Fair Access Protocol). You could ask if they will do this - but you don't get to choose the school - it's settled between the council and the possible schools on the grounds of which is best able to cope. And if that fails, then appeal for a closer school, on the (rough) grounds of no reasonable offer made and this is the school we think fits our DC best.

Do pause to think that if the roads around your home are not safe to either walk or cycle, and you get a closer school and therefore do not qualify for transport, how will they make the journey?

I understand why you are concerned about those commutes but that should be much less of a concern than trying to go straight in to Y11. The onus is on you to push for a place in Y10 if that is what is needed. Schools are very full and underfunded; nobody is going to just offer a Y10 place unless you fight (hard) for it. A lot of schools start GCSE syllabus in Y9 now so he is going to have a huge amount to catch up.
Is private school out of the question? My dc go to state school but in your position I would be scrimping and saving to afford two years private to ‘buy’ that flexibility.

”We would assume we would have a conversation with the school, make an assessment of where he is at, and then decide on Year 10 or Year 11?”

The same school may not have a place in both year 10 and year 11, even leaving aside the assumption that the school/funding authority should provide an additional year of education.

You seem unfamiliar with the English school system, OP. It is really very unrealistic to transfer into the beginning of Year 11, and there is very little leeway in the English system for being “out of year”. Your best option would be to send your DC to a private international school that does the IB, bypassing GCSEs altogether.

or send them to a private crammer?

In all honesty OP, if I could afford private at this point, that's exactly what I'd do. You've moved at a terrible time for your Y11 child, who is going to struggle massively in the state sector, having already missed the first year of his/her GCSE courses (mocks are in Jan, exams next June). I'd say that s/he almost certainly needs to go into Y10 (particularly as the US education system is a year behind the UK one), and start the GCSE courses in Sept, rather than flounder around having missed so much and really having no chance to catch up (literally one term as the mocks are as soon as they go back in Jan). The long commute is just the final nail in a huge coffin really, but by focusing on that you're missing the elephant in the room, which is that your Y11 needs to go down a year and this quite possibly won't be able to be accommodated in the state sector. Are you British? Do you understand about our schooling system?

You say you are returning from the US. Have you been away for a long time? The state system is just not set up to accommodate children out of year group. Your child is entitled to an education, but moving schools in Year 11 is going to be damage limitation for both them & the school. Is there no way you can afford to send them to a private, international school for a year?

Have you had any contact with your elder child's school about how they propose to manage the year 11 entry? Or even what subjects he'll be doing? This must be a matter of urgency. Where you allocated there after the end of year? School will be open next week for gcse results - perhaps you could try to talk to them then?

Sorry but you sound entitled and a bit mad. The commutes are ridiculous and your dcs will suffer joining in year 11 as it will be nigh on impossible to cover the syllabus. It will be disrupting for the others in the class too as I hope you aren't expecting teachers to cover what your dcs have missed.

My dd has mocks in December! She's covered most of the syllabus already at the end of year 10 (private school). You need to pay for an independent school and they need to join in year 10. I think it's massively unfair to both your dcs and the school to even consider doing what you are doing.

why are these done in Kilometers?
Because we are a European country and that's the main unit of measurement in Europe are you for real OP?

It is however not the main unit of measurement for road distances - see every British roadsign!!

The rules about how far away from a school you live in order to qualify for council-funded transport are also set out in miles.

So choosing km isn't inevitable, in a mile-based country!

GCSEs and Year 11. Why as an incoming parent should I be left with this choice to make? We would assume we would have a conversation with the school, make an assessment of where he is at, and then decide on Year 10 or Year 11?

Definitely not as easy as that, and you only have a few weeks to get sorted. Moving into year 11 will be so difficult. What conversations have taken place so far?

I was going to say try the UTC for Year 10 entry for the Y11. They have to give a broad and balanced pre 16 curriculum plus they will be with all new starters and so will be able to make friends more easily.

They are both decent UTCs, I have worked with UTCs and would send my child to one without hesitation. Some early UTCs had challenges but these are both solid (1 ofsted good, 1 ri but a 2017 pre GCSE)

You’ve got at least two weeks until school starts. You’re soon to be year 11 child needs to start cramming. Download the relevant Maths and English and specs and get them working. Print off some past papers too.

GCSEs and Year 11. Why as an incoming parent should I be left with this choice to make? We would assume we would have a conversation with the school, make an assessment of where he is at, and then decide on Year 10 or Year 11?

This is, sadly, a very naive assessment of how things are done - particularly in SW Herts, where schools are totally over-subscribed at all age levels. You will be offered a place in the correct year group if the school has a place, but just because they have a Y11 place doesn't mean they have one in Y10! If you are determined to keep your DC in the state system I suggest you get on the phone to the school you've been allocated on Monday morning and talk to them about what they can and cannot do regarding your Y11 age DC. Do not make assumptions based on what you want, what you think or what happens in the US (where moving kids between one year group and another based on their academic ability is much more common).

Oh dear OP. In the kindest way possible your issue isn't the commute time. You need to apply for year 10 places and make a case for it. If your child started in the US they will have started a year later than in the UK and I would use that as your grounds for asking for a year 10 place but this conversation needs to happen with the LA and NOW. The schools that have a year 11 place may not have a year 10 place. So you may be looking at a different set of schools. If you cannot secure a year 10 place and you can't afford private then I'd look into a distance online learning type program and stay within the US system. Dropping a child into year 11 is a bit cruel really and won't end well.

1. What are our real travel options and what should we expect from Herts?

Your children will be entitled to transport assistance if the only school with spaces is more than 3 miles away. This is likely to be a free bus pass.

2. Any chance of getting travel support for both children if we can find a school they can start at together? (do they prorate the support or is it all / nothing?)

Unless that school is the closest school for both, no. If there is a closer school for one, that one won't get the help. There is no pro-rata support.

It seems a few people have thrown out the idea of an appeal, but everything I've seen so far says distance is not an issue. So how/why appeal?

Appeals are won by showing that the detriment to your child of not attending is greater than the detriment to the school of taking another pupil. This is normally around subjects, specialist clubs etc that suit the child, but a very long commute can also contribute a little.

As others have said, you won't get a free choice about placing your year 11 into 10 or 11. You will need to fight for year 10. Year 11 would be pretty much impossible to make a success of, especially coming from the US system.

I would be pushing Herts for something closer for the older child, as well as talking to the allocated school about going into year 10.

You may find that you child struggles anyway with GCSE, never mind doing it in a year. Friends children who have gone the other way to the USA have tended to be put into older year groups based on their study to date in the UK or 1 went straight to Uni age 16 as the academic match seems different?

Some post 16 colleges take from age 14 to do GCSE- Have you looked into that?