How long is your teenagers commute to college / 6th form?

[NanaStrikesAgain]

My son has a 1hr commute now to 6th form, he’s exhausted, but hopefully he’ll get used to it after a few weeks.

Im just curious how long other kids are travelling at 16-18yrs?

Going to nearest provider.

The nearest 6th form college for us, as the crow flies, was over 2 hours each way, and didn't do the course she wants or anything like it.

The nearest A level sixth form is almost an hour travel (nearest secondary).

DD is loving it this year as she's only in 3 days a week for college - although suspect she will end up going in at least 4 as they can use the facilities and she'll want to see friends.

About an hour. He chose to go to college rather than stay at school 6th form fully sighted on this. His bus goes past his old school!

Dd will stay at her school’s sixth form. 10-15min drive

London isn't the only place that has good provision. In Scotland pretty much every school has post 16 education (there's a few lower secondaries on some of the small islands) and there are school buses for rural kids, there's not the cut off there that there is in England at 16. I live in a town of ~100K in the north, there are 3 6th form / college options in town, the larger two are central and so easy access from the entire town (10 min bus journey). Obviously some kids choose more specialised options in nearby towns, so e.g. if you want to do art then you go to the art college in the next town but there are buses laid on like there is for the local private schools.

About an hour, sometimes more if train/bus is delayed. But it was the only place for many miles around that does her most wanted A Level subject.

DS is at 6th form around 40 miles away. His journey door to door is around 1hr 35 mins.

That's me dropping him off at the station, two trains and a short walk at the other end. If he has to walk from home to the station, add another 12 minutes.

Normally once evening a week, I'll collect him from a station half way (but only 15 minutes for him on the train as it's a different line).

It's a long journey but it is a specialist sixth form that is one of the best of its kind in the country so he was adamant he wanted to go there rather than stay at his old secondary school.

@Ddakji Surely provision of most services is better in London than outside it?

And I guess it depends what you’re looking for. My son is at an agricultural college in Sussex, and a lad on his course is from Croydon so I guess there was no college in London offering the course they’re doing, otherwise he’d have done it there! The college actually has boarding as they have quite a number of kids attending who live a long way away (another of DS’s course mates is from the Scilly Isles).

Interesting - to me that sounds more at university level. Though I’ve noticed that quite a few subjects that used to be uni-only subjects are taught at A level and even GCSE.

Agricultural colleges have always offered post-16 vocational qualifications. Most jobs in agriculture don’t require a degree level qualification. This isn’t a ‘new’ thing!

Dd1 went to 6th form near our house opposite my work, 25 minutes walk, dd2 boarded, i travelled about an hour traffic depending

We live in a village several miles from a very large town. DS gets the public bus which can take anything from 35mins to 1hour and 15 mins depending on traffic.

The bus stop is only 5 mins walk from our house and at the other end stops right outside school, so not much additional time other than the bus ride.

@Ddakji The college offers both Further and Higher education level courses, but that’s very common where we are in Sussex. Very few schools have their own sixth form (just the Catholic schools) so there are lots of FE colleges- many of them now also offer HE courses but that has only been in more recent years.

DS and his Croydon friend are in Year 13 doing a FE course.

Interesting. In my London borough there are no FE colleges at all, and not all the schools have a sixth form. The nearest FE college doesn’t offer A levels at all, and all the school sixth forms are selective (even though they are comprehensives).

It really varies so much by area.

None of the secondary schools in our borough have sixth forms, and just over the border in Hants there are none in the entire county. Sixth form colleges are the norm here. There are also FE colleges (which included agricultural colleges) which are more trades oriented. I'm surprised that a London borough would not have at least one FE college - where do apprentices study trades? Or do they have to go out of borough?

Out of borough I guess. Due to the shape of the borough it’s not actually far to hop over the border 🤣 - the FE college out of borough is closer than one of the sixth form schools!

4.5 miles each way. He stayed at the same school (it’s a grammar school so not local). He turned 16 in the June before 6th form, did his CBT in August and was commuting to school on a moped for most of L6, when he turned 17 he upgraded to a 125cc motorbike.

Moped transport is worth considering for your 16year olds.

45-50 minutes door to door. My son in particular used all his free periods to study during A levels, and didn’t do that much in the evenings. Of course mocks and exam times were a little different.

Y12 ds: 20m walk or 22m public transport. He does public transport every day despite being exercise obsessed 🤷

Y13 dd: 5m walk, 20m bus, 20m train, 20m walk. I drive her to station when I can.

My dd with 1h ish commute also ASD and also tired and asleep by 930 most nights. But the sixth form has been great for her and she wouldn’t swap for a shorter commute. Y12 ds chose to stay at his school for sixth form specifically so he could get out bed at last possible moment.

Depending on transport delays about an hour - 10 mins bus from home to the train station. 20 mins train jouney and 30 mins walk at the other end. My daughter is in yr 13 and most days an hour each way is fine but she's used to it now.