Primary School Commute - what's reasonable?

[Nyclondel]

Hi, We have to make a decision on whether to pay the deposit for NHEHS for 4+ and wondering if anyone does the commute to NHEHS from Central London and if so how easy or difficult it is. Currently, we live quite close to Paddington as well as the central line so we have direct trains to Ealing but not sure what it would be like in reality to commit to a long daily commute to and from primary school. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I wouldn't and that is not because I don't think you can do it but because a large part of primary school is about sociability and playdates and you don't want to find either that people will not come to you for a playdate or that your DC is not invited.

Two of my DC have had quite long commutes for secondary school and that has been fine but for primary I do think it is important to go to school in your local area.

Thanks @citrusfruit9. I was thinking of the same.

Citrus is talking sense

Most private schools has a big catchment, at Habs and nlcs it’ll spread from St Albans down to Hampstead. It’s not an issue other than birthday parties being a bit of a schlep.

One boy has left my DS’s class after one term of reception (different school) primarily as a 45 minute tube commute one way was horrendous for him. While some people do travel miles, if you can avoid commuting at 4, do. Much nicer for your child to be playing at home for an extra hour rather than crushed on a rush hour train day after day

Thanks everyone. Seems like we will have to bite the dust and move out of where we are and move closer to school. 😳

The tube with a 4 year old sounds scary, especially at rush hour. Now if it would be on the bus, my 4 year old would love it! My ds school run is about 35-40 min but in the car, and he doesn't mind (eats his breakfast/tea and watches Peppa Pig in the car). Birthday parties can be a bit of a slog, especially if birthday boy lives 30min in the opposite direction from school, but then my dd goes to a school much closer to home (10min on school bus) but playdates are rare and hard to come by, especially as school day is long (until 6pm), followed by music practice and homework, and there seems to be little spare time. As many parents have a long school run, we parents sometimes arrange playdates for the whole class somewhere near the school (park, playcentre) directly after school, especially on short days at end of term etc, or we ignore the rules and let dcs play a bit together in school yard after school.

I would move closer to the school. The catchment for privates is obviously larger but you have a better chance of nearby friends if your close to the school. Primary is fairly exhausting at first too, I wouldn't want to add a commute on to that, especially with busy trains/tubes.