Commute to StPaul school -impact on homework/tiredness

[DuckMama]

I would like to ask a moment of your time for your thoughts. My son has currently offers from Winchester, StPaul and Eton for entry in 2015. I am Italian, and the thought of boarding does not appeal much (yes- i'm a hen mum) StPaul would add a 2 hours commute on public transport (we live in Dulwich, so no school bus from here) to what I expect will be a pressing academic schedule.

Does anyone have experience with how their son coped? Or has decided against considering it heavy for a 13 yr old?

We have our entire life ahead to commute....

I know of no adults who have commuted all their adult life and found it anything other than an increasingly tiresome pain in the arse, to the point of finding it depressing and fantasising about escaping from the tedium of it all. Why you would want to start a child out on that treadmill early on, I don't know. It's a pain when it snows, a pain when it rains, a pain when it's hot and sticky, a pain when public transport is disrupted, a pain when there has been an accident, a pain when there is no seat, a pain when you have musical instruments and sports kit or other heavy equipment, a pain when you pass excellent schools on your way to get there, a pain when you have to get up early on a cold, dark morning, a pain when you are too tired in the evening to go out again or have time to relax before you go to sleep ready for the next day, an unbearable pain when you realise you are not a masochist... obviously, you could tell yourself daily that other people have FAR worse journeys, but then you would know you were really scraping the barrel if you had to think of people having an even more pointless, unpleasant journey than you in order to make yourself feel better.

Rabbit - where is the MN emoticon for [huge and enormous round of applause]?

Hear hear to Rabbitstew

Thank you all for your replies! We have declined the StPaul offer and it was good to hear all of your experiences and thoughts abourt teh commute.

I am late to add my comment - I used to work with a guy who commuted daily from Slough to St.Pauls. Admittedly one bus journey albeit a very long one!

He said he was fine with it. He used this time to unwind. He went then to study CS in Cambridge so definitely long commute didn't matter much in the end.

However Slough to Hammersmith by bus is just over 30 minutes along the M4. Get off by Hammersmith bridge and it is a very short walk over the river. OP was talking about a journey lasting over an hour with a mix of stop start London buses, tubes and trains.

It is the length and the difficulty of the journey that counts, not the distance.

He was doing that journey over 18 years ago. It was well over 1 hour if I remember. Many of my kids friends travel for over one hour changing buses and trains. Such is London's commuting story. We have 3 superselectives here.

OP has made a sensible decision. SPS can't be worth a long commute. Judging by the story in tonight's Evening Standard, it may even be a school to avoid if you live nearby: www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/st-pauls-teachers-were-massively-inappropriate-when-i-was-at-school-there-says-minister-ed-vaizey-9830688.html.

Hello,

Have you tried to do the commute yourself? Maybe have a go and imagine yourself as a young boy in a uniform in the heat, packed without seats, possibly tired and hungry and wanting to speak to your mum about a worry. Do it there and back for a week perhaps and put yourself in your sons shoes.

I would not inflict this misery on anyone and I feel sad that you would even contemplate putting your son through this for at least 6 years. Adult life is hard enought being forced to commute, why put your son through this hell. Its bad enough being stuck under peoples armpits, being hit by rucksacks and perved at on public transport and put into vulnerable situations.

You say you are a hen mum, maybe you need to be a bit more hennish and plucky and keep your son under your wings a bit more, nurturing him and looking after him. Walking in the fresh air to a school with you/chums or alone without the scrum of commuters would be much more kinder to him.

Ooops realise St Pauls dont wear a uniform, but even so I think 10 hours a week commuting for a young boy is too much and a pretty miserable prospect.

Crouchend I don't think you've bothered to read the thread have you?