Bexley Grammar School

[Natasha985]

Hi

My son has a guaranteed place at one of the Bexley Grammar schools. He likes BGS; he will need to commute from Peckham Rye to Welling but I am not sure how reliable is this line; I may be able to drive him twice per week too.

The local option we have is The Charter in North Dulwich but he likes Bexley Grammar school better.

Could people with children attending BGS let me know if they are happy and think the commuting will be worth it; the train is 20 min and 15 min walk; but the train frequency is every 30min.

Thank you

You might want to post this on the east Dulwich forum too (if you have not already), as there might be another 'local' who can give you advice, and definitely the 'bexley grammars' section of the 11+ forum.

We live in upper Sydenham, and my son takes the Victoria line out to Orpington to his school there. It's 7min to the station, 22 min on train, 15-20 min walk to school the other end, and the trains are every 15 min.

He is very happy there (y8), but I still feel conflicted about his commute. I had similar at secondary school so I am not overly precious about it, but if you would definitely get into Charter, perhaps it is worth considering again.

While your son may prefer Bexley, he might not have realised what the commute entails, and the fact that one school will have friends very local to him, and the other not so much.

Good luck with it all.

Thank you

It will be similar committing for my son. I will post in the 11 plus forum; don't seem to have much luck with the EDF these days in terms of replies.

Not a commute I'd fancy. (I know the area.) What if he wants to hang out with his friends after school or go to an after school club? And what about weekends and holidays?

Problems happen on the trains; a signal problem at Dartford or Lewisham for example snarls everything up and he won't have an easy bus alternative.

Even driving, although you'll be going against the commuter flow, it won't be quick.

20min train + 15min walk isn't a bad commute by grammar school standards. It's not uncommon for students to commute 1h+...

Thank you; trains frequency and reliability is a major disadvantage of BGS, unless we move closer but that means disrupting my youngest child