London to Surrey train commutes for senior schools -- how feasible/reliable?

[HWest1832]

Hi,
We live in SW18 near Clapham Junction station (also Wandsworth Town/Common and Earlsfield). Aside from my short wishlist of closer-by SW London senior schools there are some that I like in Surrey but that don't have school buses to my area. While a 20-minute train journey is fine in theory, what happens in the all-too-frequent event of train delays and cancellations? Particularly in the winter, with weather problems. What do you do when your train line is your only route to school?

On the same subject -- anyone take public transport from London to Royal Russell? Trains to Croydon are plentiful and quick but not sure about the switch to tram at Croydon. Sounds a bit time consuming and tricky.

Does anyone have any experience/advice travelling from London to Surrey for school by train? Am I crazy to even consider it? (And yes I am also looking at local options, independent and state)

I live in Surrey! Hundreds of children regularly commute in and out of my local station to various schools. Train cancellations are not that common - disruption is more so, but a 20 minute journey is quite short.
I assume you actually don't mean Surrey but the London boroughs as you are looking at Croydon. So you may well be able to find alternative routes (not ideal for every day but good in a crisis).
DH commutes to London daily and has had very very few real problems getting in or home. Often crowded and sometimes he can claim a refund. Even Southern Trains seem to be doing "better".

I'd be surprised if RR is worth the journey but Whitgift and Trinity/ Old Palace or Croydon High might be. Trains within m25 are less disrupted during weather etc.

Thanks for the comments. Good to know!

My children commute by train within Surrey, our principal station is walking distance from our house, but we have a back up route on a different line which is ten minutes drive. This year (touch wood) we haven’t had any days where services have been cancelled from both stations, and probably less than five cancellations from our principal station all year. We do sometimes have delays, but not more than ten minutes. My children (son, Y9, daughter Y8) like getting the train and have made friends at other schools. Plus it’s better than a school bus as they can do after school activities etc and still make their own way home.

An ever increasing number of DC who likes be neat CJ get the train to schools further out - mainly Whitgift, Trinity and Woldingham

Changing to the tram at E Croydon is very easy.

Loads of school kids do it for lots of schools along Coombe Lane - Coombe Wood, The Cedars and RR included.

I would put a word of warning about the trains though. Whilst those coming out of London may be OK in the winter, if you need them to get back into London there can be a lot of disruption on those coming from the stations south of Croydon in bad weather. This will have a knock on impact on the trains coming the other way eventually. Having a choice of travel options means that you can usually find alternatives - whether that be a different operator in the case of strikes, different lines or using the bus etc instead.

Good point. Hadn't even thought of the return journey. ..in the cold and dark!

I wouldnt give a change at E Croydon a second thought - it is literally taken over by school kids for half an hour twice a day and all flows nicely and everyone gets to where they are going fine. My dc travel 20 minutes other way from Surrey to E Croydon for one of these schools and they have probably 100s of friends who come from around CJ (and further, one from N London!) . It's nowhere near as bad as it sounds and they all have it down pat by the end of the first term.

tram and bus switch at E Croydon is quick and easy - right outside the station.

I did a 30-min commute by train for school age 9-18 (in SW London). It’s a pretty normal thing to do! If trains were cancelled I’d just get the next one, but that didn’t happen so often that it was ever a problem.