Sevenoaks school commute from London?

[Stacey35]

Hi all, I seen to not be able to find anything on this on the internet which makes me think I am possibly the only one. We currently live in kent about a 10/15min train ride to Sevenoaks. My daughter is desperate to go to Sevenoaks school at 11. If she gets in.. (thats a whole other topic!) we could have a problem as we have decided to move to London for various reasons, to long to bore you with here!

Does anyone know of pupils who commute from London to Sevenoaks on a daily basis, would it be too much at 11? Indeed, does anyone in London have a child at Sevenoaks school...??

Any info would be gratefully received!

Thanks flyingtaxis. If you lived in South east London and you wanted a comparable school that’s academic where could I go? I just can’t see any options so something will have to give. Thanks for all the help x

Eltham is accepting girls from 2020.
Alleyns is mixed.
Lots of girls school too. Bromley, Croydon Sydenham.

The open days are all on around now so good time to look.

Do you need to be in SE London?

What are your criteria for a school? From what I gather, you want co-ed, academic and lovely grounds/facilities? I don't think you'll find that close to central London. The closest match would probably be Emanuel School near Clapham Junction. However, the main school site is only 12 acres with a boat house in Barnes and playing fields at another location.

Other academic co-ed schools with facilities are further out, eg Epsom College. That could possibly be slightly easier than Sevenoaks as it's still with the M25 so not as far out to drive if need be. Epsom also has school buses for SW London.

Oh yes, now that sm40 mentioned Alleyns - they are coed, very academic and also very good facilities for being so close to central London.

I’m not wedded to south London. But I want that easy commute to the city for my OH. Think you are right there aren’t really any options inside of London. She’s very academic, but loves her sport too. I’d like to send her somewhere highly academic because that’s her personally she loves learning.
Thanks for all your help guys. Confirmed what I thought, I am definitely aiming for the impossible!!! I need a new plan...

Sevenoaks is academically outstanding, but it isn't easy to compare with other schools because it does IB only, has its own qualifications instead of GCSEs in some subjects, and generally avoids league tables. But it gets exceptional IB results. The Kent school system means that a lot of the brightest kids locally go to the grammars, so it's not quite as competitive to get into Sevenoaks as it might otherwise be, particularly at 11.

Isn't it only 22mins to London Bridge from Sevenoaks?

Only 13min from Chislehurst to London Bridge so the same as Dulwich or Blackheath. But not built up and super green (probably more of what you're used to) and only a few miles from Sevenoaks.

If you wanted that physical proximity to the City too, then somewhere like Clapham is zone 2 on the Northern line into Bank and close to Alleyns and Emanuel.

Or Wimbledon is zone 3, the tube goes the long way round but the train to Waterloo takes 13 minutes. Again good for Emanuel and on the bus route for Epsom (and not too far too drive if need be). Wimbledon is also further away from unsafe/stabby bits of London than some other locations.

@Stacey35 I think Alleyn‘s would be the obvious choice if you really want top academics and co- ed in SE London.
There is also Colfe’s, Emanuel or Eltham College (going co-ed next year).
All of these schools will get the right child a string of 9s and 8s at GCSE and leave you with a wide range of 6th form options. Your DD may want to do A levels rather than IB. It‘s hard to tell when they are 10.

Why not consider Blackheath School?

OP As JoJo suggests,, Wimbledon gives access to the City either via the Northern line (South Wimbledon) or via overland train to Waterloo and then the Waterloo and City line to Bank. From there, for a co-ed with good academics and sport, it’s easy to get to Emanuel and Kingston Grammar and (in Hammersmith, but fairly easy via District line) Latymer. If your dd is prepared to look at single sex, you might also want to look at some of Wimbledon HIgh, Putney High, and (again Hammersmith) St Paul’s Girls’ and Godolphin or even LEH (though the public transport to there is poor, you’d be reliant on the school coach).

OP - where in London does your DH need to get to? If you can afford to move to Greenwich you can move near the station in Sevenoaks itself. What year is your daughter in? You can perhaps make the permanent move once she knows which school she gets in to?

There are loads of kids around Bromley who travel to Sevenoaks and from Tunbridge Wells which probably take similar time. In the younger years kids tend to go out after school within Sevenoaks then take the train. Unsure what happens in the upper years as my son has just started year 9 there.

School is full on. So at the beginning there isn't a lot of time outside of school to go out etc. when she starts going to parties she can always stay over at a local friend's place?

My friend's son and a load of others commute to Skinners from Bromley - which is a long journey. Hasn't affected them socializing in any way.

Even if you were sending your daughter to a school in London, she will need to the tube/ train. Don't know how happy you would be for her to get the tube / train after a party and driving around London whilst the distances are small, the time taken is not short

One of the parents from my daughters school in Sevenoaks moved from Greenwich to have more good education options. We would love to have moved to London but felt unless the kids got into St Paul's or Westminster- the rest of the schools are comparable to the likes of Sevenoaks and Tonbridge Schools

Sevenoaks train station goes to a variety of London stations, and it's hardly deepest darkest Kent lol - personally I'd live here and let husband travel to the city as fast trains are very quick

know lots of kids who do Hither Green to Sevenoaks daily no problem although not sure the Saturday service is good enough to get them there easily. (for Saturday school - eek) S it's not impossible at all - if Sevenoaks is the school for her. Commute into town also easy for your dh.

The commute to Alleyns is easy from Blackheath/Greenwich but not from Hither Green. School coach service makes it easy. Living in Greenwich has the advantage of being on the DLR for commute.

@Beemail1 suggests Blackheath School. Assume Blackheath high School? Not great results and single sex so maybe not what you're after?

Eltham College/St Dunstans are both strong local choices.

Pleased to hear allot of children do the commute from Hither Green to Sevenoaks DarlingOscar. Thats really what I was thinking. Yes annoyingly all the schools seem to have open mornings on the same saturday! Whats up with that?? lol x

A lot of independent schools (and some state schools) will let you come and visit anytime, even if you can't make their open day. It's a different experience but it's worth trying if you can't make clashing open days. Also, a lot of independents have more than one open day/evening, so do keep an eye out for alternative dates. They will usually cooperate with each other to not clash where the same pupils routinely apply to a group of schools within an area, both for open days and entrance exams (although some arguments and resultant clashes do occur when one school refuses to accommodate the others). FYI for the future, if there are clashing entrance exams the most common solution is to start one early and the other late, so you have to dash between the two and sit them back to back.

Quite a few Sevenoaks children on the 07.26 from Hither Green. Maybe also look at Alleyns. It boils down to where you want to live and IB vs A Levels. Sevenoaks is nowhere near as competitive to get into as Alleyns. As a pp mentioned, children are offered places even if they've failed the 11+. Given that, they add a lot of value to all pupils as their GCSE results are very good.

So strange that is the case. They must offer massive value added, because they have 76% at A* at GCSE and Alleyns has 61% according to the good schools guide, so if they are scooping up failed 11+ students they must be very good. If it easy to get into and has better result, then it sounds great, you don't always getting that going hand by hand.

Watch it on commute times to London schools if that is what you want to avoid.

It can be a lot easier to commute a lot of miles with a nice direct train, that to cover a very short 'as the crow flies' distance if there aren't good public transport links.

I have a mega-spreadsheet for secondaries and some are just impossible to get to in time for school start times despite looking promising on a map!

I think 'easy to get into' is an exaggeration. The Kent Test is a funny old thing, it can be quite unpredictable in terms of results. So although there might be a few who failed the 11+ and got into Sevenoaks, there will be others who passed the 11+ but didn't get in. They're not looking for identical things. As for value added, it really is a fab school 🙂.

Plenty of kids who fail to get into London grammars get into top indies. For living in London, King's in Wimbledon has a co-ed sixth form and top IB results.

Sevenoaks do a second load of offers from the reserve list after the grammar offers are out, because a few pupils every year will get both and choose the grammar. Not loads (although maybe more get both and choose Sevenoaks). Probably happens in the other Kent independents too.

We're in that category (got both and chose Sevenoaks).

@MrsPatmore what evidence for you have for Sevenoaks being "nowhere near as competitive as Alleyns"?

They are both high achieving, highly sought after independents whose intake will include kids who have 'failed' to get into grammars or other independents.

The 2 schools are very different and are probably looking for different things.

Is the only reason for your move down to your DH's commute? I really would prioritize a teen/pre teen over a grown adult here.

I moved house a lot as a kid, the age 13 move was the hardest and most miserable of all. Ultimately led to a lot of bad teenage choices on my part.

It could be better for the family for your DH to seek a better work/life/commuting balance than uproot your DD.

I know this is not what you were asking about but I couldn't not point this out