Barkingside to Hockerill Bishop Stortford

[Rrshree]

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience of travelling from Barkingside to Hockerill Anglo European Collage in Dunmow Rd, Bishop's Stortford CM23 5HX

We are strongly considering the international baccalaureate (ib) for his secondary education and would like to know if anyone has done/doing this journey?

Thanks

I grew up in Barkingside. That really is an insanely long way to travel to school unless you plan to drive him each way

There are IB schools closer than that to Ilford although they are south of the river.

Is this for year 7 entry?

Unless you intend to go for flexi boarding (which I am assuming not as you are asking about the joruney) then they only way you will get a place is via one of the 12 aptitude places which are hugely competative and need a score of 95% or above. Just something to consider - it is one of the most over subscribed school in Herttfordshire. Maybe you are planning to move? If so you will need to be well within 400m of the scool.

Students who live in Bishops Stortford are unable to get places, I live here and am unlikely to even bother to visit as I am the other side of town!

Google reckons its a 1 and half hour train journey, either end of the day sounds insane.

If you mean for A level IB - it still seems a long way to travel.

Think there is an Anglo European school at Ingatestone there is a school bus that goes from Gants Hill or Loughton I think

I don't know about the bus, but there are usually quite a lot pf Anglo European pupils changing trains at Shenfield. It's only a few minutes to Ingatestone, although a bit of a walk from the station to the school, I think.

Had a quick look think it goes through Theydon Bois which is on the central line however you do have to pay a fair bit for it.

I do! Not Barkingside but very close by. We travel weekly to collect and drop off. Takes around 40 mins by M11 or 1 hour via back rounds (which I prefer!). Can be a bit tiring but the school is worth it!

Hope that helps :-)

Thank you for the message. We didn't apply in the end as he got into Brentwood so now trying to figure out logistics.

Well done for getting your DS into Brentwood :-)

Hi @Lillibeth123 we are considering weekly boarding too and live in north east London. Do you have a boy or a girl at hockerill? Can I ask you how they found it at the beginning? We went to the open day on Saturday, our DD loved it there and says she does not mind boarding. The school looks fantastic but I get worried from the thought of only seeing her over a very short weekend. Also thinking DD cannot fully comprehend what boarding involves and fear that she may feel differently when actually there. I would appreciate if you could share your experience. TIA

Hi @sanjibee in the beginning my daughter loved it and actually didn't want to come home for the first few months. However, as the year went on she became more homesick and so we made the difficult decision to take her out of the school (and for other reasons which I wont go into here) and so she now attends a local school that has this year been rated Outstanding by Ofsted. She is thriving at the local school and we are all very happy. No more driving 1 hour to and from the boarding school at the weekend (which actually does take up a lot of time out of your weekend) so if you have any other children for example, that attend out of school clubs at the weekend, this needs to be taken into consideration. In addition, you need to think about the times when, during the week, you may need to drive to the school for school plays, events etc.

I have to say however that I think that for my daughter to have had the opportunity of experiencing boarding was invaluable. And there was not a moment that I felt uneasy about leaving her in the care of the boarding house ma'ams as they were excellent and really looked after the girls.

Now that she is at home we have been able to continue some of her daily boarding house routines . ie prep every day at 5pm, handing in her phone at 8pm. Which is excellent! :-)

I hope that's helpful.