Moulsham high school or Southend high school for girls

[Wends72]

I have already posted this thread but realised it was in the wrong topic so not sure if I will get different people reading this now it’s under secondary school.
my daughter has 2 offers for moulsham high school & Southend high school for girls.
They have both scored the same score with The real schools guide & moulsham is now the best non-selective school in the county! At moulsham they have an accelerator class for the top 30-32 students but there is no guarantee she will get into that class as they base this on SATS & results have not been published yet!there are few classmates who have tutored & will be competing for these places too!
so my dilemma is local comp or 90 minute bus from Chelmsford to SHSG!if she gets into accelerator class I assume she will be pushed the same academically but will miss out on the chance to experience grammar or is this not a golden chalice & should I be thinking of the more practical option. I feel that there extra opportunities apart from academic that you can experience at grammar but not sure whether this is a reality l& worth it.
it would be good to hear from anyone who had the same difficult situation & has had an opportunity to reflect?

Sorry, I don't know these schools but if it's a 90 minute bus journey each way, that's far too long in my opinion, (unless it's just until you move house?). My son had a 70 min journey each way and just managed, but it was a strain and very hard to maintain over the 7 years of secondary education.

Remember it's not just the regular travel, but staying late for sports, early starts for school trips, dropping off forgotten PE kit, taking home big art projects, D of E kit checks or whatever. Plus making and seeing friends out of school - parties when they hit mid-teens. All much harder if it's a three hour round trip!

Can you try the trip to each school a couple of times with your daughter during the school holidays? We did this before accepting the school with 70 min journey but it was still a stretch come September.

No plan to move
My daughter is not sporty so she wont be missing out on the after school sporting activities. I do agree that this is going to be a long slog for 7 years although for the remaining 18 months she can drive if she passes her driving test.
It wouldn't really help doing the journey by car as it only takes half the time as we would go a quicker route and would not be stopping.

I suppose what is comes down to is whether attending grammar school is the golden chalice?

It is supposed to look better on your CV and opens doors but it could also be the poison chalice if it all turns out to be too much hassle and she hates it and that is the difficulty as no one has got a crystal ball.
I just wondered how everyone else makes the decision as it doesn't feel straightforward to me so I don't have a gut feeling!

Personally, I would try the grammar school first to see how it works out. Move her to state if she doesn't enjoy it

I don't have any experience of your other choice but I do have a DC at Southend High. My DC is thriving there and we have been so impressed.
I can't recommend the school highly enough. We don't have your journey but I would think carefully before giving up the opportunity of going there.

Have you attached any of the open evenings?

Attended*

I don’t think grammar schools are a golden chalice. Ultimately, it comes down to your child’s individual results rather than the prestige of having attended a grammar school. Also, a three hour round trip does not sound fun. I know lots of kids from the Redbridge area travel out to Southend, Chelmsford and even Colchester (again, simply for the prestige of attending a grammar school) but there’s no way I’d want to do a commute like that myself, so why inflict it on a child?

You must have visited both schools and seen their facilities and general ethos - which one appealed most? I loved Southend High and would gladly have sent my daughter there, but the commute would have been too much and we live quite a bit south of Chelmsford.

The OP will not have time to try the journey out a few times in the holidays, as they will have been asked for a response re the higher preference school (presumably SHSG) well before the end of term. Perhaps try it tomorrow, if the primary school is closed through the NEU strike action?

Two of our DC attended SHSG and for us, it was an easy decision to accept when DD was offered a mid-year place at the end of year 7, as it had been her first preference and we were familiar with the school. But we are only a few stops down the C2C line, so no issues with taking up any after school opportunities (or even, later on, the odd detention - which we were warned, as the girls went into year 10, would not be waived just because the miscreant faced a difficult journey home afterwards).

As for 'trying out' SHSG first, the reality of pressure on school places in the Chelmsford area is that if that doesn't work put, the local solution will probably, if anywhere is available, be Hylands, certainly not Moulsham.

We loved SHSG, but I'm fairly certain i wouldn't even have considered it as an option from Chelmsford (I took DS2 to the open morning at KEGS in his time, just to see what all the fuss was about - he liked it, but probably for its proximity to Lek's in the market for lunch, and rapidly went off the idea once he'd processed the reality of the journey there and back, daily, for 39 weeks of the year, for 5 years).

Perhaps a better way round would be, Moulsham High to GCSE, then consider SHSG (or CCHS? Or KEGS? Or WHSG?) for sixth form?

Hi Op, I'm curious to know what you decided in the end?

my daughter has just started Y8 in Westcliff as she went to Southend & we got offered a place at Westcliff in November which we took as the journey is a lot quicker(she gets the bus at 7.30 instead of 7am & it only takes half an hour as opposed to 90 mins).
she is happy & we have made the right decision although i would say you have to make a lot of sacrifices such as no local friends & pick ups for after school activities although we have discovered the X30 is going to be another option of travel.

I'm glad that your DD is happy with the school she has finally settled at, but am curious as to how any road transport gets one from anywhere in Chelmsford to WHSG in half an hour at that time of the day...

We are the last stop in Chelmsford at Texaco on Baddow Road & as it’s 7.30 they manage the journey in 30-40 mins from there with no stops!on the way back she gets off opposite B&M which is the first stop so again only 30-40 mins!we have just discovered the X30 is another viable option with a 15 minute walk to the bus stop from westcliff if she wants to stay behind after school!

Thanks. Glad it is going well. We are in the Moulsham catchment and wondering whether to do 11+ for Southend grammers

I assumed you must be down there somewhere. The nearest stop for the X30 would be at Kent Elms, I think (some of the journeys go via the hospital, but I'm not sure that would help much other than not having to cross the A127) and it would be longer on the bus than Kent Elms. There is also the 3, but I'm not sure the timings towards Southend in the morning are very useful.