London grammar and private senior school entry 2025

[CruCru]

Hi all

It doesn’t look as though one of these threads has been set up yet so I thought I’d do it.

I have a daughter going into year 6 and a son going into year 8 next month - both will be moving to senior school in 2025.

Cracks me up when people call Croydon ‘London’

@Polarise25 we will most likely be in this position in march , with HB grammar (we live catchment and DD did round 2 so most likely she’ll get an offer ) and CLSG/ NLCS / SHHS - all went well. We had QCL as back up. DD’s first choice is now QCL .. It will be difficult decision to turn down top of the league schools .. but thank you for sharing your story , it is somehow reassuring x

We’re all done now! No more interviews…

out of curiosity, what would people consider a commute too long, on the school bus!? Our first choice is also the furthest but I’m not sure how far is too far…

@SupermarketMum , it's not so much the long commute as those travelling for longer times do their homework on the school bus but you need to think about Saturday drop offs for sports matches and picking up from school clubs. How easily can you get to the school too?

Even now my DS has extreme travel sickness so doing homework on the bus is not an option… I could cope with Saturday pick ups, it’s about a 30 min drive from our house. The school bus stops very near us but morning pick up is at 7:15am…

Friend's DD says nobody does homework or chats on the bus, they all just stare at their phones. I thought that sounded a bit grim. For us the important thing about choosing the closest possible school is having friends nearby for socialising - again, friend's DD lives in Zone 2 and says most of her friends live so far north (like St Albans) it's impossible to see them on weekends etc without a massive faff.

I would really really think about location/ journey if you have a choice of offers. Both my DCs can get to school by public transport easily - bus and/ or tube and one can walk at a push but usually cycles. It's not just the daily journey but both have unexpectedly ended up doing a lot of drama, sport and music, none of which I would imagined at 11. They both have to do before school clubs, (6.30am sometimes for one of them ), after school clubs, performances until late sometimes, weekend training/ rehearsals etc.
We live near enough that they can get themselves to and from all this on their own but that we can do late pick ups ( 10pm etc ) if needed. Then there's the parents evenings, careers evenings, welcome evenings, plays, concerts etc etc. It's slightly never ending especially with more than one child. Not to mention having to drive your child to school for GCSEs because there's a train strike etc. or when they'd broken their ankle etc...
Mine are not super talented (!), they've just got involved in lots of things. If it was trickier to do these things because we lived further away it would either be a nightmare for us or they would just end up not taking advantage of everything I suspect.
One nearly went to a school further away with a bus service. I don't think they would have been able to do half the things they have and I suspect having to get the bus every morning would have been very stressful as there were no other options available.
Good luck with your choices!

Our DD is in Y7 and some of her friends who live about an hour away do struggle with taking part in many before-school and after-school clubs. They often don't do any sports fixtures (which are mostly after school) or after-school clubs (of which there are many every afternoon). A lot of DD's homework is done on her laptop (and requires internet connection) so doing it on the bus wouldn't be feasible, and as a PP said, most girls commuting together tend to chat. That would be my main consideration if you're weighing up school commute vs school preference - how much would your DC have to give up taking part in other aspects of school life for the sake of the commute. It's a tricky one!

I have tried to remain netural for schools, but my favourite school is a 45 minute coach right, but pick up is practically our door step. But the distance does make me think if we got the closer option we would probably just go for the closer one. How long is the commute you are considering?

Ideally I’d be looking for 45 mins max door to door even on a school bus. Sadly for us only one school that is within reach for us is within that, the rest are 45-1h and one is just over an hour. this is a mix of school coaches and public transport options.

Not idea but we live in an awkward spot with not a lot of choice! If we were lucky to get more than one offer the travel time would definitely be one of the key deciding factors.

On travel, we’ve found that having a back up route is important, as well as travel time. My DC can take three entirely different routes to school (tube/train) and that allows them to work around most disruption. There is also the option of two buses as an absolute last resort, but they rarely need to use it.

I’ve found that being able to travel independently has meant they are happy to do after and before school clubs, which they wouldn’t do if tied to the school coach times. It does make for some late nights and early mornings, but that’s their choice.

max 30-45 min door to door, by public transport or drive (in case tube/train/bus disruptions)

Also consider how often yourself as parents want to participate in school activities, such as talks, meetings, watching matches and shows.
There are plenty of these events during the school day in the late afternoon or evening, which can be convenient if your commute to the school is easy.

The school bus timetable says 25 minutes but I doubt that’s correct - it takes me that long driving with zero traffic, and the bus has another 7 stops… so I suspect it will be around 40 minutes in the morning… and according to the timetable it’s 1 hour 20 minute return home (due to London traffic)…

many of the points raised by other PP have resonated - I want him to be able to do after school activities and enjoy the most of school life, and not to be stressed by the commute home…

The length of journey and options of type of traveling are important. We found having public transport options great but check out the drive option. One school may seem further away on the map but in traffic it was 30 mins less than the closer one. School bus, some parents gone for this option as it easier as their offer criteria but found year group low level bullying on bus, sport and drama clubs taking longer etc. So being dependent on school bus may not be great as public transport etc.

Yes, esp if he gets motion sickness. My ds can feel sick, but is not actually sick. He is fine as long as he is not reading in the car. So basically, he will only be able to sit and chat w friends or listen to music because he will feel sick if looking at a phone. For us though, all schools will take 40-45 minutes except for one, which will take 20 minutes.

Aha - I just got this email from Atom learning. We haven’t been offered any schools yet … the consortium doesn’t offer until 14 Feb (Atom learning provide the test so they must know this). Can you imagine how sad I’d be if I believed them and then my daughter didn’t get her top school (or any offers) in mid Feb?

Perhaps someone should complain to them that they should not send these emails out before offers are made?

Also, would be interesting to see if people that did make it into their first choice got an email 😂

We have not received any email.

I have not received any email either despite using atom for years for my son then my daughter. She is trying for 2 consortium schools and we cancelled in December.

Got the same last week. While we have a consortium school on the list it is not top choice (as selected in atom). Albeit that top school indeed uses iseb for their test. Would be interesting to compare notes post 14th of Feb!

That's awful from Atom. I just checked my emails and I also received the same email from them on 6 December! Before any interviews were done. So it clearly is a load of rubbish!

I’ve written my review and said I was confused by the message.

I've received this email twice now. Before Xmas and also early Jan. Both times I replied and explained. I think it's an automatic email sent to everyone. Must be! No logic otherwise...

First offer received today with a scholarship as well, which was hoped for but not expected at all. Not a favourite school but definitely in the mix, and we are so relived and DD is too!

It’s such a lot of pressure for them. While she was totally playing cool about it all, and so were we, but when we told her she nearly burst into tears.

Now to wait for the 14th and the girls consortium - her favourite schools are amongst those so hopefully for a few more offers.

Many congratulations @Namechangenancy99