Would you move your child to a more academic school with a longer commute?

[confusedmamaof3]

Hello,

I would like to ask for your advice on whether it is worth considering more academic schools such as City of London, Alleyn’s, LEH, or Westminister for secondary education.

My daughter is very academic — she is consistently at the top of her year group, and her GL Assessment results are always above 135 in both Maths and English. She also loves art and drama. She is currently in an all-through selective school, but the academic results there are not as strong as those of the schools I mentioned above.

Her current school is only a 10-minute drive away. However, if she were to move, she would need to leave home around an hour earlier each morning.

Do you think an academically gifted child thrives better and is stretched more in a highly academic environment?
Or is it more beneficial for her to remain in her current school, where she is in the top set and can enjoy the motivation of being ahead?

Thank you in advance 🙏🏻.

Apply and see if you get any offers. They are all very different schools and some have bus services and others have good transport options. What year is she in now? Go to open days with her and see if the school fits your DC. Brand names are not the main focus and some of these schools have families that tutor their child on top of school work. Check GCSEs options and A levels options, again there may be huge differences in subjects. Some schools only top set do Further Maths to get 9, others allow more kids to try and may get 6/7/8 but it is ok.

@HawaiiWake
Thank you. If we are applying to other schools, and our daughter’s attendance may drop slightly since most of these schools have Stage 2–3 assessments, open days, and other events. Do you think it would be bad for my child if we told her current school that she is trying for other 11+ schools? She may be eligible for a scholarship at her current school, but they often mention being “committed to joining their senior school.

Where do you live?

I think no, your daughter will do well wherever she goes with the right amount of encouragement at home and the option of tutoring if you get worried. In my experience teachers at her current school are likely to push her if she’ll get good results (for them as well as her!).

You talk about leaving home about 1 hour earlier every morning - that would mean another extra hour in the afternoon. 2 hours extra per day is a lot, especially as she gets into GCSE years. Plus less friends likely to be close by.
Is the difference very marked? Is there any other more academic school closer by but more manageable in terms of distance?

Some kids get very anxious in that kind of environment.

we deliberately did not choose a school like that for my DD as we didn’t think she’d cope well with the pressure.

you need to think about her personality as well.

What extra would she gain from these schools? For example... the current school just teaches French and Spanish, but the potential school teaches those plus German, Latin and Russian, which she is potentially interested in. Or offers further maths GCSE. Or whatever she is potentially interested in.

Your DD will be the one doing the commute... if she's able to get Straight 9s/As at her current school, it will be the extras that make it worth while.

Opposing that, a shorter commute could give more time for out of school activities. Its a balance.

It’s not all about academics, you also have to consider the social skills to be learnt by the child.
I have a very academic daughter and chose a school which would give her the widest experience of life, if a child wants to learn they will so anywhere.
My daughter acknowledges as an adult our choices were the best for her as she gained confidence, independence and tolerance.

Similar situation here.

Standardised scores 140 for Maths and English. She plays four instruments and has self taught two languages.

We have taken the view she will be fine wherever she goes (although I have done much research before being comfortable with this). We would be looking at a 60-90 minute commute in and the same back to a highly selective academic school. We think she would absolutely burn out with that commute on top of music practice and intensive homework. She needs time to decompress. She has ASD.

If she needs to move at Year 10 or A Level she will be far better suited to it when she's older.

Edited to say she's an absolute outlier at primary and socially, it's been really crap and horrible. I'm comfortable she will find her people at the secondary we've chosen. It's state but they stream early and there is an advanced Oxbridge programme in KS4 upwards.

I'd be more worried about the social side of it. So yes, I do think gifted kids need gifted kids. But they can find bright and gifted kids at non selective schools too.

Is she happy where she is? Is she getting opportunities in art and drama?

Looking at previous results, do the top children get top results? If so, and she's at the top, then presumably she will.

It does help to have a peer group of other academically-minded kids, but that doesn't need to be the whole year group. My rule of thumb was "is there a set's worth of 8/9 grades?" If so, then the top set is going to be working at a high level, and the other sets are not really relevant.

My guess is that in a selective school, there will be plenty of other academic kids, and she'll be fine staying put. She might also have more opportunities because there are fewer candidates to take part in eg an inter-school competition. The ultra-academic school might even knock her confidence.

To be honest, no I wouldn't. An academic and motivated child will thrive in most environments if they feel safe and secure. Adding additional travel time will have an impact on your child's wellbeing and could even impact them academically in negative way. If they're tired they can't focus and will be less motivated.

Definitely not for an hour extra each way unless there are really significant issues [academic, social, or other] at the current school.

With academic results are you comparing like with like? You say current school is selective but is it top 20 v top 5 and actually the top 5 do just as well in your setting

What does she think OP? She most likely to do best where she's happiest.

@Fearfulsaints top 5 vs top 70

if you're already at a selective school i would say no it isn't worth the transport woes.
the grade point average at an all through school is most likely only slightly lower not due to teaching but due to a few students who are not particularly gifted in one or two subjects and either a very large cohort or a very small cohort.
i'm not sure the drive at those very top elite schools is mentally healthy long term.

Sorry, I meant as in a school that selects fir the top 5% of academic v top 20% of academic ability rather than ranking if the school.

Or if your school is currently accepting the top 70% and getting similar results its way better!

thought you were referring to league tables.
top 100 is still excellent and is really splitting hairs.
i find the league tables even (and maybe especially) the government tables difficult and misleading for independent schools.

I think if you're on the fence, and you're considering 11+ transfer, I'd just put in the application forms now so you have the time to think about it and do visits. She won't be the only one making applications and she might regret missing out on the chance if you rule it out at this stage and don't even complete the forms. A one hour commute isn't unusually long for the top-tier London schools and she may enjoy it if she has friends going the same way. Would the journey be possible by public transport, or school coach, or would you be relying on a car? It's better to choose somewhere that allows independent travel at secondary age.

Go and visit the schools (with her when possible), look into art and drama scholarships and make the decision based on the right school for her, rather than generalisations. Alleyn's is excellent for the arts as well as academics, and Westminster offers amazing opportunities which will be different from a middling private school. But they all suit different types of student, so you need to think beyond academics.

Parent of two very academic girls here but both very different. One into STEM and sports, the other very creative - has drama and art scholarships at their school.

They go to a school usually referred to as a “backup”. A hideous phrase coined by academically ambitious parents to justify their choices. It is an absolutely fabulous place where their needs outside the classroom are met just as well as their academic needs. They benefit hugely from being at the top of top sets as opposed to bumbling along somewhere in the middle, and are so happy to be doing a huge array of extra curricular activities.

I agree with another poster that if the school has strong top sets and enough bright children that match your daughter’s abilities then that’s all she needs - you don’t need a whole school of them.

I do actually think that all through schools can be a bit stifling though. The same friends for 14/15 years and like it or not your child will carry the same labels throughout. It is very sensible to check out alternatives at age 11 and again at 16 because children change. What she needed at 4 may well be very different to now. Look beyond results and dig into extra curricular, especially those areas important to your daughter. A huge commute just chasing academic league tables would be bonkers though in my opinion.

Where do you access these tests to get GL SAS scores as normally you just look at 45/50 or something? Thanks

The more selective a school is the better their overall results are going to be, it stands to reason. But that doesn't necessarily mean that individual children are achieving better results than they would have done elsewhere. By the sounds of things your DD is a very bright, engaged pupil with supportive parents in a good school. It doesn't get much better than that and in all probability she is going to get a great set of GCSE results in due course whether she stays where she is or moves to another school. I'd imagine that the likelihood of there being a school dependent difference in her grades that is significant enough to affect her future in any way is actually pretty small.
But there may be other differences. As a PP said, do any of the potential new schools offer subjects of particular interest that her current one doesn't? And what about extra or supercurricular activities - does anywhere stand out? What's the precise nature of the journeys that might be involved? There's a big difference between spending an hour on a dedicated school bus where you can probably get some of your homework done and an hour each way on public transport with multiple changes. How would the travel be likely to affect her, both in terms of physical tiredness and mental load. Would she still be able to do after school activities? What about friends - do other children from your area travel to these schools or is she likely to end up with friends scattered all over the city that she can't see at weekends without planning it like a military operation? How does she like her current school? Does she have existing good relationships with friends and staff that are likely continue or would she relish a change? Do new children typically join her existing school at 11+ or 13+ or is she likely to be with the same cohort all the way through, and do you think this is a good or bad thing? How does she feel about moving?
There's a lot to think about but I would probably put the exam results of the various schools quite a long way down the list of considerations. Where do you think would be the best fit for your DD is terms of her overall well being? Academically speaking I suspect you can't make a bad decision here - it's not like you are choosing between a school with very poor results and a great one - so I'd be looking at what else the schools have to offer and where she will thrive in the broadest sense.

These are VERY different schools, there is much more to it than just league tables, you need to go to open days to research the schools thoroughly and get a gut feeling about them.

I was driving DD one hour each way to a school in top 20, it's doable but exhausting. In any case, it's not the most important factor, neither are the league tables.

My children go to a school with a large catchment. They have friends miles away, Saturday nights and holidays are spent with us driving them back and forth to friends at all hours. It does cause social issues. They can’t just meet up for a walk and a chat, everything involves us and a plan.

whilst I don’t mind, it’s annoying!

that aside is she someone who needs to be top of the pile to drive her or someone who needs the push of competition?
my ds needs to feel clever to do well, otherwise he can feel demotivated.
my dd is opposite, the competition pushes her along.

It totally depends on the child and what motivates them. If you think they would do better in a more academic school, because they thrive on competition say, then yes, it may be worth it. But some kids hate that and rebel against such pressure so would do worse. If your school gets good results and their approach works for her, then I wouldn’t bother as she will be in the cohort which does really well and the additional commute will mean losing so much time that could be spent on studying or hobbies.