Travel to and from vocational school

[SissonneDoublee]

Hi, DD has just been offered a Year 7 place to start at Elmhurst in September, which is very exciting! The logistics of having a child boarding in the Midlands when we are based in the South East are really scaring me though! Are there any other families from the South East that lift share at weekends? At 11 years old I can’t imagine only bringing DD home for exeat weekends! 

[mimi'smom]

 Hi there

Congrats to your dd on their Elmhurst place! There is an Elmhurst Travel Buddies closed group on Facebook which parents use to arrange lift and taxi shares, train buddies etc mostly for leave out but at other non leave out weekends also. If you know any other Elmhurst parents they can add you to the group via the admin. If not, if you want to message me I can try to do it for you. There is also a very useful buy and sell second hand uniform group too! 

[Picturesinthefirelight]

19 minutes ago, SissonneDoublee said:

 At 11 years old I can’t imagine only bringing DD home for exeat weekends! 

 

First of all congrats to your Dd!

 

Do Elmhurst have Saturday classes?  Some schools do. Dd commutes to her school and she isn’t able to leave until mid-day on the Saturday. 

 

To be honest unless you live pretty close to school I wouldn’t advise a boarding child to come home every weekend. It can make it harder to settle & socially they do miss out. Also don’t under estimate how much travelling that distance each week will take out of them. 

[angel]

Both of my dd’s have always come home every weekend. It’s the only thing that kept them sane!  Having time out from the boarding house was essential.

Having dd’s at different vocational schools meant I couldn’t do all journeys. My older dd travelled with a boy from her year for many of the journeys and I contributed to petrol and I took the younger one. Occasionally they both caught a train to Birmingham to meet me. 

 

That said, every child is different and every family situation too. 

Edited May 26, 2018 by angel
Changed dad to dd ;)

[SissonneDoublee]

43 minutes ago, mimi'smom said:

 Hi there

Congrats to your dd on their Elmhurst place! There is an Elmhurst Travel Buddies closed group on Facebook which parents use to arrange lift and taxi shares, train buddies etc mostly for leave out but at other non leave out weekends also. If you know any other Elmhurst parents they can add you to the group via the admin. If not, if you want to message me I can try to do it for you. There is also a very useful buy and sell second hand uniform group too! 

Thank you! I’m just working out how to send you a PM.

[DancingShoes]

They have RAD classes on a Saturday morning but Y7s don't start them until after Christmas. 

[balletmum20]

2 hours ago, SissonneDoublee said:

Hi, DD has just been offered a Year 7 place to start at Elmhurst in September, which is very exciting! The logistics of having a child boarding in the Midlands when we are based in the South East are really scaring me though! Are there any other families from the South East that lift share at weekends? At 11 years old I can’t imagine only bringing DD home for exeat weekends! 

Where abouts in the south east? My dd is starting in September x 

[Lifeafterballet]

Elmhurst book taxis on account to Birmingham New Street for children travelling together. There are little possies of them going in all directions. I have two DCs in sixth form who lookout for the younger ones travelling from the southwest. Dd started in year 7 but didn’t start using the train until year 8. We found it was too far to travel home after a Saturday RAD class to return on Sunday so we only got to see her every 3 weeks unless you go up and take them out for the day. It’s painful but you get used to it 😬

[DadsTaxi]

Our DD boards at Elmhurst and we live in the South East, however, we find it impossible to pick her up every weekend due to distance and length of journey. We sometimes try to pop up on a Saturday afternoon to take her out and obviously she comes home every leave out weekend. We find that boarding at the weekend helps her bond with the other girls and they always have activities planned for them which are fun. 

[SissonneDoublee]

3 hours ago, balletmum20 said:

Where abouts in the south east? My dd is starting in September x 

Congratulations to your DD! We are just north of Brighton... with such a distance, every weekend would be too much, but with a bit of lift sharing we might be able to manage more frequently than just exeats and holidays. I do agree about needing to be there for some weekends to establish friendships, though.

[Jan McNulty]

For anyone who isn't sure how to DM:

 

Go to the top of the page and click on the little envelope.  Choose the "Compose New" button and you will be presented with a screen.  Type away!

 

To reply, use the reply box underneath the message, as you would with any other post.

 

If you are sending a new message and want to see it again, just click on the "Go to inbox" button at the bottom of the list of messages.  (Yes, I know it doesn't make sense!).

 

There is a limit on the size of your message box so if it is a facility you may use a lot of you will have to prune it from time to time.

 

And finally, of you have any problems you can post your queries here:  http://www.balletcoforum.com/forum/22-problems-queries-feedback/

 

Happy messaging!

[DancingWellies]

Well done to your DD. There's a lot to take in now, especially with an offer later in the year. Don't try to over plan things in advance. As for coming home each weekend, take it as it comes. They're home more often than you think with leave outs, half term etc. Leave outs go fast enough, other weekends when they leave after RAD go by in a flash. The kids need downtime, bond with their class mates and become part of the school. There are planned activities most weekends so they dont get bored. The biggest adjustment now is probably for you. Most ballet parents end up devoting a lot of their lives to organising and transporting DCs to classes, someone else will do that for you now.

 

Boarding is all part of the vocational school experience and training. The kids that go home each weekend do miss out to an extent and are 'different' to the others. Anyway welcome to the rollercoaster, the ride's just beginning!

[meadowblythe]

As DancingWellies says, take it as it comes.  Our son was horribly homesick and basically got very, very tired.  But it was easier on us (and him) for us to go to him and just have a night at a fairly local hotel rather than spending all the precious time travelling.

 

We started at the other extreme - following advice not to visit for three weeks - big mistake.  Every DC reacts differently - listen to advice and see how it applies to how your DD is getting on.    

 

Birmingham is a great city to visit and can be relatively cheap - plenty of accommodation, cheap places to eat and things to do which are free/low cost.  We still have an abiding fondness some 8 years on.

[balletbean]

3 hours ago, meadowblythe said:

 

 

Birmingham is a great city to visit and can be relatively cheap - plenty of accommodation, cheap places to eat and things to do which are free/low cost.  We still have an abiding fondness some 8 years on.

Hi. There is an Ibis Hotel on the same road as Elmhurst (Not sure exact distance) Last year around the time of the SS the hotel was advertising rooms for just £35pn. Not bad for parents visiting. Rather than trying to travel home in a short time is definitely a good idea. Chance to visit and become familiar with their new surroundings.