Safety first
Every journey is driven by experienced, DBS-checked drivers who know your child's route and pickup points.
The journey to grammar school starts here
The standard of transport should reflect the standard of education.
Safe, reliable daily coach travel for pupils at Pate's Grammar School and The Crypt School and Ribston Hall High School. Wherever you are in Swindon, register in minutes — and if we're not on your route yet, register anyway so we can plan one.
Why families choose us
A trusted, dedicated school bus service built around your child's day.
Reliable routes & timing
Fixed stops and published pick-up and drop-off times, so mornings run smoothly for the whole family.
Well-maintained vehicles, operated by Barnes Coaches
Well-maintained vehicles and dependable daily travel, operated by Barnes Coaches from Swindon.
Two school years, always clearly labelled
Green is this year (2026/27). Orange is next year (2027/28) — free to register — no payment is due at registration.
Full registration
For travel this school year. Contract, deposit and stop selection — open now.
Register for 2026/27Free priority registration
Register your interest now. No payment is due at registration.
Register for 2027/28Key dates for 2027/28
- Mid-October 2026 — 11+ results
- 31 October 2026 — Applications close
- 1 March 2027 — Places confirmed — we'll be in touch
Explore your route
Pick your school to see published stops, approximate timings, and the route map.
Which year is your child in?
The 11+ now comes in the summer of Year 5, so it pays to know the dates and the journey early. Choose your year for the full picture.
Year 6 — 2027 entry
Results in October, applications close on 31 October, and offers arrive on 1 March 2027. Get the daily journey sorted now.
See the Year 6 page
Year 5 — 2028 entry
The test moves to the summer of Year 5. Test day is Saturday 3 July 2027 — plan the journey early.
See the Year 5 page
Year 4 — 2029 entry
The 11+ now comes in Year 5 — sooner than most families expect. Start with the journey from your part of Swindon.
See the Year 4 pageFree parent guide
The journey to grammar school, in five pages
The year in detail, how the coaches work, where they pick up, what it costs and the questions parents actually ask. Enter your name and email and we will send it to you straight away.
Prefer a page? Open the parent guide page.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know before you register.
We run dedicated coach routes to Pate's Grammar School in Cheltenham, and to The Crypt School and Ribston Hall High School in Gloucester. A route to Sir Thomas Rich's School is planned for September 2027, and we are gathering interest for a possible Denmark Road High School service. Select your school during registration and we will show you what applies to your route.
The vehicles are operated by Barnes Coaches, a long-established Swindon operator who also run their own school services into Stroud and Marling. We arrange the routes, manage registrations and look after families; Barnes provide the vehicle and driver.
We ask our operator to keep drivers consistent on each route, because it matters to younger children and to us. Depending on shift patterns a route may be shared between two regular drivers, and a relief driver will occasionally cover holidays or sickness. Either way your child should be seeing familiar faces rather than someone different each day.
Complete the registration form on this site. We will send you the parent pack and contract, and once the deposit has cleared and the paperwork is complete we will confirm your place in writing.
We send you the parent pack and the contract to sign, and an invoice for the deposit. Your place is confirmed once the signed paperwork is back and the deposit has cleared. You will then receive the route pack, with every stop, the timings and photographs of where to wait.
Yes, and there is a sibling discount. Please register each child separately and mention the sibling when you do, and we will apply it.
The deposit is £100 and forms part of the annual fee rather than being an extra charge. It is non-refundable except where we cancel the service before it starts and cannot offer a reasonable alternative, in which case we refund everything paid.
Ten monthly instalments, due on the 1st of each month from August to May. We invoice about a month in advance. Payment is by bank transfer, and the account details and reference to use are on your invoice.
Yes. If you would prefer to pay the year in full, or a term at a time, just tell us and we will invoice accordingly.
You select your preferred stop during registration. Each route page lists every stop with its times, and the route pack we send you includes photographs of exactly where to wait.
Yes. Your child may board or alight at any stop on the route. Please do check the times, as the morning and afternoon stops are not always in the same place.
The route pages carry the current published timings and are dated. If anything changes we update them, and the date at the top tells you when. Please treat the website as the definitive version rather than an older downloaded copy.
The coach cannot wait or turn back. Your child may be able to reach a later stop before it departs; otherwise you will need to make your own arrangements that morning.
Possibly. National Highways has the A417 at the Air Balloon roundabout reduced to a single lane in each direction with temporary traffic signals, and the scheme is not due to open fully until 2027. Their own advice is to allow extra time.
If the roads are unsafe the operator may delay or cancel the service, and schools may close. We will tell you through the route WhatsApp group as soon as we know.
We will pass on what we know, when we know it. We are a booking service rather than the operator, so we do not have live vehicle tracking and cannot give minute-by-minute updates. In poor weather or heavy traffic, please allow for the coach running late.