Daily coach route · 2026/27
Swindon to Pate's Grammar School CoachDaily coach service to Cheltenham
Our dedicated coach service takes children from Swindon to Pate's Grammar School in Cheltenham every school day. The route is running now for the 2026/27 school year, with fixed stops, published timings, and DBS-checked drivers.
The journey takes roughly an hour. Places are limited and are only confirmed once the deposit has cleared.
The route: Swindon to Cheltenham
The coach runs every school day during term time, operated by Barnes Coaches. It serves a confirmed list of stops; your route pack carries the current morning and afternoon timings once a place is booked.
Every driver is DBS-checked and knows the route and its regular passengers. Seatbelts are fitted and must be worn for the whole journey; the driver checks belts before the coach joins the A419.
Please have your child at the stop five minutes early. Drivers are instructed not to leave a stop before its published time.
Stops and timings
We confirm your nearest approved stop during registration, based on your postcode and your child's start year. Your confirmed route pack (with the exact stop, the waiting place and the current dated timetable) is provided once a place is booked.
We keep times off this page so they can never drift out of date. If your area is not near an approved stop, you can suggest a location for us to review.
The A417 roadworks are running at the Air Balloon roundabout, and the scheme is not due to open fully until 2027. We have built extra time into the morning schedule from the outset, so we expect to arrive early rather than late, and afternoon journeys may run late in the first few weeks while we assess the road.
How registration and payment work
Registering online takes a few minutes and your progress is saved as you go, so you can finish it later. The steps are: sign the contract, pay the deposit, choose your stops, and add final details.
The Pate's Grammar School contract is shown to you during registration, before you sign. It is not published publicly.
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.
The annual fee is paid in ten monthly instalments, due on the 1st of each month from August to May. We invoice about a month in advance, and payment is by bank transfer using the details and reference on your invoice.
Places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and are only confirmed once the deposit has cleared in our account. Where a route is full we operate a waiting list.
What families ask about this route
How long is the journey?
Roughly an hour from Swindon to Cheltenham, depending on which stop you use. The coach follows the dated timetable in your route pack, with extra time built in for the A417 roadworks.
Will the coach wait if it arrives early?
No. Drivers are instructed not to leave a stop before its published time, but they are not expected to wait beyond it either. Please be there five minutes early.
Will the A417 roadworks affect the service?
We have built extra time into the published morning timetable from the outset, so we expect to arrive early rather than late. We will confirm any change before we make it.
The full list of questions and answers is on the FAQs page.
Not the right school?
We also run a daily coach to The Crypt School and Ribston Hall High School in Gloucester. If your child is joining either school, you can register for that route too. And if you would like a pick-up point added near you, you can suggest it on the proposals page.
If you have questions about the route or the service, send us a message and we will get back to you.