Relocating to Cambridgeshire - Schooling Advice (Kimbolton?)

[1Katie]

Good morning,

I’m looking for some advice regarding schooling. We will be relocating to Cambridgeshire at the end of the year which has been a relatively recent decision for us as a family. Whilst I’m excited at the opportunity that this represents to achieve a better work/life balance (this move will involve my husband working locally rather than a lot of European travel), I’m really hoping that it won’t cause too much disruption to DD with regards to her schooling.

DD will be going into Year 3 in September at her current Prep School; she has, and continues to really thrive there, has a great circle of friends and both my husband and I absolutely love where she is. Obviously, with the forthcoming re-location we are now having to explore the options for us over in Cambridgeshire.

In terms of physical location, my husband will need to be relatively close to Huntingdon. We don’t know Cambridgeshire particularly well, but so far our preferred villages would be the Hemmingfords, and with regards to schooling, we are currently leaning towards Kimbolton.

We’ve visited Kimbolton on a couple of occasions and liked their ethos and general approach, however, seeing as we don’t know anyone with current pupils I was really hoping that somebody on Mumsnet might be able to offer an honest view of the school - specifically within the Prep school.

Our current school, whilst having an excellent academic record, is not in any way a ‘hot house,’ and actively promote a more ‘rounded learning experience’ for the Prep children. - There’s excellent pastoral care, a huge focus on extra-curricular, whether this be sports, music, art, drama, public speaking etc and a really inclusive culture between parents, teachers, the PTA. Each child is recognised as an individual and they actively seek to help the pupils identify their unique strengths and weaknesses, there’s also a big focus on developing children to have a strong moral compass, excellent manners and to be self-assured, but not precocious or arrogant.

Basically, can we hope for a similar experience for DD at Kimbolton? Have we missed any other schools that might fit this bill? - Any advice or feedback would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Katie x

[Biscuitsneeded]

If you are looking at villages North and East as well as West of Huntingdon (maybe think about avoiding the dreaded A14!), you could also look at The Peterborough School which is an easy journey up the A1 and is similar to how you describe DD's current school. I'm not knocking Kimbolton, I just don't know it..

[Educatetheword]

Hello Katie, the prep at Kimbolton is fantastic. There has been lots written about it on previous posts. If you are in the Hemingford area you might want to also consider Whitehall school somersham which is much smaller but closer. Quite a few then go onto Kimbolton Senior school. School life in the prep at Kimbolton and particularly the Senior school can get very busy even at weekends and with the distance you are hoping to relocate to may be an ultimate deciding factor as the previous poster alluded too. Good Luck.

[Theworldisfullofgs]

Peterborough school is ok for primary apparently but not beyond. Having said that from the people I know who've been there I wouldn't recommend it.
A few people I know from our area have gone to Kimbolton and most like it. However in our area many don't go until secondary and stay in the village primary until then.