Cottenham village college?

[Fleatag]

Does anyone have experience of or know anything about this school? Considering moving to the area and limited info online. Thanks!

[Fleatag]

Just bumping this...

Also be interested to hear if anyone has any experience of Impington VC?

[Enb76]

I hear good things about IVC. My child is likely to go there though so I keep an ear out.

[Enb76]

I don’t know much about Cottenham, but I think the village college system works pretty well. I haven’t heard much bad about any of them.

[OKBobble]

Both Cottenham and Impington VC regularly feature in the top 10 state schools in Cambridgeshire

[OKBobble]

www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwigo-fMg9jiAhU-BGMBHWNwBsMQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cambridge-news.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcambridge-news%2Fbest-schools-cambridgeshire-gcse-results-14201656&psig=AOvVaw2h2mjpRdFx_CP67z9vI5uH&ust=1560019488310681

[CambridgeLightBlue]

Both schools are great, according to friends with children at them. Depends what you're looking for really.

[Fleatag]

Many thanks for the replies!

@CambridgeLightBlue- that’s really interesting. Would love to hear more... Are there any particular things your friends mentioned about the two schools?

[CambridgeLightBlue]

Well the two schools have different feels. Cottenham upgraded its uniform and now looks much smarter. It has a no phone policy and generally feels more controlled. Impington has a more casual uniform and a pretty open phone policy. It has a very dynamic head teacher who is very invested in the school. Cottenham has had a couple of changes of head in recent years so I don't know much about the current one. On the whole I would say Cottenham feels more disciplined and perhaps more traditional whereas Impington feels more dynamic and progressive. Impington is also an IB school.

Both are very strong though, and have plenty of happy families.

[MadelineCambs]

Reviving this old thread in hope of more comments.
In such case, why is the Cottenham VC rating "requires improvement"? Also, it is the only school in the area currently with availability. Which is a good thing, my child would theoretically be admitted immediately. But also makes you wonder, why are all surrounding schools full except this one...

[lanthanum]

I believe Cottenham is full in at least one year group. It may just be a case of local population and capacity - I think the feeder primaries have six year 6 classes between them, so by the time some have gone private, there's enough space for everyone, including some from out of catchment (mostly further north). Impington will attract some from Cambridge, whereas Cottenham is further out.

Requires improvement was on two counts. One was irregularities with the sixth form provision - the sixth form is a small vocational one, and is actually about to be detached from the school and will in future be part of the Centre School. (If you're not familiar with Cambs, many village colleges are 11-16 only and there are excellent post-16 options in Cambridge.) The other issue was bullying - and they have been working very hard on strategies to deal with that. Most of the children I know there are quite geeky and have not had any issues with bullying, so I don't know whether it's actually any worse than average.

[Waterbottlefrozenup]

Also interested in further comments- that’s very helpful @Ianthanum. Wondered if anyone has any other info/ experiences of CVC? Am interested in how they deal with SEN but any general thoughts would be really helpful too