Best State secondaries in Cambridge?

Forgot to mention Chesterton is ranked ahead of Parkside in 2018 and 2017. Is this true? Does anyone know anything about Parkside's ranking history? I know it is the top in 2016.

My son will be in Year 7 soon. He is quite academic so far. We are considering either Parkside or Chesterton community college. We visited both schools but couldn't tell much difference except the size of the school.

Is there any difference between Parkside and Chesterton in terms of teaching quality, in particular, for lower grades (say, Year 7, 8 and 9). Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

I spent my childhood in Histon Lovely primary school.

In that case, it seems easy enough. You probably want to look at Histon, so you can take the guided bus into the Science Park and on towards the town centre, or cycle if you prefer. Histon is on the A14, so you'll be able to head straight over to Newmarket.

Local school is Impington Village College, which I think has already been mentioned on this thread.

And I think that OverMyDeadBody is very right with her comments that there isn't one best school for every young person.

House prices in Cambridge and villages to the south can be very, very high, because from Cambridge it's a quick commute into London. A London-dwelling friend, thinking about making the move, was really taken aback when she realised that houses were as high in Cambridge as they were in many parts of London.

So a lot of people that work in Cambridge live in the villages and commute in, hence the appalling traffic.

Grendelsmum is right. Commuting into Cambridge can be a nightmare. Commuting out of Cambridge is far easier

I think you have to visit the schools to get a feel for them and whether or not your DCs would fit in at them.

I know my DS would really struggle and be eaten alive if I sent him to Parkside or Tha Manor (for very different reasons), there just isn't a school that suits everyone. There are parents who could say the same for all the other schools with regards to their kids too, there is no one 'best' school.

Having said that, most of the secondary schools are good around here. I am going to look at Chesterton, Comnberton and Cambourne in the next few weeks to make my decision.

Just from a practical level - although you say that schools will be your main driver, you probably also want to have a good think about house prices and commuting routes and times as well. If you're working in the city centre, for example, you may or may not have car parking available at your work place, and even if you do, the traffic in the morning can be absolutely horrendous.

That was very lucky. Maybe we caught the school on a very bad year :( Yes our 'generous' bursary was 50% - and yes we would have had to have lived in a box on the street to pay the rest :( It makes one wonder how poor exactly you would have to be to get a full one. It was a shame as we had made it very clear that we were a) very poor b) had no savings and c) she couldn't go without a full bursary from the first open day! Oh well.

Maybe the bursaries are currently less generous than they were? A friend's daughter was offered a 'generous' bursary to a private girls' school that would have covered 50% of fees. Unfortunately covering the other 50% would have left them minus any means of paying the rent.

EeTraceyluv,

My dd was offered a full bursary (everything paid) at one of the Cambridge indies and I have no doubt my ds would qualify for the same. My ex-MIL was keen to boast that her granddaughter went to an independent school, but we stuck with the comp and glad we did.

Lance yes the head was comberton's deputy and seems like a lovely woman. Ah just seen the photo my dd is in it
It's great for her to be able to walk into school rather than bus too.

I love the cambourne uniform

Cheese, years ago my mother was one of the first staff at a brand new high school, and she said it was bliss for the first four or five years. The new children and staff were all so keen to make it work, and of course it was small and friendly.

Add on Comberton staff (yes, CVC is very good still from all I hear, and isn't the new head ex-Comberton?) and I'd say you're on to a winner. Hope your daughter keeps enjoying it (and apols if I shouldn't have linked the news item above, but it was such an appealing photo)!

My daughter just started at cambourne village college and it's very good so far. It's linked with comberton and has a lot of the same staff and the same principles of learning. I initially moved here 9 years ago due to being in the catchment area for comberton so this is perfect.

Hmm, I should maybe clarify given the rest of the thread, 'that' school wasn't Impington or Comberton.

That's the thing, you see, schools change over time, and children differ. There's no one right answer to 'which school should I aim for?'.

We live near a school that people move to get into. After a term there, it was all too obvious that our son was sinking. I still regret the extra two terms it took us to bite the bullet and move him to the less 'outstanding' school, where he's flourished ever since.

I know I'm not the only one on MN to say this -- and as it turns out, not even the only one from here to pull a child out of that school because they didn't fit.

Well it is some years since i worked there so perhaps things have changed in the meantime, i moved away from the area in 2006. What is your opinion based on out of interest? As i say i am not in that area anymore so just pure curiosity.

offer very generous bursaries to the very able but poor. Many of the very brightest pupils in Cambridge don't go to state schools.

This is a joke right??

The majority of 'very brightest pupils' from 'ordinary' homes in Cambridge certainly do not go to the independents and 'generous bursaries' are a thing of the past. I should know, our dd passed an entrance test for one of the independents, the school were very very keen to have her - and tried their utmost to get us a full bursary, but simply couldn't do it. The bursary we were offered wold have been generous had we had twice the income we are on, but then we wouldn't have got that much iyswim.

DD is currently at on of the best primaries in town with many brighter than average pupils from well off families and very few of them are entertaining private education, in fact they were quite horrified when I spoke of the possibility of taking her out.

Personally I'd rather eat worms than send any child of mine to IVC, but maybe that's just me. It suits a certain kind of child, so check out whether your dc is the right sort. The IB results depend to a great extent on the highly-motivated students from abroad. Most of the able students from the main school go to Hills Road for Sixth Form.

Impington Village College is a very good school (I used to work there) and serves a number of villages to the north of Cambridge. Comberton VC also has an excellent reputation. Impington has the advantage of offering the IB qualification alongside A levels in the sixth form.

I'd forgotten that it opened this term. Oooops! ;_(

I know what it says on the website. However, there is a great deal of anxiety about how it will work in practice. What's absolutely true is that some of those now in Comberton's catchment will not be in the future. People who don't know the area need to do some research.

I should have written that there is a vast difference between Cambridge schools and between Village Colleges. Don't assume all the Village Colleges are good, just because they're in leafy areas and don't assume all schools in the City of Cambridge are good, just because Cambridge is know for its academics. Another factor in Cambridge is the number of pupils who go to the independent schools, some of which are highly selective and offer very generous bursaries to the very able but poor. Many of the very brightest pupils in Cambridge don't go to state schools.