Kings School, Canterbury - Similar Schools?

[Rennypie03]

Hello hello

So I have recently done a tour of Kings Canterbury. I loved it. Thanks to all the parents that recommended it - I check it out 👍🏼👍🏼

Howver, I need more than one school to apply to not putting all my eggs in one basket etc etc

Can parents please recommend other schools for me to look into if I liked Kings??

FYI
I did also visit Lancing College - I felt it was cold.

I visited Teddies too. Very lovely and friendly. Just didn't seem to have academic rigor I need but it is set to improve with their new head coming from Harrow

it's a bit hard to answer you without knowing what you liked about King's - eg was it the town campus / sports / boarding / traditions / location etc?

Obviously with its Cathedral setting there won't be too many other schools that can offer the same very traditional Cathedral/quad vibe.

personally I wasn't a big fan of King's as whilst the Cathedral parts are amazing, i don't like the town campus with school departments spread all over Canterbury, and there is no academic focus (currently, although hopefully the new Head is improving things, it's dropped so low in the leagues the only way is up).

if you want academic, traditional boys boarding in Kent then Tonbridge would probably be one to look at...for girls then Benenden.

Sevenoaks a more academic, less traditional boarding/day option.

Eastbourne a more traditional, less academic boarding/day option.

Sutton Valence a lovely west Kent option for less academic, great sports, boarding/day.

St Lawrence College in Ramsgate has just received double excellent in ofsted and has a nice family feel to it.

Claremont school

St Georges - Harpenden

@IndecisiveofKent well coming after a visit to Teddies and Lancing, King's was so lovely> I dont want my kids to do the IB so no to Sevenoaks. My kids will do 4 Alevels so no again to St Lawrence - they insist on 3 subjects. Tonbridge is single sex, so no again :-)

open to other thoughts? charterhouse? epsom college?

The co-eds my friends and colleagues are happy with are Oundle, Wellington, Marlborough.
Oundle is great I think.

Oundle keeps coming up :-)

But I think somewhere south of england will be great. Charterhouse is the only school that comes to mind, I dont know if Wellington and Kings Canterbury are similar aside being co-ed?

My son was at Kings -we liked the in town vibe but in fact they were very restricted to house all the time - guessing bc of fear of something happening to them but quite restrictive when he wanted to go to the gym / cinema / into town to shop (when 15/16) but wasn’t allowed etc - a campus in hindsight probably better

Hey,

Went to Oundle so happy to answer any questions over PM but seems out of your range.

For south of England Co-Ed my recommendations below are with some info to help. Friends from all, all nice

• Wellington, similar but less full boarding lots go home at weekends, more sporty and more academic better results. Students mostly come from London and within an hour
• Marlborough - Most similar level, maybe a bit better facilities but most similar and basically only boarding besides like 3% day.
• Canford - Also great and know a teacher there and speaks highly of it. mixture of full boarding, weekly and day. similar to marlbrough academically, maybe tiny bit higher than kings
• Charterhouse - Similar to wellington, not super fully boarding and only recently co-ed. Not as strong academically as Wellington but still good and higher than kings.
• Bradfield - Again not super fully boarding but the most similar to Kings academically.

Hope this helps.

As an aside, you might not want your kids to do the IB but THEY might choose to! It's more demanding than A levels and viewed very favourably by universities.

I don't know much about private schools but I do know someone who sent her child to Haileybury and that was definitely co-ed and she did A levels.

@easternenergizer your list is so helpful and has given me a sense of direction 😀 thank you. Much appreciated

Kent college Canterbury is a great school just on the other side of Canterbury. My daughter is in year 8 there and loves it, al though she is transferring to kings for the next year. She has loads of friends at KC it’s just that she isn’t really feeling the academic side of things, apparently the schools main focus is sport (especially hockey) and it isn’t all that great at celebrating any other aspects of the curriculum. If your kid is into sports then I’d 100% recommend KC as it is also a really nice community there. Have a nice day xx

Christ's Hospital? Lovely setting and full boarding.

@easternenergizer - May I ask more questions about Oundle? I heard they are having a new head from Lancing College and he is actually a very lovely man. I did meet him on my tour of Lancing College. However because Oundle is further North I don't know so much about the school or it's reputation - is it more down to earth than London schools? Is it in town or far out? Do the sixth formers have flexibility to go to town? Is it very academic.
Happy for a PM if it's better 😊. Thank you

@Rennypie03 - I have friends who went to Oundle. It is a really lovely well balanced school.
It is in a small town in a beautiful setting. Due to local demand there are also day pupils and people moving there just for the school (so house prices locally are going up). Yes, it is more down to earth than London schools. Facilities are amazing. It is the kind of school that aims to bring out the best in each pupil and also make them rounded. Girls I believe wear culottes.
Do not know about Sixth Formers, sorry.
It is governed by a London livery company - I think that adds some governing weight/professionalism.

Hey - PM’d you but the above is true. It’s just a really good school - not perfect and am happy to outline where it is falling short but if I wanted a co-Ed boarding school to help my children to get the best grades and work ethic and ambitious for what they can do afterward without being too ‘affected’ then I’d send them there.

We are moving to Kent on August 24’ and looking for an independent school around Kent for year 9 entry for my son. We went on a school tour in Radnor House Sevenoaks and my son liked it and they gave us a 30 per cent scholarship after his entrance exams. Can anyone please advise is that great school for academic students?

Are any parents from Oakwood Park Grammar School, here? Is that an academically a great school?

@CandidMoose In Maidstone? Yes, good school. Need 11+ to get into it.

Historically Kings is a very academic school, and definitely on a par with Oundle, Charterhouse & Marlborough. However, I do agree unfortunately that under the previous head academically things were allowed to drift quite badly. I gather things are improving under the new head - which should mean that proper order is restored soon.

Thank you!! This is very helpful for me

Goodness me! Is this for real??? 😯this is the first time I am hearing about such a thing??? WOW!! No one has ever said this to me

That description is so far off the mark as to be almost unhinged ! We had DD at Kings there under the previous regime almost at the end of the old HM tenure. Whilst fair to say that pastorally some of the appointments were poor, ridiculous to suggest that the school suffered such a lack of structure, care & discipline that it caused mass therapy! Covid of course caused issues for this Gen Z lot but same at all schools.
As for the alumni, one of the better associations, and the school has strong recognition otherwise DD wouldn’t have chosen it

Thank you for this update. The earlier post seemed very different to all the feedbacks I had previously received. Even the ones privately messaged