We have our youngest at the Abbey (prep to Woodbridge ) and eldest who went to IP.Both are fantastic schools but for me having experienced both, the Abbey just has the edge .Mostly because of the sheer amount of fun and enjoyment that he has at school;it is very much a "work hard play hard philosophy but most of all have fun doing it ".DS3 used to come home from Queens House saying that "success comes in cans" and I really would say this could be the whole schools motto"!It is also a very caring place and ds3 often comments when he visits other schools for matches that his school is "kind"
Of course the most obvious difference is the space;acres and acres of grass which they play on all the time and use for clubs and lessons,interestingly when ds1 was at IP I didn't think the space was an issue ,now i have one who has access to that sort of facility I think it is invaluable .The playing fields and lawns are all there on site and accessible not just at sports lessons but in break and after school clubs,the music school is also onsite and there is no walking outside the school to lessons,lunch is also cooked and eaten onsite .
After school care until 5pm is available without prior booking and included in the fees ,if i am not there he goes to homework club and its supervised by a teacher and onsite matron( who also deals with falling over,not feeling well and lost property etc)There are lots of clubs ,music ,drama ,poetry speaking and verse speaking are compulsory plus clubs for chess ,art,sports ,dancing (tap is popular with the boys)car maintenance ran last year and the most popular winter club is Bored (sic)games which includes a lot of running around in the dark shrieking!!followed by a quick dose of table football or scrabble !!Pond dipping,gardening,science there is always something to do .
Academically he is racing along ,I like the fact that there is a good mix of male and female teachers and its not all women and that there is food tech(stir fry anyone?) and lots of language teaching and language awareness and lots of hands on stuff and visits .Ds is probably my most conventionally academic child and he is certainly being stretched but there is also a full time support teacher for those who may be struggling.
Of course like any school there are minor gripes ,the winter school socks are a nightmare for little ones! and organisationally a lot is expected of them but they seem to rise to it .Sport is good ,lots of matches even for the D and E teams but it can be a bit competitive ,but maybe thats just me as I am not competitive at all . But overall we have been very pleased with our experience.