Kingswood School, Bath - thoughts?

[BearBirdBaboon]

Hello! We're thinking about moving to the Bath/Bristol area and Kingswood looks like a good option for us. If you've got children there, I'd love to hear your thoughts. We have two DSs, both of whom are very academic and musical. We're not from the area, so this would involve moving house and so we want to try and make sure we choose the right school before deciding to move house!

Prep or senior?

Senior @Cisforcamel

I have worked with children from most of the Bath schools. KES or Kingswood would be a great fit. Monkton less academic but is gentle and outdoorsy. KES is more like a very good comp / grammar in terms of the children who go there and has a modern, up to date feel - Kingswood more of a old fashioned feel to the ethos and buildings. Sure your DC would flourish at either.

@Chocalata Thank you for your thoughts. Really helpful to hear what the differences are between Kingswood, KES and Monkton.

Definitely look at King Edward's as well. Fantastic school.

Agreed about KES which is a great school but fairly selective, to the extent that it could be stressful

Kingswood not so pressured.

KES is a fantastic school - especially if your children are academic. Would highly recommend!

KES is fantastic if you are very academic. It’s main aim is good results. It’s not a great all rounder.

@MrsEricBana, @Anglophobia, @AliTheMinx
Thank you for your comments. I have had a look at KES. Do any of you have children there? If so, would you be able to share a little of their experience there?

@Cisforcamel

KES is fantastic if you are very academic. It’s main aim is good results. It’s not a great all rounder.

It is academic but also encourages involvement in sports, music, speech and drama, great art dept, all manner of other extra curricular activities. I'd say the kids from there get the best academic results they can personally achieve in the subjects they are interested in (which might be double maths, physics & chemistry, or equally English, biology and sports science) and they have used their time there to really develop other areas. In my experience they are confident (but not arrogant), well rounded, outward looking, good kids. I'm not saying this isn't true of the other schools, but KES's old reputation as an academic hothouse is unfounded. One thing about Bath is that cross city traffic is bad so bear that in mind.

[quote BearBirdBaboon]@MrsEricBana, @Anglophobia, @AliTheMinx
Thank you for your comments. I have had a look at KES. Do any of you have children there? If so, would you be able to share a little of their experience there?[/quote]
Yes, I do. I don't have personal experience of the Senior School yet, but my DS is in Year 5 and has been at KES since Reception. He is extremely settled and we are very pleased with the school and hope that he will continue at KES all the way through. Many of his friends have older siblings in the Senior School and are very happy.

I agree with @MrsEricBana and would say that KES is strong in producing good all-rounders and has a plethora of extra-curricular activities for pupils to get involved with. It's viewed as particularly academic, as it always performs well in rankings, but I don't feel this is at the expense of everything else.

Agree. I have experience of pre-prep, junior and senior school. Definitely recommend.

We have experience of the senior school and it is great. To what's been said above I would also add that the pastoral care is very good, and that they coped very well with Covid (better than other private schools). Music provision is excellent too.

But completely agree about the cross-Bath traffic. Living anywhere in Bath you'd be fine, but driving in from the north would be a nightmare.

Don't move to Bristol if school is in Bath, it's a hideous journey at rush hour.

Older ones can get the train and the bus up from the station though - we use a school bus.

My much younger sister was at kings wood and it was great in every respect. Range of abilities catered for - most to good universities and 3 of my sisters friends went to oxbridge. Not too pressured, unlike girls’ high and KES are known for. KES is definitely an excellent school but I wouldn’t send my dc there unless they were pretty robust and academically very strong.

My DD has been at KES years 3-10 so far. It is the only non-boarding £ school in Bath (so kids are possibly less busy at weekends). It is great for a reasonably bright child who wants to get involved with sport/music/drama (possibly less so for somebody who needs a bit of help with their schoolwork). Kids tend to find their niche/friendship group.

We know plenty of children at other Bath schools, thanks to extra curricular stuff and neighbours. They all seem to be good schools

I would say that a handful of kids swap between Bath £ schools each year. They can usually make space. As a Uni city, there is a lot of movement into/out of classes in all years.

Having had gallons of tea/coffee/wine with other parents, and knowing plenty of kids at the other schools in Bath, I think every child has a different experience at any school, even down to a specific class/teacher.

Visit the schools, talk to the staff and pupils (figure out how much boarding/weekend school/long holidays you want).

If you don't plan to live an easy walk away, look at their transport plans.

So interesting to hear about both Kingswood and KES. It seems both are great schools and it's a matter of working out which one is better suited to one's DC?

Really helpful to know that traffic can be nightmare. We were thinking of re-locating to somewhere north of Bath. Is that a really bad idea, or is it OK if the children get the bus because the buses can go in the lanes?

You aren’t just going to be going to the school during drop off and pick up - there will be matches and parents evening and also seeing friends.
I would opt for Kingswood if you are going North. The slightly higher fees will be written off by less spent on fuel (and less adding to pollution problems in city!)

One of the biggest differences between the schools from our perspective was that KES is a day school (so finishes at 4pm, though kids might be at school from 8am-5:30/6pm some days) with a few fixtures and rehearsals etc at weekends. Kingswood is much more orientated to Boarders (about 20-25% of pupils), with the senior school day being 8:20am-5:30pm (not sure how long they have to be at school on Saturdays). Flexi boarding might be attractive for you, too?

As others have said, there is quite a bit of after-school activity (be it school trips/fixtures/concerts/plays), so it is a lot easier if you live close to your chosen school.

All the schools in Bath are good. It is just a question of finding the school that works for you. A bright, enthusiastic child will thrive in any of them.

My DC are day pupils at a school that has boarding at the moment, so they're used to the long days! Do they have lessons on Saturday mornings at Kingswood?

If we lived, in Yate say, would the traffic be OK for us to get to Kingswood within half an hour?

Good to know that both schools seem to be well respected in Bath. My DC are very musical and academic, but I think I'm inclined to go with whichever school isn't a nightmare to get to!

@Chocalata Very good point about not only needing to go to the school at drop of and pick up times!

@BearBirdBaboon
Have you visited Yate? Not sure what kind of area you are looking for but might not be quite what you are after. How near to Bristol do you need to be?
There are some lovely villages. Marshfield, Dyrham, great Somerford.
Also Luckington, Acton Turville, Sherston are all served by a Royal High / Kingswood bus I think. If you want to live out in that area there is also Westonbirt senior - music good but fairly poor academics.
If you do want Yate maybe look at Chipping Sodbury.

I think you’d be pushing your luck with that journey. Bristol schools would be easier and may have buses.

@Chocalata
We've never been to Yate! Thank you for the suggestions - are they all within about half an hour of Bath during rush hour?

We have no real desire or need to be near Bristol.

I looked at Westonbirt Senior, but they already have a waiting list for Y9 entry 2023, so that's no good for one of my DC.

If you want to be half an hour I would look at Marshfield, Luckington, Sherston, Dyrham.
There isn’t much on the market at the moment as there was a mass influx from cities post covid and properties are selling at inflated prices.