Canterbury pre-prep: Kings, St Edmunds or Kent College

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Hoping for some advice or perhaps just insight about these schools. We are moving to Canterbury from London (although will still be commuting to London for work). We are looking at nurseries for my son, almost 3. I really like the idea of continuity (at least until 11) so have been looking at the local private school nursery and pre-pre set up. We’ve seen Kings and KC. Going to St Ed’s soon. Loved Kings but the nursery hours aren’t great. KC was nice but felt a bit chaotic.

I would be grateful for any views from parents whose children are at/have been at those schools for nursery and pre-prep.

I’m really feeling the pressure of having to make such a big decision when we’ve no idea what kind of person my son is going to be!

Junior kings and nursery are absolutely lovely, the staff are amazing

Kings is far more academic than either KC or St Eds. St Eds more musical and good for SEN, as is KC from what I hear. It depends what direction you want for your child. There are other private schools not too far away that get more "in between" results - there is a large gap in the league tables between Kings and KC then St Eds. If you want grammar for Senior school you may want to ask each school about whether they help with 11+ and how many proceed to Langton Boys etc. Both Langton Grammars have better GCSE results than KC and St Eds.

Thinking on it, you may want to look at New House for nursery - they seem to have a good rep for getting the best out of kids (well dd went to school with a few and they seemed to be quite switched on in Y1 of Primary at any rate!).

Thanks very much. We are looking at nearby schools as we will both still be working in London at least 3 days a week each (no idea how we are going to do this, by the way).

The hours nursery is available for is therefore a key consideration (and this is where Kings falls down, for us).

I’m not sure that I know whether he’s going to be academic, yet. He’s a bright toddler, but I have no way of knowing where might suit him.

I loved the sound of St Ed’s (and grew up in the area - so know some people who went there and were all thoroughly decent people) until I looked at the academic results.

@dancingsands have you had children there? How do the nursery hours work in practice? The answer they gave us when we visited was a bit woolly.

Hi! I was actually in this exact position about four years ago when I moved out to Faversham area with my husband and kids. We were looking at these exact schools for a then nine and six year old when we stumbled across a tiny school around 15 minutes out of Canterbury. It’s a private primary in a small village called painters forestal. There are only about 100 kids and it has some of the best teachers around, so supportive to the kids especially when hormones start to hit. It’s called Lorenden Prep School and it’s absolutely lovely. The teachers know all of the kids personally and it has great facilities despite its size. I know it’s not on your list and you’re probably looking for somewhere with a secondary attached (as we’re we) but I promise you it’s worth a look. Have a nice day xx