Junior kings, Kent College, St Edmunds Canterbury

[askingneverhurt]

Hello parents

Does anyone have personal experience of Junior kings, St Edmunds or Kent College in Canterbury in terms of children from different financial background mixing?

Please don’t say children don’t know who has money, because they do: size of house, being collected by a nanny/child minder etc.

A co worker had to take her child out of private school as she was bullied terribly because she only had a 4 bed room house!!! RIDICULOUS I KNOW

Thank you x

Having done the St Eds entrance process, I would say is a diverse mix, some moved down from London to live near the coast, middle-class professional people, Drs from Local hospitals, and a bit of old money. Bear in mind St Eds until recently educated all of the choristers for Canterbury and was set up for children of the Clergy, so they have a good mix of bursary students.

Kings appears to be more boarding and international but I can't comment beyond that.

That you so much for your reply. Very helpful and reassuring.

I live in walking distance from all three of them and the local children who I know are certainly not from super wealthy families. Their parents are academics, doctors, other middle class professionals or in business, living in semis or not particularly extravagant detached houses. I am sure there are others, particularly international students, but plenty of families seem to live in very ordinary circumstances

My DD is involved in an activity that has a lot of Kent College kids attend. They've never seemed snobby to the Council school children, some of the Grammar pupils are far worse.

Thank you all for your replies.
really grateful.

Hello there, my children are at Junior Kings having previously been in the state sector. As you’d expect at a fee paying school there are wealthy families there, and some children arrive in very smart cars and go on wonderful overseas holidays, but this is by no means every family and I’ve never come across any money / privilege-related bullying. There is a large international element especially in years 7 and 8, which adds to the sense of there being children from a wide range of backgrounds, cultural and financial. It’s a very busy school full of character and a strong sense of belonging - a really lovely context for forming strong friendships.

Thank you very much.

Very helpful.

I guess this is too late now but I will still post for the sake of other parents considering St Edmunds Canterbury. The teachers are not that great and no discipline in the classrooms after paying so much fees. If you are looking for a school which will give your child value added academic progress, this is not your school.

At parents evening you are rushed and the school does not have any helpful solutions for the feedback given.

in respect to boarding, there are too many compulsory exeat weekends that might not be good for international students.

To me it's just a money hub and the school does not do much for the children. my 2 cents

@astengo I take it you don't recommend St Edmunds correct?

Depends on what you are looking for but it's not so academic

Hello

Your post is not too late(we haven’t moved to Canterbury yet or applied to schools) and thank you for your contribution.

very insightful.

Not sure if you're looking for an all through school but have you considered Spring Grove - nearer ashford but depends where you're moving to in Canterbury.

Our son is at Kent College, so feel free to DM me if you have any questions. We're extremely happy with them, and academically our son (year 4) is doing very well. We think it's the least snobbish private school in Canterbury, but that's just our opinion of course :)

@KentishMama that is so lovely to hear.
thank you for your offer of DM-ing you 🤗

Hello again all

We’ve now seen all the schools mentioned.

Can anyone tell me what the entrance tests are like for the schools for a child entering year 7, is it the standard paper ISEB test?

thank you 🙏

I think it’s best to get admissions test information directly from the schools, as these things do sometimes change, so it’s best to get up-to-date information direct.

It sounds like you’ve done all your visiting already, but you might like to know there’s an open day at Junior Kings this Saturday (12 Oct) and the admissions team will be there to answer any questions.

Best of luck for the next steps!

Hello parents

Does anyone know if parents pay extra for after schools clubs at Kent College or are they included in the fees, also lunch, is that included in the fee too?

thank you

We’re currently in the process of moving our children from St Edmund's, so I wanted to share our experience for balance.

There are certainly things the school does well on the surface - lovely grounds, small class sizes, some nice staff - but unfortunately we’ve found the overall culture to be quite exclusionary if you don’t fit a certain mould. As a "working-class" family, we’ve felt increasingly pushed out over time, and attempts to raise concerns (particularly around bullying and safeguarding) were either brushed off or not taken seriously.

One example: at a recent classroom drop-in, our children and I were placed in a side room away from the rest of the class and other families. When I raised how isolating that was, it was dismissed without any real reflection. There’s also been an ongoing issue with another child bullying ours (their mum is head of the PTA and best mates with the Headteacher's wife), which the school has failed to address meaningfully. Feedback about teaching standards and basic errors (like incorrect spellings being sent home for 5-year-olds) was either ignored or met with defensiveness.

We also had concerns around photo permissions not being respected, our children’s images were shared publicly multiple times despite us clearly opting out.

When we tried to speak to the Junior School about our older child potentially joining, we were ignored - perhaps not coincidentally, the head is married to one of the parents who made it clear they “don’t want families like ours” at the school.

Ultimately, it’s become clear we’re not welcome, and we’ve decided to move our children to Kent College, where we hope they’ll be valued and supported properly.

Every family’s experience is different, but if inclusion, safeguarding, and respectful communication matter to you, I’d proceed with caution.

After school clubs are included in the fees.

A friend of ours went to St Edmunds from state primary in year 7. Really enjoyed it. He's very sporty but not at all academic. It was a financial stress for the parents to pay the fees so I can't believe everyone is loaded.

Thank you for responding.

I’m sorry you and your family have had this experience. I truly hope you have a better experience at Kent College 🙏

Thank you sheep73

Hello

thanks for taking the time and trouble to respond. It’s really good news that after the school activities are included in the fees. 🥳

Just wanted to follow up now that we’ve made the move, our children have started at Kent College and we’re already much more impressed than we ever were at St Edmund’s.

To be fair, my eldest daughter went through St Ed’s a few years ago and had a really lovely experience. But since then, there have been significant changes in senior leadership and the overall atmosphere and standards have really declined. There’s very little academic rigour now, and it often feels like the main reason people choose the school is simply to avoid the state sector, there doesn’t seem to be much else of real value beyond that.

In contrast, Kent College has already shown itself to be far more structured, with better communication, a broader range of academic and extracurricular opportunities, and a genuinely impressive Head who seems to know exactly what the school is about and where it’s going.

It’s early days, but we’re already seeing a huge difference, and it’s a relief to feel like our children are finally in an environment where they’ll be supported and stretched, rather than just tolerated.

Hello Kent College parents

does anyone know how much the ‘buyout’ is for a laptop if you rent it over a certain period of time with Kent College? By that I mean, I know you can rent it over a certain period of time, let’s say 48 months, then you have the option to buy it, does anyone know how much they charge to buy the laptop?
It’s all very confusing to me

Thank you for your help