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Original poster

Primary School suggestions - Cambridge?!

13 replies

jojoMD · 20/01/2014 20:11

Hi - We are moving to Cambridge in the next few months and will be transferring our reception age son to a new primary school. I desperately need advice on what primary schools to consider with regard to looking for a house in catchment. We currently live in a leafy 'villagey' district of a city and looking for similar. He is quite a sensitive 5 year old so really hoping to get him into a school that suits him...

Thanks ahead for your time,

OP posts:
RandF · 23/01/2014 12:50

hi
We've just made a similar move before christmas and my 5 year old had to move into year one. Its worth phoning a lot of schools as not all have places, this was the main driver for us when deciding where to live. We ended up in Fulbourn as they had a place and there was a nursery near by with a place for my 20 mth old. So far so good, he's settled well and I think they are a lot more adaptable and resilient than we think. A lot of the villages we looked at had small schools which would be perfect if your son is a little sensitive, they won't be over powering. All the schools were really approachable. The council weren't that helpful and wouldn't tell us which schools had places as they said things changed on a daily basis which is fair enough.
I believe there are lots of good private schools too but we didn't really look into these.
Hope this helps

northofcambridge · 23/01/2014 21:11

I do think that the primary schools in general are very good in Cambridge - there is a fair amount of turn over in my experience

northofcambridge · 23/01/2014 21:12

oh and we moved my DS in reception and it was fine - we moved to Milton - Milton village not Milton Rd and its been great - and had places!

Original poster
jojoMD · 23/01/2014 22:19

Thanks very much for your responses. I have heard that the standard of education in Cambridge is high, which is a good start! We have looked at a house today in the Hills Road area with afew good catchment schools. I am counting on there being a turn over so hopefully allow our boy to get in in September to our closest school, Morley Memorial. Any other tips would be gratefully received.

OP posts:
northofcambridge · 26/01/2014 14:04

My other tip is that if you are renting the LA will accept a signed tenacey agreement as proof of residence - or at least they did for us - so as soon as you have that you can apply for a place. Also moving at the end of reception year as opposed to start of Y1 is no bad thing it worked for us

wrestlingalligators · 27/01/2014 19:27

We moved to a village just south of the city midway through Reception, and my son transferred to Stapleford school - it's a lovely village school, he's settled in amazingly and we're really pleased with it.

We also looked at the Hills Road area, but went for the villages in the end as only 7 mins in by train from Shelford station.

mynameisnt · 02/02/2014 15:46

Both my youngest have been to/at at Morley. Very trendy ,very popular and we are quite happy!

Original poster
jojoMD · 03/02/2014 12:20

Thanks mynameisnt! I went to visit Morley a week ago and thought it was a lovely school. We almost pulled out of the house but had a crisis of catchment area houses so have decided to stay with it as it comes so highly recommended. Any other tips about the school/area would be appreciated!

OP posts:
mynameisnt · 03/02/2014 12:41

The recent Ofsted was 'good' but the main issue was that the brighter children aren't stretched enough. I would agree with this to be honest dd(of course Wink) is in the top 5% of her class, and does struggle with the mainstream work, however, they do 'stream' for certain subjects. She is in year 3. DS was very average when he started there and this was picked up - he consequently did extremely well, leaving with 5's and 4a's. Pastorally it's good, although some teachers are better than others - dd has a 'hidden' disability and her year 2 teacher was onto it straight away - this year we have had to plug away for her teacher to take notice to be honest

The head is good, although i don't find him particularly approachable - that could just be me though. On the whole, a lovely school, with super polite and confident students and a great feel.

Original poster
jojoMD · 16/02/2014 09:23

Thankyou, at this point, my main aim is for a friendly, inclusive environment that will make the transition easier for my son to move into. Morley certainly had a friendly feel to it, staff were all smiley and communicative and, as you say, the children appeared confident and articulate. I really like the informal 'no uniform' policy too as his current infant school in Norwich does not have a uniform. Do you know if there are any clubs/groups in the area for boys to make some local friends?!

OP posts:
milkcookies · 16/02/2014 09:29

You may want to also look into the new primary school that Cambridge university plans to open.

There is also a new primary school opening in the new huge development being built in trumpington. Worth looking into that too.

Original poster
jojoMD · 16/02/2014 21:37

Just had a look at the proposal for the University of Cambridge primary school - looks good, lucky kids!

OP posts:
mynameisnt · 19/02/2014 11:04

Not too sure about boys clubs to be honest. I know some of Molly's boy class mates do various martial arts type classes, but not sure where they are Grin

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