Primary schools in central Cambridge - help!

[anaburman]

Hi all,

We are moving to Cambridge in July and I wonder if anyone could help me out narrowing primary schools in CB3, CB4 or CB5. I am inclined to C of E schools and at the moment the only one with spaces is St. Luke's. The Ofsted report says it needs improvement. Does anyone have any experience with it? The past comments aren't very positive, but having said that they are a bit old (2011), so I wonder if anything has happened since then. There are also spaces in Milton Road, Arbury, Castle and Mayfield for my childrens age. I will be very thankful if anyone can help me out. I am abroad at the moment, so any feedback will be very appreciated.

I don't have first hand experience and haven't read the Ofsted reports for the schools you mention but having lived in Cambridge for a very long time I can tell you that from "hearsay" that out if those Milton Road and Mayfield are the two primaries with a very good reputation and are often oversubscribed. St Lukes used to be one of the few primaries in Cambridge with a bad reputation but things may have changed in the last few years.
Sorry I can't be of more help but hopefully someone else will know more than me!

Hi anaburman,

St Luke's is a brilliant school with great kids and lovely parents. I'm not entirely sure of this bad reputation it had. Maybe all these schools have had a reputation at one point in their time. There are parents at the school now who went there themselves...

A new head has been in place at the school for 18 months. Most parents are very positive about what he is doing at the school

All of the schools you mention are now, I think, 'oversubscribed' for reception and some years in those schools also have waiting lists.

If you want, you can use the dfe website to look at the schools performance and make up:

www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/search.pl?searchType=postcode&postcode=cb4+3he&distance=1&phase=all

Numbers for FSM for instance could give you an indication of the social make up of the school. However, this won't tell you the whole story. All of the schools you mention will have kids at them whose parents teach at the university.

I would suggest that you visit all the schools you mention if you can. You'll be able to figure out which school is best for your child's needs. All of them feed into Chesterton.

Castle is a school for children with special educational needs.

Hope this helps. Contact me if you need more info.

Trying not to out myself...

Everyone I know who has children at St Luke's is happy with it. It suffers a bit from having a very transient clientele but as its reputation improves that may settle down. Arbury has a fantastic reputation currently. The head is dynamic and it has gone from being considered a poor school in a possibly less 'naice' area to a very good one, albeit with slightly tatty buildings. Milton Rd is a good school. It might rest on its laurels a bit, but it's a happy place with excellent space and facilities. Mayfield is also good. It had a bumpy Ofsted a couple of years ago (if you set much store by such things) but is well regarded now. Castle School is a special school. There will be nice children and friendly parents in every one of those schools so it might be a case of going for a visit to get a feel for the schools. Where are you going to be living?

Just wondering what reasons you have for preferring a C of E school? (Not being nosy, it might help us help you!) If it's for religious reasons, you could also look at St Paul's Primary in central Cambridge. If it's because you've been told that behaviour might be better in a religious school, I don't think you need to worry too much about any of the schools you have cited.

I live in CB3 and after not getting our first 3 choices - have just been offered a place at Barton Village school which is CofE. I'd rather be able to walk to school so we are appealing but if your priority is CofE then you might be happy to do a school run in a car? A friend does do this journey by bike from CB3 and it takes her 20mins.

It's a 9 minute drive out to Barton from CB3 - they are about to get a new head & have an 18 in take this year. The school has 107 pupils. Got a very village school feel.

Thank you very much for all your posts. I am 4 hours behind you and trying to organise a move from the other side of the world, so I have been a bit slack with checking the posts. I do appreciate all the responses and certainly is helping us. We are committed church goers, so we'd favor a C of E school, but I am sure we'd be happy with any schools we feel it is right for our children. I will keep you posted and hopefully we will find something soon enough. Again, thank you everyone for your kind answers.

I know a family of churchgoers, and their children go to the Heritage School. It's small, central and private. Don't know if private is an option for you, but I don't think it's as expensive as some and they seem pretty happy. Otherwise, definitely look at St Paul's too, if you haven't yet got fixed accommodation. The secondary that practising C of E families tend to like is St Bede's, so if you want to think further ahead you might want to be nearer that side of town anyway. Just a thought.

Thank you orchardy for your reply and suggestion. At the moment going private isn't really an option for us, but things might change in the future. I will def inquire about St. Paul's. I heard good things about St. Bede's and secondary school is not a too far choice for us...
My husband heard that maybe a village school is also a good option. We haven't made any living arrangements. Personally I'd prefer living in the city to start with. Has anyone got any thoughts on that?
Again thank you for your replies and comments. Ana xxx

I expect people will have different views on city over village depending on their preferences, but as an international family I suspect your children would integrate very easily in the city schools. My son's class in one of the schools you have already mentioned has more children whose native tongue is not English than those for whom it is, and yet it's a high achieving year group and the international feel is something we really value.

That said, as another poster has said, some of the village primaries are C of E, so that gives you more choices if you don't find what you want in the city. Where will you or your partner be working? Do you want to be able to commute on foot or by bike, or are you happy to be further out? Do you know Cambridge? It's a great place to bring up a family. Will you get a chance to visit before you arrive or will you have to organise everything when you get here? Let us know if you need info about other aspects of living here.

My children were in a non- church primary and then in a C of E primary. In the non-church primary, the head was a committed Christian, there was a weekly visit from a local minister and it felt quite "Churchy". In the CofE primary the Head wasn't a Christian and it felt less "Churchy" than their old school. So just because a school is notionally a C of E school, doesn't necessarily mean there will be a more Christian emphasis than in other schools. What I would say, ime, is that village schools, whether CofE or not, will have lots to do with their local Church because the Church is part of the village iyswim. In both village schools my dc attended, they spent time in the local parish church for Harvest assemblies, Christmas and Easter celebrations, and various other activities.

Tbh, most of the primary schools in Cambridge City are very good. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Have you considered St Albans Catholic School? I've heard very good things about it

I've just heard that 11 children in Newnham (CB3) didn't get into the local school and are going to the CofE village school in Barton (10 min drive away) - so you can live in the City and go to the village school.