St Faith's school - recent feedback please

[howdymum]

We are seriously considering St Faith's for our child. I have seen a number of threads regarding the school that have all been positive but nearly all were posted several years ago. I would love to hear any feedback from any current pre-prep parents regarding the school.

Also I like to think of us as very down to earth, professional parents - will we fit in?!?

I have several friends with children at St. Faiths and it's the only school in Cambridge that I've never hear anything bad about. To the contrary, they always rave about it. One friend said that her daughter still describes her years at st faiths as the happiest of her life.

I have a few sets of friends with kids at St Faiths. One have DS in yr2 with DS starting reception this September. They love it and very happy with choice. On the flip side, friend with two older DC who have been at school many years and they're just about to move on. She has another DC who is starting reception this September also and she is not sending him there as she feels the school has really changed since the new head joined c. 2 years ago and isn't very happy with new direction. I think only you can judge the feel of the school when you view. Despite not knowing what we were really looking for in a a school, we knew immediately which one was right for our DS - very much an instinctive reaction. St Faiths wasn't right for us but no school is right for everyone.

Ah. Well we are just moving our daughter out of St Faiths to a state school. Not because of the money but because she and we really didn't fit in. There are various reasons but Do agree that I was impressed with with the head. My daughter while doing well academically felt excluded

There are a tremendous number of good things about the school but my daughter is quirky. I think you have to fit into the St Faiths mold to work.

Argh. That is what I get for typing to type on a iPad - it should be wasn't impressed with the head. Just a feeling

The school may be right for your child regardless of our experience. I do think they are better with boys than girls. .

Londo, I'm also taking my children out of a private school and they'll go to a state school from September.
They were at Sancton Wood an awful awful school. They stayed at the same level they were at last year in both maths and English after one year of private school. They are bright children and Sancton Wood has really held them back. I am furious at the waste of money it was.
Private is not always best clearly.

Well I think having looked more at St Faiths it seems to be more of a boys school with girls. Rather than a coed school. If that makes any sense.

I hope it goes well for your children. I do know we will have less time / holiday pressure at the state school. I have my fingers crossed

We turned down a place at St Faiths, not because we thought it was not a good school, it certainly is. After a lot of discussion and debate we decided to go to our local school we wanted son to be a part of our lovely local community, not to feel different and to have friends very close. Also money was an issue for us, we could only 'just' afford it, we would not be able to afford any enrichment outside of school and I would have had to work so hard I would have barely been able to see my son. We decided that local state would be happier all round. Very individual reasons, such a personal choice.

Thanks so much for all the feedback.

I have 2 kids at St faiths and love it! They love it too. We moved from a local school because we were unhappy with having 32 kids in a class with one teacher! We went from that to a class size of 14! It has gone up and is now 18 which I feel is the top limit of acceptable for a private school. I am working full time and the early mornings are great. Lots of extracuricular sports etc and they allow kids to be kids ( climbing trees i pre-prep, playing outside rain or shine) which is what I wanted. I would highly recommend it.