King's College School in Cambridge

[xuannao]

We are thinking to move to the independent schools in Cambridge. DD Yr5 and DS Yr3 next year. After school visit of the Perse, Stephen Perse and Kings College School, our preference school is King's College School in west road Cambridge. Talking to the headmaster it sounds quite positive both kids can get through the entrance exams. However a few questions that I am hoping I can get some opinions here

1. I recently heard kids in KCS normally come from rich family compare to the Perse or Stephen Perse. Is that true? We are scrimping and saving to send both kids to private and we wont have much to spare if they both start the private, would our kids fit in KCS just fine?
2. DH and I both working, I am working PT so there are two days of the week we are struggle to do the school run. We are thinking to relocate to the village in south Cambridge. What's the best area to move that are convenient for school mini bus or car sharing?

I know this is an old thread but some of you seem to have commented recently and have children at these schools.
Our DS has a place for reception at Perse, Kings and St Johns and i'm struggling to make a decision. Gizmo I'd be interested to know how you choose one school for one of your DC and the other for the other? What are the main difference between them in your opinion?
I've heard great things about both from parents who send their kids there

Hi Ceng, is that Perse Prep? I'm afraid I'm not very familiar with them...my two older kids went through a state primary before going to Perse Upper.

On Perse Upper vs KCS I guess I might have to fall back on that old chesnut that it's about the fit of the school for the child. And everyone's experience is different!

But if your DC is really interested in his school subjects then I would recommend Perse Upper over KCS. We've always found them to be very organised, very responsive, genuinely concerned to support individual children in a really meaningful way.

Meanwhile DC3 joined KCS in year 7 and I'm getting good vibes and nice words but rather hit and miss delivery (for example DC3 appears to have gone through some sort of learning assessment recently. I was not informed when it would happen, nor have I had any feedback about the results from it, despite three emails).

In the older year groups it is also - surprisingly - a much higher workload than that at Perse Upper. DC2 - at Perse Upper - gets about 25% less prep than DC3 and is quite vocal that they think DC3 is being overworked.

That said, KCS have been really effective in helping DC3 with a substantial post COVID learning deficit, so I have to give them credit for that! And I don't mean to imply they're not a kind and supportive environment, just that the actual delivery isn't as accurate as Perse Upper.

They are nice schools but local state primary provision is so good we didn't bother for prep in the end, even though we had a place at KCS and it looked very friendly. We recently pulled one of ours out of Stephen Perse South Form. We weren't happy with teaching there - it was really monotonous, exam factory stuff in the subjects he was studying. DS did make some good friends while he was there, though, and they are still in touch. All the families at both schools were quite well-to-do as far as I could tell.

Surprised about the well to do at Stephen Perse. It’s always been more of an academic school/private grammar type setting as opposed to minor public school type place

@ceng
What year is your DC looking to join?

@mastertomsmum I suspect your definition of well-to-do and mine are quite different. I would postulate that by definition if you can afford nearly £20k per child per year to educate them, in this day and age, you are well-to-do! I know you have tried both private and state options in Cambridge so you already know this, but Cambridge has some very good state options and I honestly fail to see how any of the private offerings can be adding thousands of £ worth of value!

Certainly agree that state options proved better value. My most important points about the independent school route are:
Paying doesn’t give you any more say in how your child will be educated.
Small classes aren’t necessarily better.

Could people please give their feedback on secondary schools in Cambridge? Private and state and your personal experiences? I think Chesterton is the only state worth going to? Thank you.

@Dancing1234 that's quite a statement. Personally I have experience of Chesterton and IVC. Both excellent. Not perfect, because no school can be, but my DC did get a very committed and dynamic set of teachers and very good pastoral care. They also learned to value diversity (in terms of ability, socio-economic background, ethnicity, sexuality etc) and be decent human beings. Parkside, St Bedes, Netherhall also good according to friends. Coleridge was improving but is now run like a prison camp apparently which isn't much fun for staff or kids. This is anecdotal rather than first-hand by the way.

Thanks so much for the information. I have only heard first hand about Chesterton so I can’t comment on the others but this was what I was told. Thanks for the perspective and information. I had no idea there were so many other schools close by as it didn’t seem to come up in my maps, I’ll take a look. Thank you 😊

Chesterton is a very good school. Friendly too. We found St Bede’s superb. Coleridge was doing really well until a different academy trust took over. They have all the former Parkside Federation schools, so Parkside also includes strict uniform and discipline etc. Netherhall - once the best school in Cambridge in 80s/90s and earlier - is beginning a long slog back to being better.

Thank you, very good to know

Sawston is absolutely fantastic if you are towards the south of the city. DS3 is getting better teaching than DS2 got at Stephen Perse.

Keeping an eye on the future, we found Hills Road Sixth Form absolutely brilliant; DD1 went there as a refugee from sexism at the Perse School (right to the top) and immediately flourished. Much more extension and extra curricular stuff and really good at getting good speakers from the University etc.

Our DS started there in September and I agree Hills is really good. Despite having a huge number of students they look after them well and ease what can be a difficult transition from secondary

Our DS also having a great experience at Hills Road Sixth Form right now. Highly rate Comberton Village College too… he had a much better experience there compared to Stephen Perse (where we moved him from in year 8).

Why did he not like SP?

Lots of reasons but mainly we didn’t find it as caring and nurturing as the open evenings led us to believe. Not much concern over wellbeing… too much homework (felt over the top most of the time). A couple of parents at the Perse told me their children had less homework. Felt like it was all about the money.

Our son went from a happy, confident boy that lost his confidence (and grades dropped) in the time he was there and, despite talking to the school several times about this, nothing changed. He was one of the first boys in year 7 and it also felt like some teachers (not all, but some) didn't like that it had gone mixed sex and some would make comments in the all boys classes about how much better the girls classes were. We also thought the Head was pretty useless (lots of parents thought this) although he left not long after our son left. It’s shiny and new inside but still a relatively small building (understandable in the city centre but still lacks space). They use fields and courts in the surrounding area for PE but it is a bit of a trek each time. The only positive was that he had some genuinely, lovely friends there. But, in the end, we just didn’t feel we were getting any value for money when we weighed it all up and he wasn’t getting any happier.

So we took the plunge and moved him to Comberton mid year 8 (he wanted to move there too). He settled in really well and we have never had any issues there. The teaching is fantastic and we felt like the teachers genuinely cared about students. His grades went up but most importantly he was happy again. The building may not be as ‘shiny’ but the facilities/after school clubs are brilliant and the staff are amazing and caring. Whenever I have had a question or concern with any of my children I always receive a reply really quickly. I honestly couldn’t fault it and didn't hesitate to send my other two there after primary school (who are also both very happy there). Our son did well in his GCSEs and is having a great experience at Hills Road now.

We just didn’t have a great time there unfortunately but that is our personal experience and I know others whose children are happy there. It’s what suits your own child.

We're thinking of sending DS to Sawston (from Kings) so really pleased to hear this. Do you know much about the SEN provision? Did your DS transition from Kings?