12 year old son starting King's Ely, Year 8, Sept 2017. Commute from Cambridge?

[NewTownDweller51]

Hi there,

My son is starting at King's Ely this Sept in Year 8. I'd love to get to know other mums with kids in Year 8.

Specifically, I'm a bit worried about the commute. I wonder if there are any other Year 8 kids taking the train from Cambridge to Ely with whom my son could pal up with?

We're renting central Cambridge (when we find a place!). Do people let their kids just cycle to the train station and get the train themselves?

Obviously, we will take him to the train station for a while - but if he could travel on the train with a new friend that would be fab.

SOOOO grateful for any advice!

I don't have children so can't help with the friends bit, but I do know a variety of people who've sent their children to King's Ely. And yes, cycling to the station alone is normal, from about year 5 or 6, depending on where they start from, obviously. I'm impressed at how quickly they get used to taking the train, reading timetables, knowing what to do if things go wrong ,etc. They quite quickly found other children from the school on the train because of uniforms, and then chose whether to travel together or not. The walk from the station to the school in Ely was fairly straightforward, and either done in groups or separately. Lots of different possible trains to get, and they learned easily which ones they would try to catch, what the next one was, which ones were fastest, etc. It really seemed to make them grow up quickly (the children I know tended to join in year 5 or 6).

Thanks Citycentre! I appreciate it!

There are quite a group of kids who reverse commute and a few also get on the train at Waterbeach. You see them all going up Back Hill in dribs and drabs too. I am sure your DS will soon spot others in uniform and even if there are none in his actual year group he'll make "train friends"!

Thanks Allthebest...

I'm sure I have seen a King's minibus at Ely station in the mornings but I have also seen lots walking up Fore Hill. They do seem to stick together which is nice, it should be an easy commute.

Hi, my daughter is joining King's Ely but in Year 10.
We have just moved here 1 month ago having lived in Asia for 20 years, so it's a big transition for the whole family. We don't know anyone in the area yet. At our previous school there was a bakery on campus where the parents could meet up after drop off or pick up, so it was easy for newcomers to meet other parents, I'm just wondering if there is anything like this at King's?
I'd love to get to know other mums.

Hi Cheekychick,
We decided not to send our son to Kings Ely in the end because we will be living in Cambridge and didn't want him to commute so chose a school in the city instead. However, I'm new to Cambridge and would be very happy to meet up! I'll be down at the end of August so pm me and we can compare notes as newcomers!

Sorry for jumping in, but I'm also new to Cambridge after 9 years in Hong Kong. Would love to meet up too.

Fab, Bonkers - let's pm each other at the end of the month and meet up! There's another woman who is moving into Cambridge from abroad at about the same time as I am, so will message her and we can have a new to Cambridge posse thing going on...

Hi ladies, would love to meet up with you both!
BonkersinHonkers, I wasn't in HK was in Thailand but was just in Honkers in May and have many friends who lived there. I live outside Cambridge , I'm in the sticks but happy to travel in 😊
Let's keep in touch

I guess I can be included in the coming from abroad since I'm moving from Scotland!!!

Hello, Hope you don't mind me re-igniting this old thread! We are also planning a move to Cambridge. I wondered how easy (or otherwise!) you found it to make a new life there, and if there are any schools you would recommend (for boys - but we want co-ed). Thanks!