Trumpington Community College after 3 years intake

[Hattie2323]

Does anyone have any insight into how Turmpington secondary is coming along?
Time is running out for us to make our choices and we're torn between Parkside and TCC...
The building and ethos is impressive at TCC, but I'd be interested to know how how pupils are finding it.

Our eldest is in the oldest current year there. He says "it's very strict, but stuff gets done!" I think there have been tightening up of discipline since the new head came in. The teachers we have spoken too are all knowledgeable and have been excellent at providing extension/differentiation. Lots of opportunities for extra clubs/trips etc and they get together with Parkside and Coleridge on occasion for larger things.

I've known of three children who started there in various years. They have all chosen to transfer out. Some of them found that there weren't enough children in the year group to make friends, or that the sets were limited so that those who struggled ended up with those who didn't want to work, and discipline then became an issue, etc. I don't know how the timing of any of that fits in with a new head/new ethos ,though - it's all just hearsay from people I know from a distance. The children were all those who struggled somewhat already, which might also make a difference - they had perhaps been hoping that the smaller school would make a difference in a way that it didn't (which might have been misguided expectations on their part?)

I think joining now when there are more classes of each year, and when there are several older years already, might be a more natural experience - I expect it was always a bit strange with just a small number of students of the same age

Thank you for your comments. They’re helpful. My son is bright but fidgety/slightly ADHD and I worry Parkside won’t be interested in helping if he needs extra support to get to a decent standard. They are very keen to maintain their academic output. Unfortunately that can be at the expense of pushing out kids less likely to get those all-important GCSE grades.

I was thinking TCC may be better for him as the head is vocal about support for any SEN and raising up those who need the extra input.

Interesting what you said about sets, the head said no streaming but I wonder how it works in practice. I don’t want him ending up with the naughty kids!

I like the sound of ‘it’s very strict, but stuff gets done’ !

They have a total ban on smart phones which I like a lot. Do you know if Parkside does the same?

I can’t believe I have a week to get the school application form in 😱

There's a difference between streaming and setting. I would not want my dc in a school with streams but would want sets. Melbourne VC was the only school I know of locally that used to stream - don't know if it still does.

I would visit both schools (if you haven't already) and pick the one that will suit your child best.

I'm not sure on the difference between streaming/setting? Last year they had two classes per year, it seemed roughly split into upper/lower in terms of results/ability, but this year they are completely mixed. My son was quite cross about it at the beginning of the year, mostly because he ended up in a different class to most of his friendship group. We encouraged him to look at it differently and he now speaks positively of it, saying that it gives the kids that can work faster chance to support their peers who aren't as quick, which deepens their own knowledge as well as supporting the class.

Streaming usually means a child is put into a class supposedly based on a bit, and does all lessons with that same class. So if you were 'A' stream you would do English, Maths, MFL History etc with that class.

Setting means a child is put into individual sets for each subject. So you could be set 1 for English but set 3 for Maths, set 4 for science etc. And these are regularly reviewed. My understanding is that most Cambs secondaries work on a setting model.

Ah I see. Thanks. They do have lessons in the same class for every subject, I know this definitely, as he has said about them having homework in opposite weeks to the other class. Guess we will see how it impacts this year.

Seems most Cambridge schools do indeed set but not for most subjects. They seem to set for maths and maybe science or English but mixed ability for the rest.