Hills Rd or Long Rd better for pastoral care?

[Stillnoidea]

I know there are always threads on sixth form colleges but I was looking for more up to date experiences on Hills vs Long re pastoral support. My D has ongoing health issues which are under control presently but there is still a possibility she may miss long periods of school. Does anyone have a view as to which college would be better at supporting her - particularly as she is not always open to using support services as she doesn't want people to know!

She is very academic and wants to go to Hills but I am wondering if Long Rd might be better. Currently yr 10 so going to open evenings next week (if we can get through traffic!).

whereabouts do you live?
DS1 had a lot of mental health issues and was in Comberton Sixth Form. Their pastoral care was amazing. I would suggest you look there if it's at all feasible fro your dd to get there. It might be a good fit for her.

Not Hills! They talk about having great pastoral care but it's just too big genuinely support every individual. Also, they care very, very much about getting top grades. I wonder whether they'd even accept a student who was likely to be off for long periods.

There are LOTS of 6th form options around Cambridge. Do make the most of the chances to visit as many as possible. Is it definitely A levels she wants to do? IB at Parkside as another option? 6th form there is tiny and they are all very much looked after as individuals.

Comberton, as already mentioned, has a great reputation for caring too.

She's at Comberton currently! but fancies being in town for 6th form and I do think a change at 6th form is good. Plus not been overwhelmed with CVC support.

Darn, I was going to suggest Comberton sixth as well (and I’ve had kids at both CVC and Hills, and think the pastoral care at Comberton was far better).

Long Road... hmm, can’t answer that as the experience seems to depend on the child.

You probably need to make a separate appointment with student support at each to talk about her specific needs rather than in the melee of open day.

Darn too! but good suggestion re student support.

Also The Oakes (Netherhall) to consider, although if currently at Comberton the travel probably wouldn't be great.

Is a chat with student support likely to prejudice her application? I know it shouldn't, but is there a possibility it would? Given BOTS comment

Ask them that!

They would be in deep trouble if they admitted to being prejudiced against a student for any (non-academic) reason.

Did you get to the open day?

Thanks TIngalingle. Going tonight; Long Road tomorrow.

Ah, you can wave at my offspring, nominally ‘helping’ for the evening and not expected home for some hours. The ratio of helpers to wary-eyed year 10s tends to be quite high in some departments so it probably won’t be too taxing.

If she's academic, I recommend Hills. She might get frustrated at Long's which wouldn't be good for her health. Good luck!

Interested in what you thought. I didn’t realise until this thread that the open evening was so soon so missed it DS has decided upon CVC for sixth form (currently elsewhere out of Cambridge) but I want him to look everywhere.

I’m sure open evenings were in autumn term when older DC was looking a few years ago.

I think they were in the autumn as recently as last year, so I'm not surprised you missed them. Year 10 seems young to be looking at A-level choices.

(I nipped in to see what was going on, and it did feel a bit empty, so I think rather a lot of people weren't aware it was happening.)

Hills road will ask you to leave if you don’t cut the mustard. If you have any doubt about her ability to deal with academic pressure, I would not choose Hills Road.

Thanks all for feedback. She is determined to go to Hills and so Hills it will be, for better or worse!

Being determined that you want to go to a school or sixth form is quite a good starting point! Hope she enjoys it there.