St Faith's Prep vs St John's College Schools

[Daisy812]

DS is at St John's College Schools Cambridge and it's ok, I wouldn't say that it's amazing. The teacher is good but we had problems with bullying, don't think that there is much of a community, there is no parking which makes pick-ups very stressful and the schools could be a bit cleaner (DS classroom is clean but others areas are a bit scruffy). We are considering St Faith's Prep, what are your experiences with the schools? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Are they any good at providing extra support? How about the emotional wellbeing of the kids? Thanks a million

I don't know anything about St Faith's but did have a couple of DCs at St John's College School. Communication at St John's used to be good but seems to have gone downhill. In particular, I've found it difficult to get accurate feedback on my DCs' academic progress - instead of having actual marks, the school reports use skill descriptors such as 'Emerging', 'Developing' etc but these say nothing about where the child is relative to the peer group's expected level. I've generally had very little colour on what progress testing/assessment goes on in the classroom. Teachers don't disclose test results readily, and whenever I've asked, they've been reluctant to let me look at my DCs' marked test/exam scripts. Maybe they do this to protect the children's feelings or to avoid excessive competitiveness in the classroom but ultimately it's counter-productive as learning issues can end up being hidden from parents for a long time.

This lack of transparency means that the preparation for senior school 13+ exams is rather poor, which I found especially surprising for a prep school. The only time when I felt my DC got solid feedback was from Year 8 mock exams after the October half-term. Given most 13+ exams take place the following January, that doesn't leave much time to address any learning gaps. I've been left with the impression that the school doesn't set much by way of expectations or goals for the children, other than perhaps for those aiming for big name public schools or for those whom the school considers to be bright/promising. All this is complicated by the fact that the teacher responsible for managing the transition to senior schools is the headmaster's wife and I've heard a couple of parents say that they find it awkward to complain or raise concerns with the headmaster because of the potential conflict of interest.

It's a bit of a shame because I used to think St John's had a very good environment for children. Unfortunately, the school doesn't seem to manage so well when the academics become a bit more serious. I had always thought that the main point of a prep school was to prepare students to move to senior school but the lack of proper process at St John's around senior school transition has frankly been a bit of a let-down.