Cottenham Village College and Bottisham Village College

[Cornflake9]

Hello, we are looking to move to Cambridge and our daughter is in secondary year 9. There are spaces in Year 9 at Cottenham Village College and Bottisham Village College. Does anyone have experiences of either school? Would be very much appreciated! Thank you!

Personally I would avoid Cottenham Village College but it’s a matter of what you prefer. If you google the academy chain you will see they are part of the Astrea Academy Trust which has a bad reputation. It’s only been Astrea within the last 5 years or so (maybe more) and the academy chain seems to have a punative approach to discipline. They have a points system where students cans acquire negative points for minor things like not wearing a blazer in class on a hot day, or not having a pen. Conversely, Bottisham has a reputation for being a friendly and welcoming school. It depends what you want. I would suggest that you visit the schools if you can but bear in mind that CVC and Astrea have a very Victorian approach to education and that some children don’t enjoy it. I don’t think that Astrea particularly value the arts either and they struggle to recruit STEM teachers and keep them. This is my personal view obviously!