Year 9 entry to Cambridge secondary

[MoronikaFaceache]

Hi all,
just after some views and advice regarding in year transfer to start year 9 at a Cambridge secondary.
We are in London at the moment but moving to Milton in July.
There are a few schools that have started handling their own admissions for in year applications out of main entry point: Impington, Chesterton, Parkside.
Applications opened 6 May. So we have applied for all but Chesterton, as they are full, didn’t even get a form.
For schools that have to go through Cambridge Council, so we will be applying for St Bede’s, Comberton and Cottenham. Deadline is 9 June.
We know that the many of the local state schools are highly regarded but unfortunately also extremely oversubscribed.
So we are also considering an independent school, if we don’t get offers elsewhere.
Perse has 20 on waiting list, St Mary’s and Heritage probably waiting list. Sancton Wood has places.
If anyone has any feedback on any of the schools mentioned, we’d appreciate it. Particularly St Mary’s and Sancton Wood, as that seems most likely if no state school offer. Although DD would much prefer coed setting.
We have seen several mentions on Mumsnet re Sancton Wood, but very mixed, not sure what to make of it.

TIA

You haven't mentioned Stephen Perse or Leys as other options. North Cambridge academy as a state option is probably the closest but less middle class.
Really consider traffic and travel, especially if you want your child to travel independently. All state secondary schools in Cambridgeshire were oversubscribed in 2023 and kids in north Cambridge were initially placed miles away.

@LikeABat we already received a response from the Perse, applications are closed, and they are full, we would be #21 on the waiting list, if anyone leaves.
To be honest, The Leys would be a little out of budget.
We think we could be offered NCA due to distance, so we haven’t used it as one of our options, it isn’t one of our preferred schools.
Do you know if there has been any improvement in the last academic year re: children being allocated places miles away?

@LikeABat oh I’m so sorry I’m confusing Perse School and Stephen Perse Foundation.

The Perse schools were less confusing when it was Perse boys and Perse girls (Stephen Perse).

State schools were not quite as bad for 2025 entry overall. The main problem is a lot of new housing but no new secondary school yet.

The school allocation information for the last few years is on the county council website.

From what I hear from several sources, St Bede’s is very popular and people travel a long way to get there. Your DD would be very lucky to get a place there - read that both ways, she may not be likely to get a place, but it would be good if she did. Difficult to get there from Milton, though.

As y9 is the main point of entry for The Leys you’re probably unlikely to get a day place, which is the cheapest option.

Sancton Wood and Heritage are the less “mainstream” independent schools of the ones mentioned. Heritage is relatively new.

Heritage is very niche!
Girls are taught that they are here to spectate, not to be the spectacle.
Families have to agree to no screens at home, or did a couple of years ago.
Particular religious views.
All fine if that's your thing, but not in any way comparable to the other schools on your list!
It's also an absolute pain to get to, you'd be driving right into the centre of Cambridge every day.

So Stephen Perse ok at the moment but not the premium private school it was pre going co ed. Perse, the best academically of all the private and public school private schools locally. If you are on a waiting list for either Perse I would say your DC would have needed to do an entrance exam.

Sancton Wood and Heritage are where people who have kids at prep schools send their kids if they can't get in elsewhere. Neither have own sports facilities.

St Bede's is fabulously good but there isn't really a catchment, it's a CofE and Catholic intake. I know of several children whose parents fulfilled the regular church attendance criteria but their churches were neither CofE nor Catholic in a cohort that was a big year and they didn't get in.

North Cambridge Academy, Netherhall, Coleridge all a bit on the down curve at the moment. Chesterton highly regarded. Impington highly regarded. Parkside, manages to be a successful school and retain a good reputation but it's a tiny school that lacks facilities.

Kings School Ely - good private school alternative. Comberton good state school alternative

King’s Ely has always had a contingent travelling on the train from Cambridge. It wouldn’t be too bad to get from Milton to Cambridge North station.
The visiting music teachers I knew, who taught at various other local independent schools, said King’s Ely’s school lunches were good. 😊

Comberton is on the opposite side of Cambridge to Milton.
Any thoughts on Cottenham?

Re Heritage:
Girls are taught that they are here to spectate, not to be the spectacle.
Families have to agree to no screens at home, or did a couple of years ago.
Oof! I hadn’t heard that before. Grim.

Re Heritage - it was 2015 when we met the head there when investigating schools in Cambridge. It was so utterly weird that we ran for the hills and could not leave the building quick enough. DC went to St Bede's and met a fair few kids from Heritage at Christian youth groups. One person he knew suffered bad bullying there

Wow, thanks for all your thoughts.
Yes, having researched a bit more I don’t think we will be pursuing SW or Heritage. Have just completed application for St Mary’s, we also went to their Open House event, and everyone was lovely, gave us a lot of time.

Yes, if anyone has any feedback re Cottenham, that would be great - we don’t know much about it, just looks like a fairly

generic academy, not sure what their strengths are?

As IVC is our only catchment school, just wondering what our chances would be, it would be our first choice really, and ticks all the right boxes for us.

Cottenham VC is part of Astrea MAT which had some bad press in relation to their policies at St Ivo and their two schools in St Neots. IVC more highly regarded though.You would need to take them there as no safe cycle route and bus 8 from Cambridge/Histon unreliable and infrequent.
Another option if DC is keen on science is CAST which is yr 9 and up. It's near Addenbrookes/Long Rd 6th.

CAST wound be really long way from Milton and one route is across town. I would say the reputation is improving but still not great.

Cottenham Village College is awful. I went there 30 years ago when it was ok and it’s got considerably worse each year since then.
We moved so our DC wouldn’t be in the catchment.
A friend is now homeschooling her DS as he suffered such awful bullying there and made himself ill because he refused to use the toilets because they were full of kids vaping and the teachers did nothing about it….

Kings Ely has plenty of pupils coming in by train from Cambridge, and also coaches too, if you are looking at the independent route. Their sports and music offerings are very good, and have just been inspected with good results.

Year 9 entry for perse is tricky as they only take one form and extra spaces available . There would be lot of movement to hills road after GCSE's so Perse 16+ is there too. If you aim Hillroad for A levels , then avoid private, and have tutor and state schools ?

@GotToWearShades I am very pleased with Netherhall for my children- they have needed and gor excellent pastoral care and one in particular has made superb progress. Too far for the OP daily through Cambridge traffic I would think, although if you are travelling to St Bede's it is not much different, I guess.

Glad to hear it's on the up again. It was the best secondary in Cambridge for many years and the only one in the city with a sixth form after schools went comprehensive. Are they still in same academy as Botisham?

St Bede's have school buses.

Entry to Perse is tricky at year 7 too because of entrance exams etc. Regarding their waiting list - we had friends who never got to the top of it. Was in a very big year

It has 80 places available at year 7 entry , and for year 9 only 30 or less.

There are enough schools for year 7 entry and so the places for any one really wanted to get in. My child is starting year 7 from this september too.

Yes, because it's a private grammar school style school not a traditional independent served by traditional prep schools. The year 9 intake is chiefly from prep schools whose families wanted Perse as a follow on rather than Leys or other public schools. At The Leys, there is a small intake at yr 7 and a larger one at yr 9. Some if the yr 9s will have done an entrance exam in yr 6 at the feeder school to secure a yr 9 place.

If Impington is your catchment and you can get a place, you’ll be fine, it’s a great school. St Bede’s and Chesterton both utterly amazing but you’d be extremely unlikely to get a place in y9 - they are both full and I don’t thing anyone ever leaves.

Glad other people have said to give Heritage a swerve - it’s weird as all get out and I don’t know how they make the finances work given their size. Sancton Wood is part of a chain now owned by private equity or some such these days - don’t think it’s worth the cash as most of the state options are strong. I would say the same about St Mary’s, too.

@LikeABat did you you mean no 8 bus to cottenham? I believe there would be school bus to IVC, and we should qualify for bus pass if we have a place?
yes travel options certainly is a tricky one, as we would need her to travel independently, and in a new city.
@DeafLeppard any insight into St Mary’s? We have now applied for a place and waiting to set a date for assessments. They were very welcoming. DD might even get over the single sex aspect! They didn’t seem as academic/pushy as Perse or Stephen Perse, but seemed to have a balanced approach to get the best results. They do say they take a broader range of abilities.

Yes. Bus 8 goes between Cottenham and Cambridge via Histon/Impington. The village colleges have school buses for their catchment villages.

@MyCousinDaphne glad to hear your good experience of Netherhall. i heard from another parent there were direct buses from Milton to that part of town, would you know if that’s the case? I see probably one could go to the drummer st station and change there?

I hear good things about St. Mary's from parents - it seems grounded and more down to earth than the Perse, but several of the Cambridge city state schools have (considerably) better academic results. So I'm not sure I'd pay thousands of pounds per term just for a nicer environment and some better extracurriculars. The girls can be a mixed bag, based on our (admittedly limited) interactions with them at sports fixtures.