Abbey College, Cambridge (independent secondary school)

[ThatWasLoud]

Hi,

I wondered if anybody might know anything about Abbey College in Cambridge? It's an independent secondary school.

We are looking for somewhere that my DS could go on a very part time basis after a period EBSA following a very hard time in state secondary.

They have very kindly invited us to visit.

I just wondered if other parents might know what it's like so we can get an idea if my DS could fit there?

We had quite a bad time in the state school, so are keen to ask the right questions and make a good safe decision second time round.

https://www.abbeycambridge.co.uk/

Thanks!

A friend of mine used to teach there.

there’s a lot of international students. Pre covid very few locals (day) or English boarders.

good results and the students work hard.

not sure how it would work with ebsa - it’s basically a very very expensive international boarding school which is great if that’s what you want but I wouldn’t see it fitting in very well with any level of anxiety related problems.

There are limited options for private schools for males in Cambridge.

Perse obviously but their pastoral and or special needs support is not good (largely by intent).

Stephen Perse foundation I don’t know about.

there is also Sancton Wood and the Heritage.
we sent our son to King’s Ely and were very happy with the pastoral and other support he had.

if ebsa is an issue does he have autism/adhd? If so there are various privates that specialise in this in the area.

As pp said, basically a very expensive international boarding school. MPW would also be a possible fit and I know young people with struggles who have been well supported there. For a more ordinary school, Sancton Wood is supposed to have very good pastoral care.

@Octavia64 there're loads of private secondary options for boys in Cambridge? Perse, SPF, Leys, Santon Wood, Heritage, more specialist settings like Abbey, MPW, Holme Court for SEND. Slightly further you have school buses/train to King's Ely, Culford, Framlingham, Greshams. There is literally one private school in Cambridge that isn't an option for boys.

Thanks, yes we know about all the other private options but have had to rule them out for various reasons. Yes he has ASD and cPTSD from medical trauma, and an EHCP review imminently. Very academic though, so I don't think a special school would work. 8 GCSEs, specialising in maths, economics and computer science. Coding at approx A level standard already, and finding a school with a good CS teacher is hard.

I like King's Ely but we'd have to move house as the commute would be too long.

If Abbey know his background and have invited you, it's worth a look, and I'd add mpw as well. Maybe think for both about things he might do socially outside college. Good luck.

I just mainly wondered if you might know what the teaching is like at Abbey College. I wondered if anybody had been there.

Thanks, yes we'll take a look. MPW isn't going to work. We tried that.

Sorry, I don't have pedsonal experience but hopefully someone else will be along who does. It is a very international, hard working group, there to get results, and the results are good.

Thanks, that's good to know.

Not sure from your post if he already has GCSEs and you are looking for a level or whether you are looking for GCSEs.

if a level then consider Cambridge maths school. Comberton sixth have also supported a number of students I know of with ASD.

teaching - as I say one of my friends (Oxford mathmetician) taught at abbey for a number of years. They had multiple maths and further maths a level classes which she was very qualified to teach.

Thanks were really just interested in Abbey.

It's really good to know that they have qualified maths teachers. That's really very much the sort of thing that we're looking for.

Just going into year 10 right now.

Do you think they are very pushy? We are looking for solidly competent teaching without pressure, and that's a super hard thing to come by.

Pushy is largely in the eye of the beholder.

in my experience (I’m a maths teacher) students with ASD who like maths/coding tend to be at the higher end of the ability spectrum and so are more likely to be complaining about how slow the course is going (at gcse) rather than how pushy the teacher is.

what previous maths/coding extra curricular has he done? Are we talking junior maths challenge/through to kangaroo/olympiad?

very very few schools teach coding/computer science effectively. The gcse and the a level are aimed at non-obsessive normal people.

if he actually wants to learn to code/develo his coding school is largely a waste of time he’s better off doing coding challenges or similar or getting on GitHub and starting writing.

this might be useful if he’s not already doing it.

https://brilliant.org/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=search&utm_term=176116544298_how%20to%20code_CTG_Computer_Science_Coding_Learn&utm_content=724143265656_&utm_campaign=22250716739_Mixed_Search_Category_AllNonMath_RoW_LOHP&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22250716739&gbraid=0AAAAADwPohVkktS5_P9b_di8blVqqXJ5c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIk_ny47LBjQMVc5JQBh0NjgC-EAMYASAAEgL10_D_BwE

Thanks, it's kind of you to chip in. I'm just looking for those with experience of Abbey College really.

I’ve read all the posts on this thread so far, and agree with this post of Octavia64.

I taught at Abbey very many years ago when it was just starting up, and have two friends who worked there for quite a few years each, but who have both left in the last couple of years for good reasons unrelated to Abbey.

I don’t see how what I understand as going to school very part-time will fit in with their offer.

The thing you have to understand about this sort of establishment is that their exam results are of prime importance to them, that’s what they sell themselves on. They give them near the top on the first page of their website. I’m not saying it’s not important to other independent schools, and all high-achieving schools, but those schools and colleges will also talk about other things that they offer.

Their grades are given as a percentage of all grades, so one low-achieving student can affect this. Will they fully support someone who perhaps can’t be in school following a full timetable for their subject(s), without putting too much pressure in them?

So, after talking about what very part-time means to them, I would ask about the percentage of their students who live in the UK, the standard pastoral care offer, and what they routinely do to help someone who is falling behind. If they talk about extra 1-1 tuition, ask what it would cost.

They've only moved to taking under 16s fairly recently. My question about teaching would be about their experience with pre-A-level teaching; they've always had very well-qualified A-level teachers, so no worries about the academics, but possibly less experience with GCSE and younger learners. That may not be such an issue for an able year 10.
They were always very results-focused for A-level, which with an intake of international students with a few local re-takers thrown in, made sense - that was what people were looking for. I don't know what sort of intake they're getting pre-16 and whether they are so results-driven there.