Kings Ely or Dame Bradbury, Saffron Walden.

[FlyingHigh55]

Hello Everyone,

We are relocating from London to either Saffron Walden or Ely and would like some opinions on Dame Bradbury and Kings Ely.

DS will be starting reception and has a place at both. He is an extremely talkative boy and loves learning. He is not yet 4 and can already write his name and read a few words. He keeps asking / pestering us "when will I learn to read " This is all from nursery, we don't do any play learning with him at home at all. So he seems at this very early stage to be quite bright. At this moment ( he's still so young) he's not the most physical or active but ii extremely cheeky and loves making adults laugh. He is quite the character.

Please some honest advice. I really want him to do well but equally important to have fun at school and remember these days fondly. Is Dame Bradbury ( Stephen Perse Foundation) too hot housey / stressful. Its there a lot of pressure on the children, does it start at junior school? Or further up?

And it's kings Ely too casual in their academics? Ie are very bright academic children not pushed further, is it easier to be academically lazy because expectations aren't that high. Is it more of a sporty, musical school.

Possible I have both schools completely wrong. Both schools are new to us. We are currently leaving North London and part of the reason is we feel that the private schools around us are too focused on academics (and in my eyes when we went around), the children are monitored too closely for any spontinaety/ fun/ cheekiness....

Please and insights, opinions or thoughts welcome. Or am I thinking too much at this early stage does it make no difference where he goes??

TIA

When my DD3 said she wanted to learn to read, that was fine. We looked at the "early reader" books in the library, and she read bits of the books we had at home (with me helping and filling in the hard words). I've never understood why so many people think they have to wait until school. If they're ready and wanting to do it, let them. If he was saying he wanted to play football, I bet you'd be looking for a suitable club.

(I think some people are worried about being seen as a pushy parent, but if it is genuinely the child that wants to read, then why should we let our embarrassment get in the way?)

I would have thought house prices and speed of trains to London would be a greater deciding factor. I know both areas and 1 is a wealthy commuter area feeding into fantastic Cambridge schools and the other is a more rural
Location on the edge of Cambridge and an all through school. It sounds like your ds will thrive at either so I would base your choice on housing as he may end up as the same private secondary (if move from Kings Ely at a later point).

Hi @lanthanum, I'll be honest and say teaching isn't my forte, so I leave it all to his nursery. I work and when we have time together I prefer to play, or go somewhere / do something with him. Me teaching him to read or anything else would put him off learning for life....lol

Hi @hockeygrass, fair point. We have family in Cambridge so want to live near it. We absolutely love Saffron Walden, but it's a bit pricey, Ely is definately more affordable. We work from home so commute is not an issue. I suppose the school would just be the deciding factor / push us towards Ely or SW.

I would really let cost of living be the deciding factor esp as your ds could end up at Stephen Perse from either prep school. Also don't forget Hills Rd is 1 of the best state 6th forms in the U.K.
The traffic into Cambridge is notoriously bad as your probably know so factor that in too.

@hockeygrass we are looking for parents with experience of the schools and how they treat the children. We have narrowed down that we want to live in Ely or SW and now the school is the deciding factor for us.

(We would move to Cambridge if he was there for senior school).

@Clovacloud close family friends have had DC through Dame B's, including boys and girls. They have all enjoyed their time there, some went onto schools in Cambridge and others went to the County High in Saffron Walden. Not sure if the County High will be a consideration for you, but the catchment area is now pretty small.

When we looked round Acremont (King's Ely pre-prep) we thought it seemed too focused on academics and not enough on sport, outdoor education etc. It's interesting how you got a very different impression when you looked around.

King’s Ely School
Hi there. We are considering King’s Ely school for my son who is very bright with mild SEN. He’d be going into year 7. Any parents out there with boys at the prep or senior who have Aspergers? Would love to hear how it’s worked for them - socially, academically. Anything in particular that’s really worked well …or been hard?

@Dappletree my daughter went there and had autism. The SEN team are amazing, so kind and caring. They will sort out all the academic adjustments needed, and if they need a quiet place to go, they can always go to the Learning Centre and have a cup of tea and a chat. There is also a Med Centre and a school counsellor, so they have plenty of safe spaces they can go to if they get overwhelmed. They went above and beyond during Covid for my daughter (major exam year!) and I can’t thank them enough for all they did.

What didn’t work out so well, and this maybe a girl vs boy thing, she found socialising very hard. But I don’t think this was so much a problem for the autistic boys in her year. I think maybe boys have less nuance when it comes to socialising at that age, girls it’s bit more of a minefield, but that wasn’t the school’s fault.

Kings Ely is great. Their philosophy is to find the thing that a child is good at and then nurture it. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Thanks too Lovetotravel123. That approach does really appeal!

Our daughter and son joined King's Ely three years ago. They were both at our local primary school previously. We cannot fault King's so far - fantastic facilities, brilliant teachers, and a genuine approach to nurturing each child's individual strengths and interests. Both our children finally enjoy going to school!

That’s so good to hear! Would any of you be up for a chat on the phone some time? We live in London so it’s a big move for us and we don’t know anyone at Kings!

I personally, would not recommend Kings Ely. My son went there. He was happy in the junior school but unfortunately in the senior school came away with poor GCSE results. I felt, the school let him down and didn’t seem to put extra provisions in place to support him. It was a waste of money. My friends children achieved higher in good state schools within the area. However, this isn’t everyone’s experience.