Opinions on The Perse Upper School in Cambridge

[Perpetuallyexhaustedtoddlermum]

I realise with a toddler that I'm a long way from Upper School territory, but both my DP and his sister had a horrific time in local state secondary schools and left school with little in the way of qualifications due to the dreadful bullying. DP is adamant that we do private school for the secondary years.
I've done some fairly basic research and the Perse stands out as one of the best local independent schools for DS in the future.
I was privately educated at Godolphin and Latymer as a young girl myself and thoroughly enjoyed it but have no experience of private education in Cambridge.

My children generally loved the Perse school. The school worked hard to find out which children needed learning support and the standard of pastoral support was very good. There is increasing pressure as you enter the Sixth form but A levels are going to be stressful wherever you study if they are taken seriously. A factor often overlooked in these discussions is the problems that arise from family pressure and expectation and the effect that has on the mental health and coping ability of the child. My children are firmly of the belief that most mental health issues they witnessed over the years were often evident in children who faced enormous pressure from home on top of what was expected academically at school, so parents play an important role in this too. I agree with a previous comment that it helps if the child develops confidence and resilience along the way. One of my children was in the lowest sets for a couple of subjects for several years but ended up getting top A level grades in the same subjects. It didn’t seem to bother them and I think that is down to their personality type and the fact we didn’t make a big deal of it at home. One thing I have noticed over the years is most of the negative criticism or concerns I’ve heard or read about the Perse has usually come from an outside parent who has never actually had direct personal experience of the school and how it operates.

Hi @pearlsthatwerent, glad you’ve found my previous comments helpful. I’d seriously consider The Perse offer over SPF if I were you, for several reasons. Firstly, I’m currently tutoring more than one child from SPF, who are preparing for The Perse as they aren’t happy at SPF - that’s not to say your daughter won’t be and I can’t break confidentiality to go into details but it’s enough to make me a little wary. Secondly, I think the facilities at The Perse are better - far more space, lovely trees (great for calming anxiety) and much easier from the point of view of dropping off etc. Finally, all the children I’ve tutored who started by being rather anxious in their previous schools have grown in confidence at The Perse.

Thank you SO much, everyone, for these insights: I'm really grateful to you all for taking the time to respond, and all of this is enormously valuable - so hard to find out in other ways.

To answer @Treehouse12 , no - DD is in a state primary and we were thinking she'd just continue to a state secondary, but we weren't offered any of our preference schools (including catchment) so did an emergency volte face and tried to find a place at a local private school after offer day in March. Which means we (and she) have seen very few schools, and are basically clueless; probably beta or even gamma parents, if I'm honest, very much joining @gizmo in the windswept cyclist corner.

@weepurpleybird Your account is really interesting; thank you for being so honest. If we put DD forward and she gets a place she won't have had any tutoring - the test is next week (and @bimblebird you must surely be right about the ratio of desperate parents to places!). I do worry about her being out of place, or feeling pressured; as people have said, I'm sure that could happen anywhere, and we as parents will have to do everything we can to manage expectations and make sure we keep up the support. @PeonyBlush10 I work in higher education and I recognise this exactly: family pressure, or even pressure from the student themselves, causing more issues than the expectations of the institution. DD's happiness is, frankly, all I really care about, and I'm sure that's true of basically everyone; but she does need to develop a little resilience, and better grades will give her more choice later on.

It's clearly a wonderful school on a beautiful site; @Treehouse12 and@Nenen , you've exactly hit it: my main worry about the Stephen Perse is how confined it all feels, though I suppose the botanic garden is a hop and a skip away. Nothing like having your own trees, however.

All of it feels a bit overwhelming, not least the financial side - it's affordable but not easily, so I really don't want to mess up the decision. But oddly enough, the thought that it's likely to be very competitive is weirdly encouraging, in a sort of lap-of-fate way - I think we'll give it a shot!

I meant to add: from all this it sounds like my less academic DS would be unlikely to get in. @Nenen , would it be okay to send a quick DM?

Yes of course - though thank you for asking first.

@pearlsthatwerent I just wonder if perse upper finished their waiting list and doing new round of assesment?

@Nenen Thank you for the insightful comment. Would it be all right if I also send you a DM?

@WouldLoveSunshine , yes of course - thank you for asking.

I'm from Cambridge and just came on to say to @BrieMine how impressed I am her husband was expelled for the Leys! I went to sixth form with some Leys escapees, Long Road not Hills Road. They were an interesting bunch.
And I never knew the Perse was so academic, we mixed with them socially all the time, I had some great friends from both boys and girls sides. Learn something everyday.

How would you compare the perse to merchant taylors school in Northwood?

The Perse School's top rankings in GCSE and A-level results might suggest it's the best in Cambridge, but a closer look at other secondary schools reveals they're not far behind in results.

One factor to consider is that Perse, like other top schools, attracts students from a wide catchment area. This raises questions about whether these schools are drawing talent from far and wide to maintain their rankings, potentially to prevent students from transferring to schools like Hills Road Sixth Form College. Just a thought!

@Mummybearo should be right, I know many current senior school parents who is close to catchment of hillroad is thinking of moving meanwhile we are worried as we live 3 miles away and chances of hills road from independent stream goes slim.

My child has been at the Perse since Y3

The Prep is second to none. James Piper and his team are inspiring, accessible and take children’s happiness very seriously - look at the Facebook posts.

The Upper is another story. The headmaster is distant and out of touch

The school makes all the right sounds with anti bullying policies but don’t expect real action especially if the bullies are academically high achievers.

I’ve seen the aggressive messages my child’s friend has received. The messages tell her to die, she’s ugly, diseased, worthless, how she’s hated…

This has been reported and since the bullies are high achievers, and the victim on the surface doesn’t look like she’s falling apart, no action is taken. The outcome is the bullies feel untouchable and have since doubled down on the abuse.

Luckily the friend group is very supportive but to be honest, had I known how different the Upper is to the Prep, I would have considered Stephen Perse Senior instead of Perse Upper.

@Daisilie thank you , I heard from old students the same but thought it would have improved . I got good reasons to move DC if we get our first choice state school as an in year applicant next year.

I met a very happy teenager from stephen perse who been to perse primary earlier.child has been out of countryin between and stephen perse was the in year option available. I can safely say any normal child is happy at stephen perse but perse is mainly parent driven.