WHAT? WHERE?

Secluded, yet central is how you’d describe Abbey College Cambridge’s location. The small, modern campus is in a quiet corner of Purbeck Road, just off Hills Road, and is a short walk from the train station and the city centre. The three main purpose-built buildings create a triangular courtyard, giving the place a safe but grown-up feel, more like a university than a school. Views from the higher floors are stunning, with inspiring sights like Cambridge University Press & Assessment next door and the rooftops of the historic city in the distance.

Established in 1994, Abbey College Cambridge is part of the Abbey DLD Group of Colleges with sister colleges in London and Manchester, and offers independent co-educational teaching to students aged 13 – 20. Over the last three decades the college has had a much bigger name and presence overseas, and attracts a huge number of international students from around 40 different countries wanting to study the UK curriculum. It’s busy shrugging off its reputation as being a crammer for foreign students though, and is keen to attract more local students who want to study within a vibrant international environment, where they’ll encounter many different viewpoints and have the chance to become a global citizen.

The college currently has 452 students, starting at Year 10 with GCSEs and going up to Year 12 for A Levels. Students can study GCSEs over 2 years, 18 months or 1 year, with enrolments in September and January. From September 2024, Abbey College Cambridge will be accepting Year 9 students too. The majority (an incredible 90% in fact) of students board full-time, although with more local students joining, the day community is expanding. Day students benefit from all the extra evening workshops, seminars, pastoral care, wraparound facilities and weekend activities though, giving them a taste of life as a boarder without actually staying over.

FACILITIES

/SPORT

Abbey College Cambridge is not a traditional school, so don’t expect acres of grounds and shiny sports facilities. It’s more of a halfway house between school and university and the only onsite sporting facility is a small, but very popular, basketball court in the courtyard area. All other facilities are readily available in Cambridge, many right next door at Homerton College. There’s a PureGym nearby that is a hit with students looking to do more general cardio or weights.

sports day at abbey college cambridge — Sports Day

With such a diverse international community, the sports offering is hugely varied and the traditional British sports like cricket or rugby definitely aren’t the most popular. Instead in-demand sports include golf, football, boxing, volleyball, dance, yoga, tennis, basketball and rowing (well this is Cambridge after all!).

The school takes a personalised approach to sport – if a student wants to take part in something that isn’t currently offered, like rugby or hockey, the staff will help them to find and join a club in Cambridge and fit the practice around their studies.

/CREATIVE ARTS

art classroom at Abbey College cambridge

Art has really increased in popularity over the last few years and the art department is excellent. There’s a large art classroom that’s flooded with natural light as well as a smaller art room for students to continue working in when the classroom is busy for timetabled lessons. Each year the college sends students off to university to study fine art, fashion design and art foundation courses.

There’s a brilliant extra-curricular programme for art lovers with activities that include life drawing and portraiture, and the school organises regular visits to local galleries, museums, and artist studios. The art department unites all students regardless of the subjects they’re actually studying – there’s an after school art club that acts as a creative outlet for students who aren’t studying art formally and recently new students organised a ‘trashion’ show, repurposing items that would be considered trash into a range of fashion designs, which they modelled on a runway.

music concert in the hall at abbey college

Music is another area of the school that gives the many students studying the sciences and math-based subjects a creative outlet. There’s a large and very bright hall that is used for concerts, the annual House Music Competition and as a practice space for a range of extra-curricular music clubs or student-led bands and groups. There are also two dedicated music performance studios.

Drama isn’t offered as an academic subject, so there’s no theatre space or any production equipment. There is a drama club, however, that puts on an annual performance in the hall.

/SCHOOL

The interior of the college is excellent – light, spacious and built around the schools needs with 12 separate well-equipped labs for Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and an entire corridor dedicated to maths. The 42 classrooms aren’t huge, but then given the small class sizes (on average 12 -16 max per class) they don’t need to be. All are extremely well-equipped with the latest touch-screen technology. In fact, the entire school is completely up to date with the latest technology, with each student accessing different areas and classrooms and registering for classes at the swipe of a card.

Most classrooms have at least two entire walls painted in whiteboard paint – giving the teacher space to write up instructions or examples and then allowing students to work collaboratively on the other wall, rather than just working independently at their desks. This is just one of the many ways the college aims to reflect how life will be in the workplace for these students.

There was a library on site, but this has recently been transformed into another study area at the students’ request (there are several quiet and more communal study areas dotted around the school). No books?! Instead of carting round huge reference books in their bags students here access most of their reading digitally.

Other facilities include a fabulous dining hall with a Fairtrade coffee shop for snacks and hot drinks and a menu that includes plenty of British classics mixed in with global cuisine to ensure everyone is catered for.

ACADEMIC RESULTS

In a word, excellent. In 2023, a whopping 55% of grades were A-A* and 81% A*-B at A Level with Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Maths and Further Maths being the best performing subjects. University destinations included Cambridge, Imperial College London, UCL, LSE, and other top UK universities.

There are currently 14 A level options for students to choose from, including accounting, computer sciences, economics and psychology. Humanities are fairly new to the curriculum, but proving quite popular. Worth noting that no languages are taught at Abbey College Cambridge, either at GSCE or A level, although from 2024 Year 9 students will be able to study modern foreign languages (French & Spanish).

Such academic excellence is no surprise given that students here get a huge amount of individual attention in small groups. The incredible progression students make in a few short years (some having to learn English on top of studying) is also due to the school’s excellent partnership-style teaching, where students and tutors work side by side, constantly engage with one another and where students feel supported at every stage.

Abbey College tutors constantly assess their students to identify strengths and weaknesses and test them three times a year to ensure they’re not slipping behind in any areas of their subject. Plus there are monthly meetings between tutors and heads of department to come up with strategies for each student that aren’t just a load of hot air and always get implemented. Strategies include out of class one-to-one support sessions. Basically, there’s no slipping through the net academically and you can be confident your child will reach their peak potential. Make space in your trophy cabinet because top performances in Olympiads and national and international academic competitions are a regular occurrence.

WHAT ELSE?

One of the real calling cards for the school is the Abbey Inspires programme – a series of evening lectures by teachers and external speakers that is open to every student. These lectures take place at 6pm and cover all sorts of fascinating subjects that don’t get covered in the classroom. Recent lectures have included ‘A beginner’s guide to Psychopaths’, ‘Tulipmania’ and ‘The Truth about Energy Drinks’.

The focus on careers here is second to none, with possible careers for each student identified really early on. The college then runs a subject-specific pre-degree diploma that consists of time-tabled lectures, workshops, and visits to various businesses based on the career a student wants to pursue such as engineering, medicine, architecture etc. The pre-degree diploma aims to put students with similar career aspirations together to elevate the discussion and inspire them to think beyond their A Level subjects. It’s no wonder that the school’s success rate for subjects like medicine is between 90 – 100% with seven timetabled classes a week given over to preparing students for a medical degree and career and externally-set tasks to be completed over the summer. Finally, there’s also specific Oxbridge preparation programme for selected students.

Abbey College is a Microsoft Incubator School, with all teachers and students being extremely digitally competent. Each week, there’s digital training for the students where teachers share best digital practice on all manner of subjects and applications.

LAUNCH OF YEAR 9

Big news for September 2024 – Abbey College Cambridge is opening up to Year 9s. Taking children from this age is part of the school’s drive to increase the local intake of students and to start the Abbey College education that bit earlier in preparation for GCSEs. Students will be able to study all the core subjects you’d expect as well as options like Economics and Business Studies that are often only introduced at A Level in other schools.

Year 9 students will benefit from the enhanced co-curricular programme at Abbey College that gives them access to over 50 clubs and societies. There’s also a personalised enrichment programme on Wednesday afternoons with options divided into five categories – Active, Community, Thinking, Science and Technology, Music and Creative Arts. This enrichment aims to give students amazing memories and experiences as well as being something to talk about in their university or job applications and interviews.

PASTORAL CARE

There’s a big focus on pastoral care here – and with so many nationalities and students as full-time boarders there needs to be! New Headteacher Dr Ellen Hesse is passionate about ensuring Abbey College feels like a home for the many students who have travelled long distances to study here and who are often culturally completely out of their comfort zone.

There are eight Houses and they’re a big part of college life with all staff allocated a House too, and everyone proudly wearing badges in the relevant colour. Each House is headed up by Housemasters (Academic Lead) and a Head of House (Pastoral Lead).

The school aims for a 360 degree support model with students meeting their personal tutor and tutor group every morning, and who work very closely with the Housemasters and Heads of House to ensure nothing goes unnoticed. Personal tutors also act as the student’s key point of contact for both academic and pastoral needs. There is also a College Matron, a wellbeing counsellor and independent listeners on site.

BOARDING

There are over 400 boarding rooms at Abbey College – some on site, reserved for the younger students, some across the road and the rest a short walk away for the oldest students. The rooms are immaculate – like small, functional hotel rooms and are divided up into girls’ and boys’ corridors. Most rooms are singles with en suites, although you can upgrade to a premium room. There are common rooms and social areas for the boarders with the usual fridges, sofas and kettles, but with a busy schedule of evening seminars and clinics I imagine they don’t get used much in the week. The whole set-up has a collegiate feel to it rather than being the homely look and feel you get with older boarding schools.

There are no set exeats throughout the year, and the boarding houses are open all year round except for Christmas and Summer holidays. Parents can make an appointment to visit at any point they want. The same rule applies to parents’ evenings – they’re more ad hoc, based on when the parents want them to be.

With so many students staying over for weekends and holidays, the House Parents keep everyone busy and socialising by running a varied activity programme of sports, crafts, music, and critical thinking. On Saturday nights there are movie nights, quizzes, bingo, and more.

ISI REPORTS

Abbey College’s ISI Report from 2021 will be music to prospective parents’ ears – the school meets all standards across the board: teaching, pastoral care, safeguarding and leadership. Read more here.

SEND

Abbey College has dedicated SEND co-ordinators who can assess individual pupils’ needs and ensure that the relevant support is put in place.

HEADTEACHER

Ellen Hesse headteacher at Abbey College Cambridge

Dr Ellen Hesse took over the top job at Abbey College in April 2023. I can’t think of anyone more suited to the role both in terms of her skillset and her personality, with experience of being from overseas, studying the sciences and running boarding houses. Ellen has a Master’s Degree in Biology and English and a Doctorate Degree in the Theory and Practice of Teaching. Prior to this role she was the Vice Principal of St Clare’s, Oxford, a school with very high academic standards. She has also held positions as Head of Pastoral Care and Head of Boarding at The Royal School in Surrey, where she also taught science.

Hesse is extremely inspiring and has a likeable, yet commanding presence. She’s seriously smart – I’m talking brains and dress sense here – and clearly gives her all to the role (commuting from either London or Oxford each Monday morning, and living as a flexi boarder during the week). She’s certainly not one to let the grass grow under her stiletto-ed feet and as well as overseeing the introduction of Year 9s is really keen to spread the word about Abbey College and its appeal to local students.

One of her big passion projects is charity and community spirit. Recognising that Abbey College Students are extremely privileged to have this sort of education, she’s keen to ensure they all volunteer and share their knowledge. Abbey College has recently partnered Ely College to work with a school in Nepal. Students will be encouraged to fundraise together, as well as travel over to the school to assist in the classrooms and roll their sleeves up and get involved in any building work. There’s also a Principal’s Award at the end of the year for Global Volunteering.

Giving students more leadership opportunities is also on Ellen’s agenda with the introduction of termly student-led conferences. This is another area that allows for collaboration, mixing with the wider community and being part of a team from different backgrounds. Eight local state and independent schools will come together on projects and students will be mixed up into different groups to discuss ideas and present to a panel at the end.

QUIRKS

In keeping with the college environment, students are encouraged to use first name terms for teachers. There’s also no school uniform, with a dress code instead, even for those in Year 9 and those doing GSCEs. You won’t find this school getting tied up in honouring quirky old traditions either – as a relatively new school there aren’t any. It’s forward-thinking all the way here and they’re unashamedly 100% focussed on helping students get their first choice of uni, apprenticeship and career.

TRANSPORT

Plenty of buses and the railway station is only a short walk away. As it’s Cambridge though you’ll probably want to get your kid a bike so they can travel like the locals do.

FEES

You’ll need deep pockets because tuition fees are a straight £9,300 per term, regardless of what year your child is in, because the class sizes and level attention remains the same from start to finish. Accommodation ranges from £7,566 – £9,833 per term.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Academically ambitious kids who want to be part of a kind and caring global community and who have their hearts set on studying at one the UK’s leading universities. An aptitude for STEM subjects is definitely a bonus. Children who have a thirst for knowledge and a love of learning will thrive thanks to the excellent enrichment programme, as will anyone with a burning desire to focus on a specific career path.

Not for: Sport-mad pupils who want to play competitively, kids who want to tread the boards and musicians with a desire to play in a large orchestra won’t find their needs met here. If it’s huge sweeping drives, shiny sports facilities and a traditional stately old building you seek, this is not the place for you.

Dare to disagree?! Be my guest. The school accepts visits from individual parents and if you’re overseas can also meet in your own country, plus there’s a Whole School Open Day on Saturday 5th October 2024 at 9:30am. For more info, click here.

Abbey College Cambridge, Homerton Gardens, Cambridge, CB2 8EB. Tel: 01223 578280

Abbey College, Cambridge

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