A small town-based school where students are nurtured, challenged and given plenty of opportunity to explore academic and extra-curricular interests.

This small day and boarding school in Cambridgeshire is one of those hidden gems offering a strong all-round education in a scenic location. It’s an all-through school with around 1,000 students aged four to 18. It’s popular with families living in Cambridge’s surrounding villages, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire, well as those who have made the move to London but want to continue with a rural education for their child.

The school has a fantastic setting in the historic town of Kimbolton, which is best-known for its castle. It appears as a school of two halves with a Prep School that caters for 4 to 11 year olds at one end of the village, and the Senior School for 11-18 year olds in the nearby castle grounds. That said, this is very much one school, with many specialist staff teaching at both the Prep and Senior Schools; whole school community events; and the vast majority of Prep students moving up to the Senior School.

Headmaster Jonathan Belbin has been in the post since 2002 and overseen several building projects at the school. As a former sports teacher, he’s also played an active role in keeping sport and games at the fore.

Curriculum

Kimbolton offers an enriched UK education that challenges and educates students in all year groups, with art, design and technology, drama, music, modern foreign languages, games, swimming and physical education all taught by specialist teachers from an early age. Class sizes remain small in all year groups and students benefit from learning within a very supportive classroom environment. As the school says, there are no plans to increase student numbers beyond 1,000 as this would “inevitably make the school less personal”.

The school has some excellent facilities to support specialist teaching, including modern science and maths blocks, a new Prep library, and sports halls. It’s also a very tech-friendly school with iPads in every classroom and a wide use of technology and apps in lessons.

As students move up the school, their broad education prepares them well for specialisation in GCSEs and A Levels. There’s a broad choice of subjects, including plenty of arts options, PE, economics, business, and two languages (French and Spanish).

Sixth Formers can broaden their horizons by completing the Extended Project Qualification, a Preparing for Citizenship course of lectures and activities, and a choice of academic enrichment classes. 

Sport and the arts

Life at Kimbolton feels exciting – and it’s both creative and active. It’s a school where students are expected to “leave with a varied portfolio of interests and experiences” and, since ending the six day week, the school has given more time to sport and extra-curricular activity during weekends.

The sport facilities are excellent – a modernised gymnasium, tennis courts, cricket nets, cricket pavilion and changing facilities, sports centre with multi-purpose sports hall, a gymnasium, a fitness room, two squash courts, 25m swimming pool, three Astroturf pitches, playing fields, six outdoor cricket nets and three hard court netball and tennis areas. These support a brilliantly varied games and PE programme that offers athletics, badminton, canoeing, fitness, gymnastics, pilates, sailing, shooting, strength & conditioning, squash, table tennis, swimming, water polo and horse-riding.

Football and hockey are the main sports, but the school fields teams in a wide range of sports. Other highlights include timetabled swimming in Kimbolton’s on-campus indoor pool, dedicated girls' cricket and football teams, and timetabled lessons in sailing, canoeing, climbing, windsurfing and power boating. Outdoor pursuits are popular, particularly the CCF, as well as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and equestrianism.

Students are also encouraged to showcase and learn artistic talents, with plenty of choirs, orchestras, school productions, art exhibitions and clubs. In music, students learn the violin from Year 1, and there’s over 65% of Upper Prep students pupils and a quarter of Senior School students learning one, two or even three instruments. 

Academic results

GCSE results 2022: 58% of grades were 9-7
A Level results 2022: 43% of grades were A*-A and 72% were A*-B. 

In 2019 (the last pre-pandemic results), 56% of grades were 9-7 at GCSE; 37% were A*-A at A Level.

Boarding

While Kimbolton is largely a day school, students can board from age 11. There’s a small boarding community (around 10%) coming from overseas and Forces families, who live in boarding houses located on Kimbolton's picturesque High Street in Cambridgeshire. The recently introduced weekly and flexi boarding options are popular, and the school says that “while total numbers will always be relatively small, it adds a vital dimension to the life and culture of the school”.

Admission and fees

Kimbolton is a selective school, and the main entry points are at ages 4+ (Lower Prep), 7+ (Upper Prep), 11+ and 13+ (Senior School) and 16+ (Sixth Form). It offers scholarships and bursaries from age 11.

Annual fees range from £11,010 to £18,015 for day students, and are £29,970 for boarding students.

Our view

Good for: A really strong choice for an all-round education in a rural setting, yet just a short distance from London. It’s frequently praised by parents for being friendly and family-focused, and its small size really is one of its strengths here. Children coming here can benefit from all the different opportunities in sport and the arts, alongside a curriculum that is academically ambitious without being a hot house, and low teacher:student ratios to help every child achieve their best. 

Not for: If you’re looking for a school with a large boarding community, then Kimbolton may just feel too small. There are several schools in the local area with much larger boarding communities, too. It is not the most academic senior school when compared to others in the Cambridge area, so would not suit those looking for a very academically-driven exam-focused environment.

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