King's Ely

King's Ely suits a child who likes being known by name and will happily give a Saturday morning to a fixture or a rehearsal. It is an independent, co-educational day and boarding school for children aged 2 to 18, set in the cathedral precincts of Ely in Cambridgeshire, a short train ride from Cambridge. A child arriving at 11 joins Year 7 in King's Ely Prep, which runs from Year 3 to Year 8, ages 7 to 13; specialist subject teachers take over in Year 7, and the move up to King's Ely Senior comes at 13.

The school was founded more than a thousand years ago to educate the choristers of Ely Cathedral, and refounded by Henry VIII in 1541 with a royal charter and twelve King's Scholars, who were allowed to play games, including the bowling of hoops, in the cathedral precincts. That permission survives as the Hoop Trundle, still run each year on the cathedral's east lawn, senior scholars in red gowns racing wooden hoops before a crowd; Queen's Scholars joined in 1973. Boys and girls still sing as cathedral choristers, and daily life goes on among medieval buildings, with the Old Palace on Palace Green and the Great Ouse nearby for rowing.

The Good Schools Guide describes 'a friendly, well-balanced, caring' community that values 'a broad range of abilities', which fits a school taking children from 2 to 18 rather than one chasing a single type. In Prep, a form tutor is the daily point of contact, with house staff, heads of year and a counsellor behind them. It suits a child who is curious rather than polished, glad of somewhere old and slightly odd to grow up in.