Our Students

At least 40% of our students are from the UK (from both state and independent schools) and the rest are from more than 30 different countries. We keep this balance in the best interests of all students, enriching the educational experiences of all and building understanding between cultures.

We pride ourselves on our sense of community and respond thoughtfully to individual differences, valuing student input and encouraging students to play an active leadership role in the College.

The small classes and one-to-one lessons mean that we know our students well and treat all with respect, consideration and fairness. We do not expect our students to have to ‘fit in’ with us. It is our aim to provide a truly personalised education so that all may be happy, fully supported and achieve their fullest potential.

Phitraphee Prasithirun

Hello, I am Phitraphee Prasithirun or Prima as everyone calls me. I am from Thailand and I am doing my AS levels in Economics, History, Government and Politics, Maths, and GCSE Spanish at CCSS. I find CCSS a good college with kind staff and a comfortable learning environment. I have been granted a scholarship by my government, which chose this college for me, and I think it is a guarantee of that fact that CCSS is a well known institution.

CCSS offer students specialised facilities such as a language lab, science labs and also a wide choice of extra-curricular activities. Activities range from all kinds of sports to debating, global issues forum, music lessons, and even world cooking.  I have such fun participating in all these activities. This not only gives me an opportunity to lean something new, but also it is a great experience and it helps me get to know more people at the college.

In the future, I would like to work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand. To be able to do so, I need to have an all round education, with a very good knowledge of social sciences. CCSS has a great team of teaching staff who not only have a great knowledge of their subjects, but also are very skilful in passing this knowledge to their students and helping them understand their subjects in depth. Moreover, tasks that are given to the students and advice from the teachers are very useful for our future study at university. Our knowledge is not only based on textbooks but is well rounded, and we are very well informed about what is happening in the society and in the world. We are encouraged to learn more about current affairs and the effect they have on to the society.

CCSS is in every sense not only a school with a great academic reputation and a friendly environment but is also a school which prepares you in every way for your future life and career.

My life at CCSS has been brilliant. That’s all I can say.

Ruby Jennings

CCSS has fuelled my interests in Geography, Psychology and Environmental Science. I came to Cambridge from Ireland which was quite a culture shock and initially, I found it difficult to cope. However, with excellent support from teachers and the flexibility to change courses, I soon found my feet.

CCSS encourages a balance between work, leisure and rest, rather than pressuring everyone to achieve academic excellence. The College gives everybody the chance to utilise and develop their skills to their full potential. Small class sizes and one-to-ones allow individual interests to be explored.

In terms of extra-curricular activities, Andy (Head of Sport and Extra-curricular) is happy to organise anything from piano lessons to parachute jumping!

I received the Paul Redhead Prize, a prestigious College award, for my dedication to academia, organising the cross country running club, fund-raising for charity and achieving the Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

I also participated in the Nuffield research project on climate change in the University of Cambridge during the summer vacation. It was an amazing opportunity to gain experience in one of the world’s best known laboratories.

The cultural diversity at CCSS makes attending the College a very enriching life experience. There are common rooms in every building, and also organised events, like paintball, giving students lots of opportunities to socialise and creating a warm, friendly atmosphere at the College. As a day student, I always feel welcome in the Boarding Houses.

I strongly feel that CCSS has prepared me for every aspect of university life and I am very thankful to my teachers and tutors for this. I have been given the right balance of independence and guidance to realise my dream of studying Geography with Oceanography at Southampton University.

Wilson Li

After experiencing a strict countryside school, I wanted to enrol to a school which could motivate me and give me a little bit more independence, therefore I chose to enrol at CCSS.

I am currently an A2 student studying Fashion Design, Graphic Design and Fine Art. I have been at CCSS since September 2008 and have already been involved in many activities, such as designing the school Christmas card, organising a charity event called ‘Sports Relief’ and the College’s fashion shows.

The great aspects of being a student at CCSS are the other students. You get to meet all other nationalities and learn about their cultures and their ways of life. I have learnt so much about other countries that I feel like I have already travelled there!

Also the teaching is fantastic, the one-to-one system is great to discuss any worries or concerns that you might have. The small class sizes are also great because you receive more attention from the teachers which also makes the lessons more relaxed, and altogether a better atmosphere.

CCSS is a college that definitely motivates you to produce work to your full potential and will help me build my portfolio for the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London.

Paul Usoro

As my exit from CCSS draws nearer, I cannot help but remember what it was like for me when I first entered the College. I remember being extremely excited to get down to business, although not without the slight twinge of apprehension. After all, three of the subjects I had chosen to study for my A-levels were new to me (Sociology, Media Studies and Graphics, and my fourth subject was English Literature). However, once I began attending the lessons everything went smoothly. I was most appreciative of that fact that I could choose a diverse mix of subjects that went well with each other. My tutor, along with my teachers, helped me feel very comfortable with the College’s academic agenda.

Outside of CCSS I enjoy occupying myself with a variety of different things. Although I no longer do Graphics as a subject in my A2 year, I still regularly enjoy producing new pieces from time to time. Photography and photo-manipulation are two areas that I have deep interest in. Most of my pieces start off as a photograph, which I then edit extensively to accurately depict the ideas in my mind. My tutor (Charlie Ritchie) encouraged me to submit some of my work for a competition held by the Norwich University College of the Arts called Digital December. I was delighted to find out that I had been selected as one of the winners. And I was even more delighted to find out that my work along with the other winners was up on display at the BBC Fusion Gallery in Norwich from 20th until 25th April 2009.

Occasionally I like to relax and just listen to music on my iPod. It is where a lot of inspiration for my graphics pieces comes from.

Media Studies has rubbed off on me and changed the way I interact with different facets of the media. For movies that I go to the cinema to watch, I find myself obsessing about how the movie studio has gone about promoting the film, what demographic they are trying to target and as for the film itself, I notice things like the mise-en-scene, camera work, visual and sound editing more often than I used to. It has helped me to enjoy some films a lot more than I would have a few years ago. Sociology also comes into play when I think about what the movie is trying to represent and how it goes about doing so.

After CCSS I am hoping to go on studying Sociology at LSE and I am confident that with the help of my teachers I can meet the requirements. However, I do not think I will be forgetting my time spent at CCSS. I have had some very good experiences, made new friends, had fun in Cambridge and I definitely feel that I made the right choice in coming to CCSS.

Anna Kalyvopoulou

I enrolled at CCSS in November 2008, and unlike my previous independent school, CCSS is more personal and I am treated more as an individual. CCSS also appealed to me through its teaching methods - the great support we receive from teachers and tutors is very important to our overall performance.

I am studying Maths, Further Maths, History and English Literature. One of my achievements at CCSS was gaining a place to the Global Young Leaders’ Conference in the US in 2009. GYLC is a unique leadership development programme that brings together outstanding young people from around the world to build critical leadership skills in a global context.

I am a boarder at CCSS, and boarding is fun, although you do miss your big bed back at home! It is also great living and studying with a diversity of cultures.

I hope that CCSS will help me achieve the A-level grades that I need to gain entry to my chosen university.