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Secondary education

Haberdashers girls school Monmouth

27 replies

notasheep · 23/04/2007 14:04

Opinions and any experience please!

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marialuisa · 24/04/2007 10:01

Ex-pupil, have rellies there now. Nice school, academically good (especially compared to other private schools within the area) wide range of backgrounds amongst the kids and a wide catchment area.

Any specific questions?

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notasheep · 24/04/2007 13:35

Will it be worth me moving house,area and job for dd to go there?!
No private schools where we are so will need to move but dont want to go back to the South East or any large city

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marialuisa · 24/04/2007 15:01

Don't know where you are but....it's a nice enough school (wouldn't hesitate to send DD if we lived that way) but Monmouth and the surrounding area aren't that exciting and house prices are quite high as it is commuter land. Would definitely opt for it over Rougemont or Hereford Cathedral School.

I grew up in the country and am now a rabid urbanite though!

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Philly · 24/04/2007 15:10

Rougemeont has now been bought by Habs and is their own preprep I think

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marialuisa · 24/04/2007 15:12

I think you mean Agincourt Philly, down by the river. Rougemont is in Newport and is a 3-18 school.

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christywhisty · 24/04/2007 16:16

My mum comes from monmouth and went there in the 50's and my Aunt was head of maths for many years until she retired a couple of years ago. It has always been a good school.

When my mum was there only part of it was private and they took 35% of local girls who passed the county exam but unfortunately don't think thats the case now.

I spent a lot of happy summers when I was a child in the swimming pool looking out onto the Kymin.

Sorry probably not much use to you but a nice trip down memory lane.

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Philly · 24/04/2007 23:00

Sorry!!!!Vacant moment!

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notasheep · 25/04/2007 13:41

marialuisa-we are middle of nowhere Wales,so distance wise Haberdashers is closest school i have been impressed with.(or rather have been impressed by their website!!!)
dd is mad on dance too and that department appeared very strong

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RubberDuck · 25/04/2007 13:45

Ex pupil, they've got good facilities now (everytime I drive past they seem to have bunged up an extra building).

Enjoyed the school academically, but wasn't particularly happy there due to being constantly picked on (no way in hell are my kids going to a single sex school as a result).

But then again, the experience made me a fairly bolshy "who gives a stuff what people think" type of person, so can't really complain

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notasheep · 25/04/2007 13:48

Thanks for that-wouldnt mind dd being a bit bolshy!

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RubberDuck · 25/04/2007 14:00

The only thing I would say (and I guess this is the same for all private schools) is that you're pushed a fair bit at the school (or at least, you were back then).

That was great, and I got good GCSE and A level results, but I then totally bombed at university because there was no-one there pushing me to meet all the deadlines or seemingly caring if I wasn't "fulfilling my potential" by putting in a substandard piece of coursework. Can be a bit of a shock to the system if you haven't got into the mode of working for yourself rather than because someone told you to. Does that make sense?

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RubberDuck · 25/04/2007 14:04

In terms of money, when I was there, there were assisted places and scholarships available.

I had an assisted place from the age of 14 onwards as my dad lost his job and then got made unemployed SO many times. In Sixth Form, I was part funded by scholarship and part by assisted place.

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marialuisa · 25/04/2007 16:22

Don't know which end of nowhereville you're in and where you can tolerate moving to but St Michael's in Llanelli is a great school. Have assorted rellies at Llandovery College and Christ College in Brecon who are all happy enough too. Thsoe 3 are all co-ed.

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tiredemma · 25/04/2007 16:34

Dp's cousin is currently there in yr 8.

Very good school, with excellent facilities.

Dp's aunt raves about it.

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notasheep · 25/04/2007 20:08

Thankyou all-looks like i will be going to an open day

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milge · 25/04/2007 20:11

Where in Wales are you - how about Howells or The Cathedral School Cardiff? Howells is all girls and Cathedral is co-ed

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notasheep · 25/04/2007 20:11

Aberystwyth

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milge · 25/04/2007 20:14

Oh, ok, then, maybe not! Western Cardiff or the outlying Vale of Glamorgan are good places for kids, if you are thinking of moving.
DH went to St Michaels in Llanelli, in the same class as Cerys from Catatonia. Good academic school, which I would happily send ds to, if we were in that part of the world.

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notasheep · 04/08/2007 13:40

Anyone else out there with experience of Monmouth or Haberdashers or both!

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shergar · 09/08/2007 15:11

Not the Monmouth one, but I went to Haberdashers' Aske's Girls' School (Elstree) for sixth form. I was very happy there. It had fantastic facilities, and a great ethos. The other girls were lovely and I have very fond memories of it (I transferred there from a girls' grammar school, of which I have far less fond memories!).

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castille · 09/08/2007 15:19

Ex-pupil here too. Liked it, nice atmosphere and way better than Hereford Cathedral. Facilities are fantastic now. And a good social mix, for a private school.

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wibbleweed · 16/08/2007 15:53

Goodness me - brings back old memories! I was a pupil there and left 20 years ago. In fact I guess today is the anniversary of famous 'A' level results day that I guess marked the end of my time there.

I was a boarder there - it's probably changed a huge amount since then, but all in all had a good time, despite being a victim of some terrible bullying when I was 11. It was a very academic school (that suited me fine), also very musical and a strong christian ethos.

J x

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notasheep · 09/06/2008 20:27

Just caught up with the August 07 replies!
So if dd passes the entrance exam and we are on low income might she get an assisted place?

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BellaLasagne · 30/06/2008 12:40

Hi, just picked this up.

I don't have direct experience of the school but live 5 miles away and have to disagree with the 4th comment - Monmouth is a lovely, thriving market town and the surrounding area (Wye valley) is fabulous, incredibly beautiful. We're also within 1 hr of Bristol and Cardiff so not cut off at all. The house prices are on the dear side as it's so popular.

I have friends whose DDs go there and their girls do really well there.

RE. dancing - my DD goes to the dancing school that used to be run, until recently, by the teacher that takes the ballet/tap classes at HMSG, if you're with me? The comments I've overheard from parents are that HMSG charges about twice as much for lessons as you'd pay if you went to her dancing school for 'normal' lessons after-school and many were switching from the in-school to after-school lessons for this reason alone as they felt ripped off.

HTH

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notasheep · 01/07/2008 19:47

Bella -Thankyou for that.

The biggest problem i have here is only one choice of school,so then i suppose it isnt actually a choice !

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