St Albans High School for girls

Clement Danes is up there as being one of the best non-selective state schools in the country. If you are in catchment you would be mad to not give it full consideration.

pub I don’t know that other school at all, so can’t say.
For us we were happy with the value fir money but - and I’ll be brutally frank here - we could easily afford it.
If we’d been making sacrifices I might have felt differently.

newgirls there’s truth in that.
But in Y7 they do try to put girls together by area.
So DD went into a class with quite a few in an easy radius.
But that said, she did end up with pals from all over.

It tends to attract families from quite a wide catchment as most St Albans kids go to the excellent state schools. So pals can be very spread out. Fine if you are happy to help drive them around.

I doubt you could find a school that has no bullying. I have looked at the mobile phone and internet policy at Q and personally I think it’s sensible. I wouldn’t not reject a very good school because it trusts its pupils and teaches legal and sensible use of devices. This approach is typical of Queenswood. It’s not the sort of school that forbids things and makes constant checking of policies a drag on teaching resources. It expects the girls to behave sensibly, receive instruction in e safety, and it’s a more enlightened approach. It’s not as if girls are on their phones through lessons!

@Zodlebud I agree with you completely on fees. STAHS fees are not cheap for what they offer. I probably would say they are a lot better than most of the independent prep/ primary schools as they teach academic subjects to a very high standard and teach girls to be independent, take responsibility for their own learning. Tech is introduced early on, so by the age of 10 they can easily blind type, do a lot of research and prepare zillions of slides decks on Google classroom. I liked that side. But the poor provision of sport and art is what I am concerned about. Their main focus is on academics, and from what I Have heard of senior school - it's a LOT of maths and english, and sciencies and not much of anything else. Yes, they have pool on their site but because the school is so crowded they use it once a week for one term only! That's not sport in my books. Facilities are not that great. Some of the other schools we considered in the country offer a lot more for the same money and some offer a lot more for £1000 LESS.So it's all about what you want for your child. We want a happier life for our DD, so we will not be considering STAHS or similar schools for her.

For Q - we did not like their 'mobile policy' when girls are allowed to keep their mobiles through the day and even encouraged to use them to copy material etc. ALSO I have heard about quite a few bullying cases there that had not been handled well, hence it raised red flags for us.

Or there’s St Helen’s also in Northwood. I would use both Northwood schools as a comparative to St Albans. Once lockdown is over then do go visit them all, along with some grammars and Clement Danes - I think you might be pleasantly surprised at just how good some of these state schools are.

@Zodlebud "following entrance exams and offers we had the choice of a Bucks grammar, an academic scholarship at a highly selective independent and Queenswood and we chose Queenswood. BUT we did spend ages deliberating about taking the grammar place. If we had to scrimp and save to afford the fees then honestly, the education you get at independent schools is not worth the £16-£24k a year more. You can supplement a state education with music lessons, club sport, etc. and still be thousands of pounds better off"

We also spent a considerable length of time deliberating a similar array of choice; and although finance is decidedly more of an issue, we decided it was worth it for the lifestyle it offered, as opposed to just the education it offered. We didn’t feel the ‘academic’ day schools offered much beyond the grammars, so if league tables were our prime focus, we would have stuck with grammar.

I agree about comparing boarding schools and day isn’t a true comparison but the majority of girls at Queenswood ARE day girls. Some board one night a week which boosts the boarding numbers.

It was meant as in terms of comparison as what your fees get you. St Albans has fees of almost £6,900 per term including lunches. Queenswood is £7,115 in the first two years. That extra £200 is “buying” you a whole lot more for your money - smaller class sizes, significantly better facilities and more hours in a school day. It questions how much value are you truly getting for your fees at St Albans? I struggle when comparing it to a great grammar - how are their fees justified?

I am really not knocking the school. For the right girl it is brilliant and it does have a lot to offer. But if you think you are getting an all bells and whistles independent education including all the extra curricular stuff there then you won’t get it. Their focus is on academics.

Sidetracking a little, but have you looked at Northwood College? As a GDST school their fees are cheaper and results rather excellent. Given you mention Clement Danes I am assuming you live more that way. It was too far for us but I was impressed. I felt there was much more added value there than at St Albans.

pub they are chalk and cheese it’s true.
We just never wanted our kids to board, really. Not the way we roll as a family.
We just wanted our kids to go to school on the bus in the morning and come home for their tea

I did visit Queebswood and it seemed nice but with the late finish and the bus ride back home, it would have been a longer day than the commuters into London for us.

The STAGS parents and girls I know are all just normal.
Obviously there will always be some parents who take school/parenting and turn it into an Olympic balls ache - but I avoided them

Thank you HelloMissus That's what i had heard too. One more question about STAGS, does it have a really competitive culture among the girls and parents or is it a place where girls can be themselves and grow into confident and competent people?

I suppose what I'm asking is is it a happy school or does it have a bit of a tense competitive feel?

STAGS is a good school.
Obviously being a state school class sizes and resources are more pushed and it’s not selective.
But I know quite a few parents woth girls who went to STAGS and were happy with it.

Not wanting to derail but with people having local knowledge on this thread, would you recommend STAGS St Albans Girls School? In fact how does it compare to STAHS?

We almost didn’t go and see Queenswood because the fees seemed so much more expensive, but if you visit then you would understand why.

The school has 50% day girls, and most definitely not “mostly weekly boarding”. The school day is very long with transport home leaving at 6pm each day (4.30pm on Fridays). That’s two hours a day more at school that St Albans.

Class sizes are much smaller and their fees include a contribution to the capital expenditure programme - the facilities there are top notch. The co-curricular programme is extensive and apart from a few activities with external experts tuition are all included in fees. Sport has an inclusive approach and forms a natural part of the school day - but not just tearing around the hockey pitch, they have things like yoga and casual swimming too. Drama and art are fabulous. Pastoral excellent. Value added in terms of academic results is some of the best in the country with girls at GCSE level getting, on average, grades two times higher than would be expected on entry to the school.

Following entrance exams and offers we had the choice of a Bucks grammar, an academic scholarship at a highly selective independent and Queenswood and we chose Queenswood. BUT we did spend ages deliberating about taking the grammar place. If we had to scrimp and save to afford the fees then honestly, the education you get at independent schools is not worth the £16-£24k a year more. You can supplement a state education with music lessons, club sport, etc. and still be thousands of pounds better off. In the end we have the money and know it is exactly the right school for our daughter. We would have been almost as happy with the grammar though.

Not all schools are equal and it’s about finding best fit for your daughter and yourselves as a family. Look at class sizes, results, facilities etc but ultimately you just “know” if the school is right. Don’t just make it based on reputation or other people’s thoughts.

No. Most girls are not weekly boarders at Q in the younger age groups. Most are day girls and have been for years. Most board by 6th form and quite a few start boarding by y9, but very many are day girls.

Yes, I know Q is expensive but you have to see it as “day boarding”. It appeals to busy working parents who want their girls to get a broad spectrum of activities and actually have the time to do them.

pub yup - it’s a great school.

pub it’s not remotely like people think it is or say it is.
My DD is no genius, just a fairly bright girl.
She played sport and did tons and tons of drama.
She finished at 4pm (Queenswood is weekly boarding - well you don’t have to, but most do, so day girls are the outliers. And it’s miles away from St Albans).
Got the bus there are back, walked into town to get lunch when she was older.
It was just a very normal existence.