Latymer or Henrietta Barnett

According to the Gvt stats Latymer is 56% boys so hardly two thirds.

There was one recent cohort where the two thirds thing was true (now through the school and left though) and after that they made a big effort to attract more girls, and I believe also tweaked the nature of the entrance test slightly to make it more "girl-friendly".
It has had a female head for the last ten years (just retired) and she made it her mission to improve the ratio.

I wouldn't be counting on the heath shortcut in the dark months but it does sound like a better option for you on paper, if she gets in. Both are good though and all schools send out warnings around phones in the area etc. There really isn't many big secondary schools immediately next to Latymer, it's just Aylward and lots of primary schools so its busy with adults picking up their kids at home time. People only comment on the safety of the area because it's a poor area. It's not anymore dangerous than Hackney or the city and the kids all stick together. I really don't think they get bothered by any of the local kids as they're known as they geeks that don't live around there.

According to the Gvt stats Latymer is 56% boys so hardly two thirds.

That said, I'd go for HBS. On education boards, I think a keyboard shortcut for 'whichever is nearer' would be useful! Unless you've got really good reasons, always opt for the easier journey and that sounds like HBS, although there's not much in it.

I knew parents who had the choice of SHHS a five minute walk away and NLCS a long journey away for their 4-year-old. They chose the latter and I remember thinking what it could possibly offer to compensate for those two hours every day and fewer children nearby... you couldn't even argue that the poor child would end up with an extra 9 in her GSCEs in 10 years time.

My dd1 is at Latymer and although it is boy heavy - think her class is 19:13 - she hasn't been too affected by it and has a mixed group of friends.

I haven't heard of any one being put in isolation and don't recognize the description above about disruptive behaviour. There's obviously the odd child who misbehaves but compared to dd2's (all girls) comprehensive, the incidents seem few and far between.

Although they are known for STEM and 2/3 of them do Maths a level, other subjects seem good too and I've been particularly impressed with their language provision, with native speakers and exchanges.

Dd1 has really enjoyed the drama offering - they do plays every year, and lots of her friends are involved in the music events.

On the homework, pushy front, it's pretty light touch for the first 2-3 years but ramps up a lot in yr 10.

The area is rather unlovely though - but I don't think dd1 has ever felt unsafe there, I assume phone muggings happen all over London. There was a spate a couple of years ago but I haven't heard of any recently.

It’s so hard isn’t it? I’d had more opportunities to see Latymer school and more chances to speak to the (lovely and dedicated seeming) teachers there. We’d definitely have been happy with either school, but out Hbs down first as a pipe dream - mainly as all girls and the area is better. I should have said - the friends dd has at Latymer are all really happy there, so I don’t think either school would be a bad choice.

When I’d already done the caf I had some of dd’s teachers say to me ‘oh no! Latymer is fine, but not Hbs! The girls are all so overworked and miserable!’ 🙄 which was really worrying, but that’s been the furthest thing from our experience so far!

What was your gut feeling when visiting the schools? Did you have a preference then? If so put it top and see what happens.

My dd is at Hbs and has friends from her primary school at Latymer, so we know something of them both. So far Hbs has been very supportive and nurturing - lots of emphasis on wellbeing and encouraging the girls to be healthy, independent and motivated. Dd is loving that the lessons are more challenging than primary (she’s very able, but not geeky) and she says that the teachers have been friendly and kind. I like that the school don’t put any emphasis on test/exam results in ks3 and don’t report on them to parents, as they want the girls to focus on general improvement of their work, not on a score.

Dd and her Hbs friends say they haven’t noticed any poor behaviour, whereas her friends at Latymer have commented on disruptive and challenging behaviour in some classes - mainly from the boys, but then it’s just under 1/3 girls to 2/3 boys, so there are more boys to be a nuisance. There has been talk about punishments and isolations already at Latymer, whereas Hbs don’t even give detentions. I asked what happened if eg homework wasn’t done and they said they’d talk to the girl and try to work what the issue was and how to resolve it.

So we’re very happy with the choice we made, but it depends what environment you think would suit your dd, does she prefer mixed classes (mine was ready for a break from boys!) etc.

DS went to Latymer albeit a while ago and we have friends at HBS - the latter is more intense and girls will be stretched more, it's an excellent environment for the right girl, our friends' DD love it. We had a long chat with one of the maths teachers and she's brilliant. The school is not big on sport though - some girls may be sporty (our friends' DD actually is) but I've seen one of the teams and it wasn't impressive. Girls also mentioned their least favourite subject was PE. I guess the families' priorities are different. Some girls do an unusual amount of exams or music - one girl told us she played 8 instruments including violin, as a parent of a musician I would question the quality of such playing but I guess that's how they like to stretch themselves. I'd say the demographic is very ambitious academically and maybe a bit quirky/geeky.

Latymer is not as pushy and feels more "normal" but still a very good school and we found them very supportive of DS's SEN needs (again, that was a while ago). I guess it may be an easier bet than HBS in terms of application priorities as it's less competitive, but I'm not 100% sure as we never had Latymer vs HBS dilemma. As for maths, DS is an autistic maths geek and it was the right school for him, he did lots of FM, olympiads etc and the school organised everything and was generally very pro-active.

Both schools are very STEM heavy so your DD will have to do lots of science as well as maths in any case.

Neither of them are big on football so you would need to do it outside of school.

My DS is at Latymer, although I don't hear much about it, as he's 15. But I've been pretty happy with it. It seems calm and well-ordered compared to DD's state comp. The kids I've met from Latymer have been lovely. The music provision is terrific and drama seems good too.

Cons - the surrounding area is not great and we get warnings from the school about kids needing to keep their phones out of sight while walking to the train station. It's also quite boy-heavy - I think a lot of girls go to City, HBS, Clapton etc which skews the balance.