Habs school for Girls

[youlookalotlikeme]

Hi,

Does anyone have a view on this school - positive or negative?

Considering for my DD (yes, yes, PFB before anyone asks). Have tried asking in Education, but not getting any replies.

TIA

[givemeaclue]

Op is in no way A competitive parent

[GreatAuntMaud]

I thought Dora as soon as I saw the "taught herself the second language" bullshit comment. So she can count to ten in Spanish, great, she knows a second language.

It's nice that you are full of confidence about your DD. I'm sure she's bright and she'll do very well with an involved and interested mum (dad?). I have heard mixed reviews about Habs (and yes I've only ever heard it called that), so best to go and see the school and speak to some current parents and children about it.

[rainonmyparade]

Did she teach you Spanish?

[KellyElly]

Wanting to be a vet and learning Spanish on Dora seem pretty average to me? The vet bit maybe but the op said she speaks it fairly fluently. A self taught (Dora or not) fluent Spanish speaker at three isn't fairly normal - if true it's exceptional.

[exoticfruits]

I don't think that you should underestimate the opposition, especially since many get a tutor these days for 3 yr old tests! Shyness is going to be a handicap.

[IvorHughJackolantern]

Djembe - No, I can't read music!

My parents used to take in students, one of whom was studying music. She played the piano and the flute. We had a piano in our dining room, and she used to sit there and play to me after dinner. I started copying her; I can play most things by ear. I was also turning over the pages at the same places she was, so it looked as though I was following the notes. When my hand span wasn't big enough for what I wanted to do I would install a sister at either end of the piano and shout at them when to push the notes. My parents got incredibly excited and decided I was the new Mozart, something they insisted on for a good few years. However, I have dyscalculia, cannot read music to save my life, and I was never going to pass many grades because of that. I stopped at grade 5.

(sorry for hijack op)

So, it doesn't sound (to me) massively unlikely that a three year old could be capable of learning Spanish on their own. However, I am a very very average 28 year old so I don't think it necessarily means that she is a genius...

[youlookalotlikeme]

Your post actually sums up so much Givemeaclue - you will rip the piss out of me and I don't know how to respond. A few others will be along in a minute and I'll get run off the thread.

And that is what I mean about competitive parenting. I'm not up for the fight, and neither is my DD. We're quiet. Keep ourselves to ourselves.

I asked for advice, fair enough I asked in AIBU so I will take the kicking.

I am not that 'mum' at school who gets everything right. DD is bright, but she is not bossy and neither am I.

[KellyElly]

There is nothing on google about a three year old teaching themselves a second language to a fluent level. Either you are exaggerating how well she speaks Spanish/and or have had a hand in it or your child is a genius.

[ATaleOfTwoCities]

Shyness for sure will be a problem. I know many bright girls who have gone through the process. The confident ones get in the shy ones don't. Search threads here on nlcs and habs it comes up every time.

[Clytaemnestra]

I think your problem is that you're painting a picture of a tiny genius who plays moonlight sonata while cantering on a wild stallion and conversing with adults in spanish like a native.

If you'd said she's very bright, she seems to pick languages up well, is confident enough to be lead round on a rope on a shetland pony and can pick out a tune one fingered on the piano, then it would probably be more accurate. And you'd sound a bit less mad.

Be very careful with the Spanish, if you're loading her up with DVDs and Rosetta Stone for babies kind of stuff. If you haven't got a fluent (pref native speaker) talking with her regularly then she's missing a huge chunk of the way we learn languages, no one is correcting her mistakes - so you might end up doing more harm than good.

[RebeccaMumsnet]

Hi all,

We are going to move this thread over education now, as it is not an AIBU thread.

[jammietart]

She must have watched a shed load of Dora which in itself is an achievement!

[KellyElly]

you're painting a picture of a tiny genius who plays moonlight sonata while cantering on a wild stallion and conversing with adults in spanish like a native. that's exactly what I'm picturing

[seeker]

Just to say, Op- and this is not meant to be an attack of any sort, but a comment based on my own knowledge base, I would be very wary of a riding teacher that was happy for a 3 year old to canter. Many people believe that 3 is the youngest anyone should start to learn to ride because that is when the ligaments in the pelvis are firm enough to be sure you're not doing any damage. And unless she is incredibly tall for her age, I doubt if her legs are long enough to have proper control of even the smallest pony. Even the ploddiest of ponies gets increasingly unpredictable the faster they go, and a fall at a canter is by definition likely to be worse than one at a walk. So I would put q stop to the cantering until she's older. And I practically never say that about physical things!

[youlookalotlikeme]

This was never about her intelligence, but about schools.

It would seem her natural shyness - she would struggle to speak confidently in public and certainly part of the group - will count her out of being in that environment anyway. and I want her - more than anything - to be happy.

I'll still have a little genius who can play the piano, ride a horse, ski (I haven't mentioned that, have I?) and speak - perhaps badly, but enough to be understood - a second language. But I'll have a happy one.

Berkhamsted would seem the strongest option.

[ReallyTired]

I think that parents having confidence in their children is wonderful, even if its funny at times.

My daughter went to gymnastics with a lovely little girl from Berkhamstead Prep school. I got the impression that academically they were not ahead of dd's state school nursery. The children I have met have all been impecibably well manered and charming.

St Albans girls has a very good repruation, but it is not automatic for a girl to be given a place in the secondary school. Royal Masonic, St Helens, Abbots Hill are all good schools and the same area.

I think you have to consider the logistics of how your daughter is going to get to school and back. If she has a long a journery then she will have less time for horse riding, playing a musical instrument, -watching- -Dora- learning spanish. It may well be better to choose a school on proximity and then try for habs at the age eleven.

[exoticfruits]

Three year olds do pick up language easily. A friend of mine lived in Germany at that age and used to translate for her parents-however they moved back to the UK after a couple of years and she had lost it all by 11yrs. Early achievements don't necessarily last.

[difficultpickle]

If you don't speak Spanish how do you know your dd is actually speaking Spanish rather than just making up words?

As for a 3 yr old riding a horse all I can say is she must be exceptionally tall for her age. Ds (who is very tall for his age) rode a horse by accident in his riding lesson when he was 6 (the riding school had confused him with a 13 yr old boy with the same first name). For some reason the instructor didn't switch him to a pony and ds had to canter around an indoor school on a 15.2 horse where his feet didn't come below the saddle. He started riding at 4 so had been riding for 2.5 years when this happened and even then he struggled to stay in the saddle (managed it fortunately).

She sounds exceptional and I'm truly amazed that she has taught you to speak Spanish too. Incredible. In fact so incredible I am nearly crying with laughter happiness.

[GreatAuntMaud]

The one that speaks - quite fluently -2 languages,

and speak - perhaps badly, but enough to be understood - a second language.

Is it the same child you're talking about?

[WilsonFrickett]

OP, and I say this with love. She's not academic in any given sense of the word. She learned some Spanish off the TV, her spanish-speaking mother encouraged it. That's brilliant, well done her, but all that means is she's able to speak some Spanish. It doesn't mean she's academic, or we wouldn't get bi and even tri-lingual children who aren't academic. And we do.

She plays the piano - again, brilliant, but that just means she has a good ear and the ability to focus and concentrate. Again, all good things that point well for her future but it doesn't make her academic.

As for ambitious - she wants to be a vet - my DS wants to be an astronaut, after he's been a doctor for 10 years, he's just not sure if that should come before or after his professional footballing career.

I believe you when you say you aren't competitive, but you are coming across as more than a little bit PFB. She's good at some stuff, brilliant. Leave it at that. Don't project her future doctorate. Because you'll be the one that ends up disappointed.

[seeker]

Op- could you confirm that you read my post about riding for very little children? I'm worried about your dd now.

[WilsonFrickett]

She is, I grant you, not your average 3YO

I think she sounds exactly like your average 3yo. Apart from the horseriding.

[winnybella]

YY WilsonFrickett, my DD is 3.5 and trilingual and I don't see any signs of a genius in her. Bright, yes, but nothing to suggest exceptional ability. So picking up a bit of a second language at this age is nothing amazing, I'm afraid.