Mill Hill School (Academic)

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Anybody knows what's going on in Mill Hill School with the new head? There are new teachers with little or no teaching experience.

Some private schools are sending out letters offering up to 20% off fees, they are able to "furlough" staff who are unable to work into the Govt scheme and have their salaries paid up to 80%, ie drivers, cooks, some TA's. There is also the suspension of business rates for nurseries and all nurseries will receive their EEF payment in April.
A large national school group with a school in Surbiton have offered core fees only for Summer term & a discount in Autumn term to reflect savings made.

Anybody knows who will be the next academic deputy head of Mill Hill from September?

It's a bit clearer now. Most school have offered around 15% off next term's fees. Some a bit more, some a bit less. Highgate have said they won't decide til May and over 150 parents have signed a letter telling them that isn't acceptable. 15% seems a reasonably amount to achieve from furloughing some staff etc.

I’m looking at Belmont/mill hill and I really like it. Belmont I’m blown away by - Mill Hill seemed fine. But the important thing is that I have numerous friends with children there/past pupils and one common thread is that they all love it and are very happy. So it may not be the most academic school - is that such a bad thing? Are results everything? I’d much prefer my children to be comfortably academically - rather than struggling behind children that have been tutored to get into the more academic schools. We are applying for all and I have done all the open days and Belmont left me most excited. Highgate left me cold and I liked ucs but have heard it’s impossible to get into. Any recent feedback on mill hill?

@VillageCats is spot on.....

Mill Hill (and Belmont) is generally the fall back position for common entrance students.

Its never been academic .... great sports facilities but nowhere near other schools academically.

Jane the Head is a PE teacher....says it all really !

Is there anyone whose children were there in the lockdown? How did they handle it? Was it well organised from the start? Did they do live lessons from the start? Did any parents get to hear the teaching? Are they innovative enough to cope with difficult situations?

What is the quality of the teaching like in general?

One of the teachers who joined Year 3 recently taught my DS in a COE school. She was atrocious -- called children names in front of the class and didn't come across particularly intelligent. (She was a PE teacher but still allowed to teach English and Maths! Badly.) I was really disappointed when she got hired by Belmont.

My son just got his results before the 6th form, almost 6 sixes - that wasn't enough, they kicked him
Out by phone. Literally - you are not good for us anymore, f… off.
Instead of putting some effort into their own they rather accept outsiders so they can claim they did well. Disgrace. Shameful. Do not send your children there. 0 communication with the teachers, 0 help. 0 consideration.

Horrible school. No communication, no consideration. Waste of time and money.

It is a very good school. It’s not horrible. Its well known for the excellent pastoral care. Things got better after a previous academic head (AF) left. He was not good. The academics went down when he was the deputy head.
Im really sorry to hear your experience. If you make an appointment with someone, I’m sure they will listen to what you want to say.

Its a large school so most kids experiences will differ. One mans trash is another man's treasure etc. Close friends have a DS there. Absolute nightmare with pastoral care. Allowed to hide in the toilets for weeks on end without anyone noticing, spending all day in the medical room with 30 odd others, being able to walk out of the school just by saying mums in the car etc. Parents not informed for months about issues. Months spent trying to get a SENCO appointment or a reply. Massive end of year exams happening right after the 3 week Easter holidays with revision resources being really disorganised and crap to be honest. Classes aren't that small. Similar to state so 24-27 in a class. Lots of others, mostly girls, with similar issues so I really wouldn't rate this for the more difficult teens. Trouble is you don't know if yours will be difficult when you join. I think lots of schools, incl state, deal with these sorts of kids far better. Their other very sport DS 2 years above had no issues however and loved it.
They're getting a new head in Jan, coming from the super strict end of the state sector so I imagine there will be a huge shakeup in expectations of behaviour and academics.
At the moment it does seem that Belmont is really heavily feeding them and it's reputation is propping it up. Lots of parents decide not to go for Belmont though, due to not wanting Mill Hill. Hopefully that'll change as the facilities are really amazing and it's a great school for the right child.

I have two (very different!) children at Mill Hill and only have praise for the school. I imagine they did it by phone as was during the holidays and they will of course follow up with a meeting. But regardless, sorry to hear about your experience.