St Albans, JAGS or Bromley High?

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Posting on behalf of friends who are able to relocate to areas close to these schools and are looking at 7+ and 11+ entry for their daughters.
I can give them a little bit of insight into Y3 at JAPS but know nothing of the others orJAGS.
They have ruled out SW London schools as it would be too far from family for both of them.
The girls are bright, probably above average in the selective sector but not off the scale, IYSWIM.
I am not in a position to discuss pros and cons of private versus state or single sex versus mixed on their behalf!
Thanks in advance.

those are quite diverse schools geographically and academically - not sure many people will be able to compare and contrast them?

It's an odd shortlist really? St Albans is waaay north of London and the other 2 are SE London. If considering St Albans, the natural comparisons would be the N London schools - have they ruled out South Hampstead/Habs/NLCS?

Jags scores far more highly than the other 2 in exam results - and has a great head. it doesn't often find itself being compared to Bromley?

It’s about 2 hours from St Albans to Bromley in rush hour - maybe more

lauriefairycake - the school is St Alban's Girls', an independent school. They would move up there if they got a place at that school, not if they got a place at JAGS or Bromley High.

TJsAunt - yes, geographically disparate, but they would be able to commute to work from either area. The local housing would be out of their budget near the North London schools and they don't want their girls to have a long commute to their schools.

There are a lot of really good girls schools all over Greater London, surely they don't have to move house (the prep sector in SW London isn't full despite the impression the registrars give).

As mentioned in OP, the SW schools are awkwardly located for their families.

If anyone has positive/negative experiences about these three schools (St. Alban's Girls, JAGS, Bromley High), which you think are worth considering then they would be grateful to hear from you - feel free to message me.
Thanks

I dont know Bromley at all. I know girls at both St Albans and JAGS. Both are great schools and are academically selective, JAGS more so. I agree, though, that it is an odd selection. If they would move for St Albans, why not also consider other North London (or north of London) schools such as Habs girls and NLCS? It is very hard to see the common thread in these 3 schools in order to focus on aspects which may be particularly important to them. Why have they shortlisted these 3, other than that they are not in SW London which applies to many other schools)

I am grateful for you all answering so far, but none of the questions posed in the responses are relevant to the original question asked. However, clearly the same questions will be asked again...

Family near St Albans and family in Kent - they would like be near one set of family
they rather didn't have their girls commute to school and would prefer to live locally
Homes in north London are out of their budget
They work in central London so can easily travel in from both ends.
They are in a position to move and so the locations have been narrowed down base on the above and so it comes down to the schools (and any subsequent success in assessments).

So in summary, the point of this thread is not to find a common link, work out my friends motives for the choice of schools etc, scratch heads about location etc but to ask for reviews from those that have experience of these three schools. Thanks

My information is a few years out of date and have no idea about st Albans but JAPs had a reputation of being an academically rigorous nice enough school. It had a reputation of being slightly more old fashioned in ethos than the neighbouring Alleyns. Bromley High is a member of the GPDST group of schools which have a good reputation for girls schools. They tend to turn out confident, forward thinking, empathetic girls and Bromley high is one of the most academic of the brand and tends to do very well in terms of onward destinations (some go into Orpington for the Grammars, many scholarships) and very good results continuing up the school.

Bromley High less selective than JAGS and results reflect this. However, friends daughters are happy at both.

Thank you

St Alban's Girls prep is nice but note that it's in Berkhampstead, not St Alban's where the high school is. This may be relevant to them as they plan their housing.
It is a bit hothousey but that is what the parents want to a large degree. You are almost but not quite guaranteed a place at the high school.

Sorry for the superfluous apostrophes in the last post - I am on a phone

Jags hands down

Thanks both.
FanDabby - there was a distinct lack of apostrophes in my posts so we are even.
That's useful info about the locations of the junior & senior - is one area considered better than the other and is it easy to get between the two?
Do you know roughly how many do not make the cut to get into the seniors and whether they know this well in advance of the assessment (i.e. based on their ability over the course of the junior school) so they can plan alternative schools?

mariniere - I like how definitive you are - are you able to explain why? Feel free to PM me if you prefer.
TIA

Some inaccuracies here.. St Albans high school for girls' prep is in wheathampstead not berkhampstead. St Albans girls school is a state school.

Who will have had experience of all these 3 schools? Your friends need to visit them and ask lots of questions.

I'm intrigued as to why they have narrowed it down to 3 very different schools many miles apart?

For JAGS they will be competing with every smart girl in SW London. It is extremely selective, shrinking wallflowers won’t flourish there. Unless the girl is extremely bright, always top of the class, she will be unlikely to get into JAGS. I do hear chat about most of them being anorexic but that’s purely anecdotal.

Ahhh - thanks for the info about personality types, I'll pass that on and the anecdotal talk of anorexia so at least they can delve into that a bit further.

A580 - I don't think there is much point in answering your question...

Aaah I don't think that is correct about JAGS. The girls we know who go there are bright, but not exceptionally so. One or two are not super confident.

As someone with current and firsthand knowledge of JAGS, it is a school that welcomes a wide range of personality types. My daughter's year is by no means full of 'alpha' girls - there is the usual mixture of extroverts and introverts, and her friends are a lovely down-to-earth kind and fun group. As for the anecdotal gossip, my daughter just laughs at the suggestion that anorexia is rife at her school! Every class we know of organises their own cake rota, cake being very popular amongst the girls! Of course, as in any school these days, there are likely to be a few pupils with eating disorders - but my daughter doesn't personally know anyone at JAGS who is suffering, and it really isn't that common. The pastoral care has been very good in our experience, so please don't be put off by out-of-date or inaccurate anecdotal information!

My very limited current knowledge of St Albans High School for Girls, both parts, is that girls are competitive, which is encouraged by positions in class being openly discussed, rather hothousey & inclined to manage out post GCSE who don't look able to get the highest scores at A level. Usual levels of ED & self harming.
The only thing that is a little unusual about it in the context of highly academic girls' schools around London is the super competitiveness from early on.
NB Based on experiences of 2 sisters only who are there now. They love all their opportunities & extra curricular, which means lots of parental driving in their case.

BTW never expected to write 'Usual levels of ED & self harming' about any school when first a parent...

St Albans high school for girls' prep is in wheathampstead not berkhampstead. St Albans girls school is a state school.

This is correct, but you've missed out the independent secondary school that follows on from the prep school in Wheathampsted. There are two secondary girls schools in St Albans with almost identical names - one is state, the other private. St Albans High School for Girls (private) is on Townsend Ave in St Albans and St Albans Girls School (state) is on Sandridgebury Lane.