Can't decide between St Joseph in the park and Duncombe

[Ayenoya]

We are looking to send our DS to an independent prep school and cant choose between St Joseph in the park and Duncombe. We live in the Broxbourne area and have narrowed our options to these two. My husband and I work full time in London and these are the closest schools that would allow us manage school runs. This is new territory for us and any information about these schools will be most appreciated.

Hi OP! Just bumping this for you.

thanks :)

With prep school it’s usually best to work backwards. What kind of secondary education do you see for your dc? Grammar school?local Comprehensive? Day independent senior school? Boarding school? Public school? Once you have answers to these, it will become clearer which prep to choose, all other things being equal.

Also any reason why you’re not considering Health Mount?

Thanks for your comment Pilatesbunny . At the moment, I am leaning towards a grammar school or day independent for his secondary education. With prep school, I didn't really consider heath mount because its a bit further out and may make commuting to work a challenge. Are you suggesting that Heath Mount is a better school?

Heathmount is a very different school as it goes up to 13 and most children do Common Entrance for 13 plus entry to schools but some do leave at 11 for State and Private schools. It also does boarding and has more in terms of facilities.

The other 2 send all the children at 11 to a mix of state and private. They are both lovely schools. Have you done the school run in the rush hour? That would be the deciding factor for me and at least with St Josephs you can take the back roads through Broxbourne Woods if the A10 is congested whereas you can’t really avoid the centre of Hertford for Duncome which is a traffic nightmare in rush hour.

BTW there are no Grammar Schools in Broxbourne your nearest would by Latymer in Enfield which again awful traffic to contend with.

Are you suggesting that Heath Mount is a better school?

Like I said, it all depends on what you have in mind for secondary and how academic your child is. Heath Mount is more rigorous and also prepares children for boarding schools as well as day. They do send a lot of children to the local independent schools eg Bishops Stortford College, Haileybury & St Edmunds but not exclusively. BS and St Edmunds also have their own prep schools which I notice you haven't mentioned, but perhaps that is because of distance. If you are considering local independent schools is there any reason why you're not considering these schools? perhaps you don't want a school that goes through from age 4-18yrs? or perhaps you just don't know about them?

It's not as easy as saying one school is better than another, it all depends on what YOU are looking for.

Without knowing anything about your preferences and your child, St Jospeh's in the park and Duncombe are 'nice' schools. They are not the most academic in the area but will probably get you into a local day independent school but they do send a lot of children to partially selective comprehensives in the area eg Simon Balle, John Hale, Broxbourne school. I wouldn't send a very academic/heading for grammar school dc there. Broxbourne like the previous poster said, is not a grammar school area, so they are not geared up for this.

I would advise taking a look at their 'Leavers destination' page for each prep to see where their student go to when they leave to steer you in the right direction. However, from experience of this whole process, the schools who aren't terribly academic tends to bunch all the schools they've EVER sent children to under one heading, 'Common school we send children to", which is euphemism for we don't send children to the top schools regularly but we have sent some before. The more rigorous schools tend to lay out actual numbers of children they have sent to which senior school for each year.

Many thanks for your messages.

The main reason we have st Joseph on the top of our list is the proximity it affords us for school runs and commuting to work.

Ideally, I would like my dc to go to a selective grammar or independent secondary school none of which is available in the Broxbourne area meaning we might have to expand our options beyond our comfort zone.

From the comments above, there are clearly many other factors we seem to have overlooked so I guess its back to the drawing board for now.

How old is your son. If you are looking for Nursery/Reception then if really too early to judge how academic he is and whether or not he may have SEN. I would just go for the school that has the best feel about it and the most convenient and if for instance if you felt the school wasn’t challenging enough move him at 7 which is a natural entry point to a through school or Heathmount which despite what is said I know from experience places come up all the time.

If you drive into London Haberdashers could be an option for you too?

Don’t dismiss the State schools in Hertford and The Broxbourne school either, although not grammar their results are far better than the Independents in the area you are looking at.

He is 3 going on 4 in July. I know he is still young and a bit too early to judge his academic ability. I'm just trying to make informed decisions early enough. I may be wrong but I think the independent prep environment will give him a better chance at a well rounded education with smaller class sizes, the facilities and wider range of sporting activities.

Who knows, he may get a similar experience from what I describe above in a state school which is why I'm looking to tap from some of your experiences. I really appreciate all your comments.

P.S I don't drive into London.

Since he is so young, my advice would be to send him to a state school until yr 3. There are some very good primary schools local to you eg Broxbourne CE, Sheredes, St cross, St Augustines. There's nothing special a prep will offer at this age. After yr 2 transfer him to a prep school by which time you hopefully will be able to make a more informed decision. Make sure you work backwards! think what kind of secondary school do i want him to go to? then find a prep school (all other things being equal, good pastoral, least distance etc) that feeds into it. Also it would help if you can decide how far are you are willing to travel and in what direction. This will help with recommending schools.

I agree with PilatesBunny if you can get into Shredes for example it is the best performing school in Herts. The sports, music, drama etc don’t really kick in at Prep until Year 3 and in all honesty a good state will offer the same all round education. By year 3 you will have a better idea of the type of school that will suit best ie if he is super academic or has any learning difficulties and if there is any Sen avoid private like the plague as they are not geared up and you will need very deep pockets for any support needed.

I have been through both systems for my dc and have found amazing and appalling teaching in both sectors. A private prep does not guarantee superior teaching and experiences, it’s the luck of the draw.

@PilatesBunny thank you so so much. Your advice has been very well taken and appreciated. I will explore our local school options and work backwards. I like the idea of a transfer in year 3. It will give me even more time to plan better.
Thanks again :)

Good luck it is daunting but we are lucky to
have great choices in Herts in both sectors.

@Bellisima234 thank you so much. Even better that you have been through both systems. I definitely appreciate and value your advice.

You're welcome. Just to add, if perchance you decide to go for a local state school, you are in good proximity of Broxbourne music centre, located inside Broxbourne school itself and run by the Herts county. They run a plethora of lessons there covering all kinds of instruments. You could pop in there to find out what age they take them from but i think its around 6/7yrs and of course you probably know, you also have Broxbourne tennis and swimming club nearby too. So like @bellisima said, you have lots of choice. Good luck!

That's very useful information. You've all been extremely helpful. Thanks.

My husband and I live next to Broxbourne and commute into London for work. Our DS is a pre-prep pupil at Heath Mount and we’ve never found the commute a problem as they have a fabulous breakfast club and after school crèche. Another benefit is that as the prep school offers boarding, there are always staff on site and this offers peace of mind in case our train home from work is cancelled. It’s only happened to us once but was so reassuring to know DS was safe and playing with other children.

@Ayenoya

That's very useful information. You've all been extremely helpful. Thanks.

Hi Ayenoya I’m in exactly the same predicament as you a year on from your original post. I was wondering what decision you ended up making and any advice much appreciated !

Out of all the schools mentioned I would only consider Heath Mount but purely for the sport and art opportunities. None of these schools will prepare your child to the 11+ at selective or academic schools, and def not grammars where competition is like 20-40 kids per place. None of these schools are academic but more like 'nice schools'. You will have to tutor a lot for 11 + or 13entry depends what you decide.

Duncombe feels very cramped. HM at least offers plenty of open space for kids to enjoy.

For an academic school I would consider St Albans independents but that would be too far for you

Hi Ayenoya, I know this is an old thread but wondering which school did you end up going? We are in the same circumstance as you now.