Berkhamsted schools - help please!

[teetering]

We are moving to the Berkhamsted area and wonder if anyone can give any further insights to: Berkhamsted Collegiate Prep School, Westbrook Hay Prep School and The Beacon School in Chesham Bois? It's hard to get an inside view when all you can do is read a review and do a quick tour etc.

If there are any other schools (state or private) that anyone can recommend, please do share!

Thanks!

Also, the London Road in Bourne End is significantly quieter since the by-pass opened a few years back. The enarest place for a pint of milk would be the petrol station, but still a hike, depending on which end of the (long) village you live.

Luton is proving an emotive issue! Good for flights, if nothing else!

Thanks Clam, I do hope the traffic won't be too manic on the London Road.

Swedes you are hardcore to have 4 kids, in such diverse age groups with all the respective challenges that can come with them!

I always wonder what OFSTED reports mean when they describe a school as 'good value for money'. No one is paying to go there....or do they mean the taxpayer?!

And thanks for the BBC secondary schools link Swedes. Does anyone know if there is any way of comparing results of private preps and state primaries?! As far as I am aware, it's not possible...

A lot of the state primaries round this area are outstanding in Ofsted reports but I don't know of a way to compare with the independant sector.

JFK (secondary, state) in Hemel just got Outstanding

I don't know anything about the school, but everyone I've ever heard talk about JFK has RAVED about it and said it's great.

is it Catholic?

yes, i'm afraid it's Catholic. my ds is there. the pastoral care is fabulous. it's a big school but the head of year seems to know my ds very very well indeed (and no,it's not for all the wrong reasons)!!

teetering - difficult with primaries and preps as they are totally different. I really like this school I know quite a few girls who go there and they absolutely adore school - everything about it. They seem to spend their lives creating art, music, meeting authors and putting on plays. I love everything about it. It was named best small prep school by the Sunday Times last year. However, my youngest (18 months) is a boy and would not be able to go there. I am therefore torn as I would like them to go to school together, because they are in consecutive years. But perhaps that's silly.

Also I think you can get away with not paying for primary but you don't get the sort of thing St Hilda's offers.

I didn't pay for primary for my sons and they went to an Ofsted "Outstanding" primary school close by. To be honest I would take the Ofsted "Outstanding" with a very large pinch of salt.

Oh god, I am turning into a ponce.

JFK is great

DD is going to Hemel (the Hemel Hempstead school - 'good' in the Ofsted) in September, it's a good school and she will love being able to walk round the corner to it

i've heard really good things about Hemel Hempstead School.... we would never have got in there, living in Berko tho!

Swedes that looks a lovely school. I have boys, so it's out of the question. Oh, and I don't live in Harpenden (yet)...!

Great that JFK is so good (and there does seem to be a trend for Catholic schools to be 'tighter ships'). I find it depressing when state schools don't do well, as I am demoralised by the inequality for parents who have no other choice but to send their kids there. The whole system is wrong, but that is another debate for another day.

Swedes how did you find yours fared in the entrance exams for St Albans School, having been at a state primary? Any need for special prep like tutoring etc??

I am sure an honest ponce is the best kind

Sugarskyhigh: would you mind me asking is it worth having DS christened Catholic? I am catholic, but hadn't really contemplated having DS christened (Not really a church going catholic!!!!) but I'm wondering whether I should... the catholic schools round here do seem to be the ones with much better reputations?

Well, you could have it done just in case but I couldn't possibly comment!!
tho it's probably best to say 'baptised'

Feck!!! I'm a terrible catholic .

thankyou!!

I didn't have either of them tutored and they are both doing really well. I decided if they couldn't pass without coaching then it probably wasn't the school for them. DS1 is on track to get the nec 4 A grades at A level to do medicine next year. DS2 is in the second year and loves it.

I love everything about their school, even the polyester blazers.

teetering - I am taking a Lenten break from Mumsnet, but if you want to come and look at Harpenden I would be very very happy to show you round. You could come and have lunch with us?

CAT me if you would like to do that. Don't hesitate.

Sorry to run out on you all but Mad Men is on and I am being called.

My dh went to a state primary in Hemel and got a full scholarship to Haberdasher's with no tutoring - finished top in his year

But the OP's kids are pre-school at the moment. My two went to Moor End Farm Kindergarten (on the London Road between Boxmoor and Bourne End, just by the Westbrook Hay entrance). This was a few years back now, but it was fabulous, very outdoorsy, way before that all became standard, and they were very happy there. So was I; it was hard not to take my coat off with them and run off to play too!

My DSDs went there years ago. They only take kids over a year old.

But I think hers are over one. Anyway, she's clearly thinking and planning ahead!

Thanks All. Yes, my 2 monkeys are pre-school, but I find it helpful to hear about all these experiences you and yours have had'are having.

Laurie what did your DH do when he left Hab's as top of his year. I am in the process of interviewing some of the country's brightest graduates, and it's fascinating how they got to where they are.

Moor End Farm Kinder sounds really lovely. Check out its Ofsted report though it had 2 complaints against it.

www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxcare_reports/display/(id)/29428

That was 3 years ago so things might be different. And who can trust these reports anyway?!

Swedes thank you for your helpful offer. A friend happens to own an estate agent in Harpenden and he would probably fight you off for our custom!!!!!!!

Very interesting on the 'no tutoring' front. Brave mothers you are!

Made another trip to Berko today. Viewed a house which is on Shootersway Lane, here:

www.multimap.com/maps/?lat=51.76053&lon=-0.57197&zoomFactor=15#map=51.75988,-0.58459|17|4&bd=useful_ information&loc=GB:51.75907:-0.58455:17|lane%20end,%20hp4|Lane%20End,%20Berkhamsted,%20Hertfordshire ,%20England,%20HP4%203

Estate agent said it's a 20-min walk to the station, but would you agree? I would have done it myself but was too tired!

If you lived there would you think it too far to walk to shops, and might as well be in a village etc where you need the car for groceries etc anyway??

No I would say it probaly at least 30min if not 45mins the train station is the other side of the town centre.

And apparently that house is in catchment for Greenway Primary. If anyone has any experience of the school I'd love to know. Thanks.

Close enough to walk to town but too far for the train station.

I don't have any personal experience of Greenway but it does have an excellent reputation and is usually very oversubscribed. I hear the head teacher is leaving at the end of the year.

Berko was very busy yesterday! We escaped as it was too hectic for us, walked to Ivinghoe Beacon, another plus for Berkhamsted is that it is surrounded by beautiful countryside. What did you get up to on your visit?

Well, you might manage to get into town in 20 minutes, but it'd sure-as-Hell take you a lot longer puffing back up the hill!