Wheatfields, St John Fisher, Garden Fields JMI and Bernards Heath?

[leelst78]

Hi there,
We will be moving to St Albans next month and I will be visiting all these schools before deciding on the ordering etc for when I apply. My closest is Wheatfields and I have the best chance of getting into that. I would love to get opinions on all these schools.

Wheatfields, Garden Fields and Bernard's Heath are all very good and very oversubscribed, although Garden Fields is just expanding.
There is virtually no chance of you getting in if you don't live in the catchment area.
St John Fisher is supposed to be good, but it is Catholic. Would you qualify?

Hi SaintAlban,

Yes, we would qualify (I think) as the kids are baptised and we attend mass every sunday etc. I work in an independent school and I think I have been slightly shocked to see the difference between state vs sector. Hence why I am going to see a few state schools so i can actually compare like for like. I have heard mixed things about Wheatfields, hence my hesitation and when I went to see it, it was very 'chaotic' and noisy ( I could barely hear myself think). St John Fisher was ok. Much smaller than Wheatfields and seemed to be rundown. I am seeing the other two next week, so lets see what happens. But as you say, schools are so over subscribed that it's not really a question of choice.