St Martins School Mill Hill

[shiney01]

Hi. Does anyone have children at this school, or know anyone with children there? I'm in an absolute quandry about whether to push ourselves financially to send our son here which I'm happy to do if the benefits of a smaller private school are worth it. I know there are some decent state schools not too far away (Frith Manor, Moss Hall) which we are also considering but they are much larger.

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through a similar decision.

Thanks.

we visited St Martin's when looking at schools in the area. It is extremely small, the classrooms are tiny, there is no room to move around or to sit on the carpet and the playground, which is just a back garden, is mostly taken up with sheds being used as classrooms. It clearly hasn't had a penny spent on it in years, the library for example is a disgrace IMO but the fees are very low. However, it is bright and cheerful, has a good ICT suite and they do make use of Mill Hill Park for sports. It is academically sound, if not a little old fashioned, and is heavy on homework from the start but the children go on to good schools at 11. Having said all of that it had a good feel and was very warm and welcoming in a slightly chaotic family sort of way and we did consider it for our DD. I also have a DS and I think that he would have found the lack of space quite claustrophobic and wouldn't have liked it there much. The state schools certainly had far superior facilities to St Martin's but go and see it, I have probably painted a negative picture but it's a sweet school and the parents I have spoken to with children there are very pleased with it.

Thanks. That's helpful. We are going to visit next week, along with the state schools. Out of interest, which school did you choose?