Belmont / Mill Hill School URGENT!!!!!

[BOY131]

DS has an offer from Belmont which needs to reply by 19 Feb!

He is currently at Holland House but new head just landed with a lot of changes, so thinking to change school...

Update on Belmont is therefore urgently required!

Thanks

i saw a friend yestereday whose daughter is at belmont. all i can tell you is that they are very happy/the daughter loves it

Holland house is an academic hothouse as you’ll know. Belmont isn’t. Depends on what you’re looking for. Belmont won’t prep if you want to leave, Holland house will do nothing but prep so friends whether that works for you. If you’re looking to do 11+ you’re better to go find the Radlett prep route, they always have places.

I just had a look at the profile of the new head and on paper she sounds great. What changes is she making that people are unhappy with?

DS has been doing fine and seems happy in Holland House so far. The ‘hard work’ doesn’t bother him and at the same time we do not expect too much ‘activities’ as it’s a small school. It was very clear under the old head teacher that she would do all she could with the limited resources and would not go further to please the authorities and the parents. It seems the new head is trying to be a bit all round and there have been so many minor changes but could be disturbing to the daily routine. We go for Holland House because we knew they work only on academic... but if it is not anymore, we are thinking to move him to a real all round school with all the facilities...

We know if he goes to Belmont he is likely to be there till the end... but just want to know how the senior school is doing recently... if the academic side has improved in the past few years...

Although we sent him to a hot house originally, as he is older now, we are actually having a second thought if this route is for him even he is doing well with no extra help at home!

I'd look hard at Mill Hills results at GCSE/A level....last time I looked it was pretty unimpressive for a selective school and they weren't even beating all the comps.

I was put with friends last night who were talking about the new head and the changes she was making. To me it sounded good but then I was put off HH by the old head and the regime there. Mill Hill County has better results than Mill Hill school so I would ask whether it’s worth the £20k a year if you could get into mill hill county for free.

Mill HIll is non-selective so of course its results won't compare with the selectives. Wonderful school with lots of opportunities for a variety of kids - very happy. Top kids get stretched, bottom kids get help.

If Mill Hill is non-selective that's a very new change as I know kids who sat both the 11+ and 7+ for Belmont/Mill Hill last year. It has resources that far outstrip any of the local comps and should be outscoring them by miles....

Academically non- selective so obvs their results wont compare with all the uber selective academic schools

But it is academically selective....and their results are worse than the local state comps which are truly non selective.

No it's not academically selective - they take kids from a variety of academic bands. Many of the brightest kids in the independent sector are in super-selective schools so yes, their results can't compare with those. The same is true of the local state comps which mostly retain their brightest kids. SO if you care only about results it will not be a good fit - but it tuns out very happy, well-rounded kids who love school - including many boys who are 'late-starters' and go on to excel later. And their music department is exceptional!

In what way is Mill Hill not selective??? They do the 7+, 11+ and 13+. I know several kids that were told they didn’t ‘pass’ this year. Non selective would mean no academic test.

MH do select at those stages and the selection process is becoming increasingly difficult to get through. However, the current gcse and a-level results represent children who may have joined the foundation over a decade ago, when selection was different. Even so, the grades are still good; they did in 2017, for what it's worth, 'beat' the local non-selective state comprehensive schools and are high up in the borough's league table. It's not a super selective hothouse but a place where children can reach their potential in a wider range of abilities.

Hi everyone, we are thinking of applying to Belmont 7+ place. Does anybody know how difficult the assessment is? What are they looking for? How are the interviews conducted?

details of process are all on their website, they see everyone for a full morning which includes a maths/english/reasoning test and group activities

ScorpioMum - three years ago now but our some sat for Belmont. He was asked to read with a teacher. Do some writing comprehension and a short story. Maths test. Chat 1-2-1 with a teacher. Cannot recall if they did verbal or NV reasoning. It was quite relaxed. As poster above says 1/2 day. My son enjoyed it and thought it was quite fun. It was less challenging than some of the other schools where it was all a bit more formal and time pressured for the exams. As others have said, lovely balanced school. Not super academic but does really depend what you want and what suits your child. Good luck

Thank you all, thank you CB2009. Did you go for Belmont or some other school?

@BOY131, did you send your DS to Belmont Mill Hill in the end? If yes, how do you find it?

Our son does not go to Belmont so sorry unable to help further. Hopefully others can help