devonshire house or northbridge house or hampstead hill

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Hello , my son is 2.5yr and go offers for those 3 schools. Any thoughts? my husband is not keen on sending him to HH because of the 7yr exam - but I read so many negative reviews on NBH that we are unsure. NBH and DVH as well seem to be referred to " back up options" and while DVH seems to have better reviews the actual 13+ entrance exam are less good for boys ( and less diversified - they mostly all go to Mill Hill while few go to UCS) - I heard as well both schools are seeing changes ( DVH putting more and more children per class) and NBH pushing for their new Hampstead snr school. Any thoughts? need to give answer to DVH this week!

I'd go for HH, bite the 7+ bullet then you're sorted. 11 and 13 are worse.

I would go for Devonshire house if you're husband not keen on HH. It depends whether you want to do the 7+ and go for a highgate, ucs type at 7... HH is all about gearing up for 7+. wouldn't run towards NBH

Are you on the waiting list for any other schools? Could you put him in a nursery school (e.g. Broadhurst) and then try again next year for a better school? Maybe you could ask to "defer" one of your options as "you don't feel he's ready for a school environment"

Hello buzzingmama, so it seems in line with parents feedback but for some reason if you look at results for 13+ for boys they seem to be quite exceptional they all go to city, UCs, Westminster etc and actually those results ( 2017,2016) are better than even schools like Arnold or the hall so I m really confused why everyone I talk to hate it. DVH everyone seems to say it s better but actually they all end up at Mill Hill which is good but quite concentrated. What was your feedback on NBH?

Hello underneatheast, well we preferred co Ed . So actually in the area you have DVH, NBH, HH ,Heathside but tbh i haven’t looked at it properly - not sure if you know it. Trevor Roberts we forgot about it so too late and same for Highgate where next point entry is 7

What was your feelings when looking around DVH and NBH? Did you get good feelings in both? AT NBH, I assume you would want him to stay in the class that prepares for 13+ common entrance.. you're right that they get good results. I don't have any personal experience with either but my kids attended other local schools and have had friends in each and played sport against each. I just always got a great, friendly feel from DVH. I am surprised though that so many end up at MH. I didn't know so many did

Buzzingmamma- i think I will revisit both schools. Tbh I didn’t like that much the fact that at DVH we were tones of parents at the same time rather than a smaller visit felt a bit impersonal - I really would love to have someone from NBH telling me why they don’t like it !

A couple of things to consider maybe- NBH prep is on another site, yes there is a shuttle, but a number of parents I know moved their kids away from NBH to more local schools since not so keen on the commute.
DHS has a varied list of senior schools that kids go to. I think the demographic is quite different. Do not forget that NBH is often a fall back for many kids sitting 7+, who perhaps live centrally and their aspiration is to attend the central schools like WU, City. They actively advertise the exam preparation, streaming those wishing to enter more competitive schools. DHS does not have a 7+ intake, yes they accept new kids each year, but that is due to natural attrition.
The spread of schools is rather the same, both send to UCS, WU, SP but this varies by year. NHB have a largeish contingent going to their senior school (both boys and girls), which could be seen as (arguable) a rung below MH. So really, with these things, one can read the results in many ways!

Thank you princessna - what do you mean by dvh has a different demographic? I just seem to see that NBH sends many more to UCS, haberdasher,Taylor’s , Westminster seems more varied. So you would say the teaching is better in DvH than NBH ? Have you sent your kids there ? I m just very undecided !

Basically I was trying to understand which one was better regarding the quality of the teaching and i was wondering if the result of 13+fr boys was a good barometer and if my read on the results was correct

And what do you mean by the advertise the exam prep does it mean they prep them well or find families whose ambition is to go to those schools and probably top up with tutors and co and dvh kids don’t necessarily want to go to such schools?