Manor Lodge v’s Beechwood Pk prep schools ?

[charbw]

We love in St Albans and have 3 girls. We are in a formate position of choosing between manor lodge and beechwood park schools. Does any have any first hand knowledge to help me know more about either schools , so help us decide what is best fir all 3 girls.
Things like, academics pressures& achievements, sports& music& art. Extra ciricular activities? SEN & Pastarol help if needed?
Especially any insights into the direction of manor lodge in light of the new head this yr?
Many thanks I’m quite new to the area so I’m struggling to get real insights into the differences between the schools.

First of all Beechwood park goes up to age 13 (yr 8) and Manor lodge end at 11yrs (yr 6).

Manor lodge seem the more academic from that point as they prepare children for 11plus entry to seni like Habs, UCS, MT etc
Beechwood park will prepare you more for boarding schools and day schools, (most girls leave in year 6 anyway). But perhaps not as academic Manor.

Best thing is work backwards. What type of senior school do you have in mind? Once you’ve done that, it will be very clear to you which of the two to go for.

Thank you for your reply, I’m not sure about senior schools, but not boarding, and change at 11, to a normal local private school or maybe stags as near us. I’m trying to cater for all 3 , but not know what you’re to are like yet. Eldest is quite academic we think. Do you think manor lodge also is a good school if not as academic ?

my dd1 went there and i was very pleased with the school as a whole (Manor Lodge). The grounds are amazing and the results are good too. teachers were very caring for the children. The kids have 1 games lesson a week (2hrs) and 1 pe lesson (1hr), as well as numerous squads etc. they also have one music and one art lesson a week

Beechwood Park is a stunningly beautiful school and Manor park is no competition in that dept department nor when it comes to facilities. However, if you don't have boarding schools in mind, and you're not interested in doing 13+CE then Manor Lodge is looking like the answer. Before deciding, I would quickly look at numbers from Beechwood Park going to St Albans in recent yrs as well, because if they send many and its geographically closer to you then it might not be totally unreasonable to choose Beechwood.

I notice you also mentioned pastoral care SEN etc. Instinct tells me Beechwood will be a lot better in this department, simply because as a day and boarding school they have to invest more in this than Manor lodge which is a straight day school.

The majority of girls leave Beechwood Park at 11+ as all of the local independent day schools have their main intake at 11, not 13. Those who do stay are those heading to the few boarding co-ed schools which only start from 13. You therefore shouldn’t be put off by the fact the school goes to 13.

Popular girl destinations are St Albans, Berkhamsted, Queenswood and Abbots Hill as well as the Aylesbury grammars. Girls are extremely well prepared. Lovely grounds and facilities and the school works hard to match suggestions for next schools which suit the individual. Lovely country prep atmosphere.

Also, the boarding there is flexi only (no weekend boarding) and is more of a “try before you buy” set up in preparation for next schools as opposed to children there all the time.

Manor Lodge has a real focus on grammars and the north London academic schools (NLCS, Habs, Henrietta Barnett). They do send children to a wide range of schools, but honestly most parents are aiming high. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but means the focus is perhaps more on results than at Beechwood Park.

BP was our first choice school but it was just too far away for us (fine from where we live but we both work in totally the opposite direction making pickups and drop offs a bit of a nightmare).

For a school that best fits the needs of three children then I would head to BP.