Latymer, City, Highgate, UCS 7+ 2021

[Surfermum40]

My DS is sitting for the 7+ exams this year and January 2022. We already have an interview call for city boys. Still waiting to hear Highgate. Any other parents here prepping for 7+ in these school?

@Beena7plus we have to accept/reject places before noon on Wednesday 9 Feb. I know families who have let go of UCS places already. Good luck!

@toni56 We are in exactly the same position as you and kind of leaning towards Highgate but so hard as they are all good schools. Probably can't go wrong with any of them. Have you decided on Highgate?

So much I can relate to here! My top worry with Highgate is that it’s currently trendy and on the up swing while the others (Habs is where we’re leaning) have always been strong. Co-ed is also in fashion. What I’m hearing re: Highgate secondary is that the school has come under pressure for being a former all boys school that “allows” girls in. Obviously this is unfair criticism, but the end result is a major swing to promote and focus on girls’ education and well being. In many ways, rightly so but I also wish to remove my son from the equation altogether. There is a huge fear amongst the senior school boy parents I know of sons being incorrectly labeled in a way that will stick with them for life. This is sensitive stuff and not something I’d discuss openly. I wanted a co-ed education for both my sons but in the end, I imagine we will go with Habs.

Anyone accepting offers at City? I’m still hesitating between Ucs, Highgate and City. I prefer City but Ucs is local…

We have decided on Highgate over Habs. Very difficult to decline all these wonderful offers but in the end feel Highgate is best suited for DS. It ticks all the boxes for a well rounded school including pastoral care (esp since the new head was the Deputy Head of Pastoral) and we realised that is priority over everything else.

Congrats on making your choice!! What a relief!

@Surfermum40 @Toni56 congrats on making your decision. Must be such a relief. I’m sure your children will flourish there. Out of interest how long will your school commutes be for Highgate vs. Habs? We really love Habs and think the education level is a league above the rest, but is it worth the distance? Feels very hard to turn it down ! But Highgate and UCS are local.

@SnoopyForever commute would most likely be 20 mins for us to go to Highgate.

We had ruled out city pretty much from the beginning. We had even considered moving for Latymer and City however after much deliberation we decided it was not worth the move for CLS. There are bound to be teething issues with the new junior school, the onsite sport facilities are not really comparable to the schools we have offers from. Couple of senior school parents have categorically mentioned the academic pressure is daunting and if the child is sporty, they will be in the coach for atleast 40 mins each way to go to Grove park near Bromley quite a few times. Maybe worth going through the above for WUS but not CLS due to exit results purely. Habs and Highgate offered pretty much the same level of academia but had a lot of extras coming along with it. We went with Highgate over Habs due to senior school pressure stories we heard. We genuinely loved Latymer too but the move didnt make sense as neither DH nor me work at that end of town. If Latymer was based in North London, that would be our top choice and therefore all in all, Highgate had our vote!

Goodluck to all esp those on the WL. There should be a lot of movement in the coming week.

@Beena7plus we will be doing it tomorrow. The deadline is Wednesday noon although I believe most parents would have taken this weekend to make the momentous decision and would probably let the schools know tomorrow.:) good luck.

Hi @BelsizeParkMum123 we've accepted a place at City - the location is perfect for us and we found the head very inspiring.

@Mimosa1 Congratulations on your decision! Can I ask where you locate? We are likely to accept City as it’s our nearest. (2 miles) Although I really really like Habs, I may have to turn it down as DH refuses to move.

@Beena7plus I know of a family who was on UCS waitlist having been offered a place. Get your prep school head to put a call in and give them a call. The most eager of parents on reserve list often get the places. Hope that helps.

We have offers from Habs, Highgate and UCS. It’s a fine balance between UCS and Habs. We’ve already declined Highgate to free up for reserve list.

Just to update- We have released all our places this morning. Good luck to those on WL!

We declined Highgate this morning. Fingers crossed for those on the WL.

Hi @7plus11 I will PM you