SHHS or Highgate?

[elbelle19]

Does anybody have any views on SHHS vs Highgate for Year 3 entry?

I'm veering towards SHHS x

Both schools are well respected from the academic point of view (they are in the same league for GSCE/A-lelvels results), and have well-behaved/smart kids intake at 7+/11+. Pastoral care is good in both and Highgate in particular has put a lot of emphasis on girls' well-being in the last couple of years. Highgate's Junior has better grounds and a good variety of afterschool clubs. Parents/social/ethnic makeup is very similar too (Highgate is perhaps more ethnically diverse as co-ed is the preferred model for many European and Asian families ), but again both schools are similar.

Id concentrate on commute time if the commute is the same and all other things being equal, just decide on whether you want co-ed or single-sex for your daughter (both have prons and cons)

Thank you! Do you know anything about after school / wraparound care at either school? X

SHHS is higher than Highgate in the Sunday Times league table - didn't expect that x

Both schools have third-party paid-for wrap-around care providers and both schools also have afterschool clubs, however a variety of after-school clubs is significantly better in HIghgate so many parents just resort to using those at Junior school (and the majority of afterschool clubs are free/have a relatively small termly fee)

The ratings vary from year to year, one year one school is higher on a list another year it’s another school, also ratings tend to vary ( by gsce, a levels parents power etc etc ). By the time your daughter sits GSCE the school you chose will go up and down the top 10-20 ratings. So I wouldn’t take this into consideration at all personally, both are good schools from academic point of view with great results at gsce and a levels

Our daughter had the same choice and has been at Highgate for 2 years - it’s been brilliant for her - stretching but with a strong pastoral focus. SHHS has is a great school though so it depends where you live and if co-ed matters but we are very happy with Highgate

Thanks all. I think it ultimately comes down to single sex vs co-ed x

For those who are deciding on co-ed versus single sex, some girls switch to Highgate at 7+ 11+ and 16+. from selective girls school. I spoke to some parents and they all noted positive changes in their girls' behavior (specifically those switching at senior).
If you know someone from Highgate in real life ask them to connect you to the parents of those girls, (every class is likely to have at least one girl who switched to Highgate, particularly in Senior School so it won't be difficult to find those). Even in Junior school, they have a few girls coming from Channing and some other nice girls preps.

I’m hearing wonderful things about Highgate at the moment. It seems to be the favourite for many.

shhs about to have change of head mistress and also lots of building works will commence.

Think SHHS already changed their headmistress? She started in September if I'm not mistaken.

Wasn't aware of building works - thank you xx

Mrs Spencer - Head of the Junior School, resigned at the start of this year and leaves in August - the letter we saw says that they are still to appoint a replacement.

@mammaoftwogirls @2024jjj

Oh wow. Are you happy at the school? X

We are not at the school - a friend who is there was sent the letter - if you call and ask im sure they will confirm it. Sorry to not be more help…

I'm sure they'll recruit somebody equally as good 👍🏻

Does anybody know how many offers they each give vs number of applicants?

Hi. We visited Highgate for our DD’s 11+ entry today at their Open Day. Aside from the obvious pluses that stand out (grounds, facilities, academic focus) the thing that really struck us was how no pupils accompanied prospective parents around the School - in contrast at all other Open Days/Visits we have been on - and there were also no pupils in the Head’s talk section at all.

Felt rather “take us or leave us” (ie we’re good, you should know that and that should be enough) with lip service commentary from the Head wrt pastoral issues and diversity/inclusion efforts; all this in terms of attitude towards us as prospective parents.

The question we asked ourselves is “does that reflect perhaps their broader ethos? ie if things get tough/rocky or issues arrive, how genuine is their support?” No staff with pastoral care responsibility spoke. That seems pretty “not reading the room” given issues of the last few years. But comes back to the question I posed above. We didn’t come away more persuaded than when we arrived.

So….Are we missing something? Should we not judge them on their Open Day showing? Appreciate any perspectives especially if your DD is/was there!

How very strange. my DD was at the open morning - as were all her year (year 8) specifically with the mandate to show parents around. They wore badges with “Happy to Help” on! You saw none of them?! That is most odd….

My DD is in Highgate Senior and we are so far have been pleased with the pastoral care and the way the school resolve the issues, we had some incidents involving girls’ friendships and the school handled the situations quite well. I think Highgate's pastoral care team has generally improved. I have another DD attending another selective (all girls) school in the area, im generally happy with but i think HIghgate's pastoral care team is better staffed and more progressive in their approach.

Regarding open day, are you sure there were no senior students around? my daughter didnt attend but she said there were students from some year groups called in for help on the day

Thank you both @wisdomdreamer & @Farfarfar6789 for taking the time.

There were indeed pupils (Y8 & Y13) posted along the route but it felt like their main role was to signpost us all round; of course we took the opportunity to approach a number of them over the course of the morning to ask them questions (including a group of 4 prefects) as you can imagine, and they were everything you’d expect (polite, enthusiastic, engaging etc)…but most parents were just being directed to the next building /stage by them. It was different to other schools - ie at Highgate we weren’t accompanied round so it felt like we were on a bit of a conveyor belt (understandable to an extent in that there’s a lot of actual ground to cover) but the flip side is we couldn’t really get more than a brief conversation here, a brief chat there. Whereas when you get accompanied you can (sometimes!) really build a feel of the school from a 20 mins conversation, in our experience at least.

It also felt (to us) also - a bit “conveyor belt” with the Head in that we found it strange no other staff member spoke to the parents (no Head of Lower School or equivalent, no Head of Pastoral etc). And no panel or even Head Boy/Girl speech. It just felt a bit impersonal compared to others as a “Head’s talk” - no delegation of topic discussion after being in the role for 18 yrs?

None of this takes away of course from the School’s own results and accolades etc which speak for themselves; we just hoped we might hear more student voices.

If you don’t have direct connections to a given school these are the moments you have to observe - even acknowledging the limitations of the 2-hour visit format!

Perhaps it’s partly because we also have been visiting Girls schools that it was noticeable that no female staff at HG spoke to the Parent group in a formal context (as no other staff apart from the Head spoke in the set-piece meeting). The messaging style wrt pastoral approach was v different (read: “underwhelming”) when I compare it to places like G&L, CLSG, NCLS, SHHS. I

t sounds like from what your direct experience is that the Head may have sold this part short, but it’s a shame he did so if that is the case as it is enough to make us (and another family we went round with) seriously question whether the support for girls would be as robust as elsewhere. Difficult to judge of course as an outsider.

Thanks again for sharing your perspectives.

We’ve been very pleased with the senior school. It’s very much stretching DD academically without being pushy per se but yes - expectations are high and they get a lot of work to complete (I’m very pro that, so a big plus for me). I haven’t had much need to hear from the pastoral team but regularly get invites ti talks and info on pastoral related issues but cannot talk directly on that.

Not sure what to make of it re only a speech from Mr P but if your gut is telling you that puts you off that’s completely valid - both are great schools.

I think if I were you the most pertinent deciding factors would be ease of journey and whether I fundamentally want co ed or mixed. I passionately believe in co Ed so didn’t even consider a girls school but it’s down to individual choice.

There is a relevant mumsnet thread on Highgate from a few months back here, with polarised opinions:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4994966-highgate-school-culture

Just read that thread and wanted to add we didn't have any specific issues related to boys' misconduct at Highgate School, the school is doing a lot of work on educating boys on the importance of respect and consent, especially in the light of the bad publicity they have got. But I also think academically selective schools generally contribute to a positive behavior pattern in boys.
I have more concerns about my other DD who is in all-girls school, they started to find male friendships outside the schools and it is harder to follow up on any inappropriate behavior from boys as they are in different schools.