Bute House vs Highgate

[grateful1]

Hi mammas, we are grateful to have offers from Bute House and Highgate. Other than having to deal with the 11+ process, my preference is Bute House. On the other hand it feels a little silly to not take a place at Highgate now to then only have to compete for a place when we are ready to exit BH.
I would love to hear some views on how to navigate this - particularly BH parents who have already navigated 11+ mayhem !

Congrats! I don't have kids in Bute but we applied for Bute a while ago so I researched the school back then.
The main points here: location, your preferences towards co-ed/single sex and most importantly, do you want to go through the 11+ prep?

Bute is heavily geared towards selective 11+ entry (so they are prepping for specific exam formats), while Highgate is not preparing for 11+ exam format, but it's a good academic school. Bute is preparing well and has established likns with the schools like St Pauls etc but you and your child will need to work hard, some parents/kids can't catch up with all the prep and hire a tutor on the top. So these are the main points to consider, id think.

Also Highgate Junior looked more ethnically diverse than Bute (if this is something you also consider when choosing between the schools)

Thank you for sharing your thinking. I’ve also read quite positive things about BH. I am struggling with the 11+ hurdle in my mind but indeed good points you raise there.

Bute is lovely isn't it! Where are you based? If you are based close to Bute id pick Bute but if you are flexible (can move) I'd pick Highgate. Bute prepare girls for selective senior schools, but Highgate is already highly selective and academic and has great facilities so i don't see the point of taking Bute over it. Bute may get you into St Pauls but is there much academic difference between Highgate and St Pauls so that its worth rejecting Highgate, accepting Bute and going through 11+ prep (also there is no guarantee you get St Pauls after Bute), i dont know...ST Pauls is steadily rated as the top 3 for GSCE and A levels while Highgate is still in the top 10 (+/- a few points) in London but then if you look at the actual scores for each school the difference is very small.