Mill hill school

[WaitingForTheMail]

Please can I have reviews of Mill Hill school in North London

Don't get involved. it's chaotic, disorganised, runs low quality clubs for the sake of it to keep teachers employed for instagram /PR. They've introduced laptops in classes....kids are messaging on Teams all day and teachers are not noticing or do not care. The kids are lugging the weight of what you would take on a 4 night trip around each day.

Save your money, find any state school, pay for tutors and have amazing holidays instead!

Inclined to agree with @DearLurker . All the Mill Hill families I know haven't been particularly happy with it, and the results aren't great.

IMO there is zero point spending the money. If the much more competitive North London private schools aren't an option, then opt for the best state school you can, and tutor if necessary.

Thank you both.

Our local state school had results that are half the 9-7 in every metric so even though the results don’t compare to Haberdashers etc it’s significantly better than our state option. Our state option is also in a rough area with 40% on pupil premium and the behaviour I’ve seen on open days is pretty atrocious.

Any other views on Mill Hill please? We are also strongly considering St Margaret’s in Bushey, if anyone had any views on this school also?

Used to treat teachers shocking , pregnant teachers had to resign, teachers under going medical treatment fined £80 per day for sick days

It's so difficult isn't it? We are also looking at Belmont & Mill Hill and have seen completely conflicting opinions on them both. I have friends at MH who are so happy but then read comments like this and feel disheartened!

Could you share more on what year your child was in please.

I don't agree with all the posters saying that the results are on a par with a good state school. That's simply not correct. Mill Hill gets 66% grades 7-9 at GCSE. Good state schools like APS in Muswell Hill gets 51% which is pretty unusual. Most state secondaries average 30-40% 7-9 at GCSE and 50-60 getting 5 GCSEs at level 5 and above, so stop talking nonsense! It is also super tough to get in with around 800 competing for 70 places! I speak from experience. It has beautiful grounds and a lot of trips and opportunities.

On the downside, it is super strict and quite a few teachers have a bad attitude and don't like helping kids who are anything less than perfect. I would not send a child there unless they are extremely well behaved and able to commit 100% to the school.

OP - didn’t see this when you first posted, but do feel free to PM me if you like about St Margaret’s (which we love).

We looked at Mill Hill a few years ago but were not impressed, and friends’ experience of the chaotic state of things there confirmed our decision not to apply.

Would it be fair to say that whilst Belmont/ Mill Hill is selective at 11+, it carries children who enter at 4 or 7 and may not be so academic or have subsequently had learning difficulties/ differences identified or diagnosed? And how well does the school support children who are bright but have underlying conditions that impact in some way on their education or social interaction?

Thank you - another friend also said some of the ones in Watford area are good but I'm not sure I wanted to go that far journey time. It'll take him about 15 m to get to Mill Hill, hence considering. I really appreaicate all the comments coming in to give me a sense.

Thank you for all the comments. We decided on a Herts based school in the end. This thread was really helpful

Have you attended an open day? We went today to see Belmont and Mill Hill (our second visit actually as we took the kids this time) and were very impressed. I know of course all heads are delivering a sales pitch but he made a point of saying it's better to judge a school on right now, rather than the experiences of 2/5/10 years ago. Bearing in mind he's made a lot of changes (including to staffing) the situation going forward may well be shifting compared to people's experience who have left in recent years. Truth is you never really know until you/your child is in it and every school works for some and not others. That's what makes it all so hard!

Isn’t Belmont the junior school up to age 13 then it turns into Mill Hill up to age 18? Which would explain the similar reviews as it’s the same kids progressing

Yes it is. But I’ve seen conflicting reviews for both going both ways. Some seem to hate it, others love it! You can’t suit everyone I guess.

I don’t recognise Mill Hill as chaotic. I’ve also asked my DC if they feel it’s in any way chaotic and they said absolutely not.

Has the school, academically gone up? It scored 75% 9-7 grades this year. That's beyond a selective school like DAO that got 72% 9-7. I heard there was a change of teachers last year. Has that made a difference?

75% 9-7 isn't impressive for a North London indie. Think about Highgate (97%) or UCS (91%). Put another way - a quarter of results at Mill Hill are a 6 or below. Not great!

Mill Hill isn’t as academically selective as UCS or Highgate. It’s very very difficult to get into Highgate now at 11+ stage.

Mill Hill results have definitely improved

Not stellar but respectable

can’t compare with DAO which is partially selective

As an OM, I would place my money else where

Do you have children at the school?