St Albans School and areas

[Aarts80]

Hi all we are seriously considering to move to St Albans to be in the outstanding secondary school catchment areas (state) we don’t live too far from St Albans now but have not spent enough time around the city to understand the best places to look for a property or the places to avoid ? Also would love any feedback on the schools?
Thanks X

Bump for you. I used to live there years ago but wouldn't be much use now.

Thank you !

I don't live in St Albans but live close by and have some knowledge. To be more confident of secondary school places, it may be better to avoid London Colney and Park Street, as they are further in distance from the city centre and secondary schools. Cottonmill and Oysterfields may be more affordable but not as close to the more popular secondary schools. , New Greens could also be more affordable and if you have girls, good for St Albans Girls, as well as Townsend CofE but I don't have any knowledge of that school. I know people who have children at Sandringham who like it, so Marshalswick area would be good for that school, as well as Beaumont. You may want people who live in St Albans to post of their experiences as my children did not go to school there. I know St Albans Girls and Sandringham are held in high regard. All the primary schools are popular and if you are moving in year, you may struggle to get a place at your nearest. Marshalswick has a nice family feel and the roads in the city centre, close to the cathedral and shops are nice, generally older terraced properties, that cost a lot! Hope someone with experience of applying for schools comes along

It depends on whether you are wanting single sex or co Ed.St Albans is a lovely place to grow up in plenty of arts, relatively safe and fabulous links to London. I grew up there.

Marshalswick/ Jersey Farm areas tend to feed Sandringham/ Beaumont. The primary feeder school links are important. Schools such as Townsend take from multiple areas as it is a C of E ( it supports all religions and fine for those who don’t have a faith and is pastorally very strong and has a homely vibe). It tends to receive a little less love in the OFSted ratings but in my opinion is outstanding and does a great service to all its students. I’d avoid the Camp area, New Greens estate.

It really does depend on your choice, needs for your family. A little more info might help with more specific replies.

Thanks @Fiercestcalm and @missminimum your info is super helpful!
We are looking for a co-Ed and have eyes on Sandringham / Beaumont. We have looked at property in Marshalswick and Jersey Farm, Marshalswick seem very high prices for not much house! And JF a bit more reasonable but feel the areas are very different. Not sure of what JF is like for a young family - we have a 6 year old and 1 year old so really trying to plan out the next few years as where we are currently the secondary schools are not brilliant ! 🙈

I can recommend Wheatfields JMI which takes from Marshalswick and Jersey Farm and is a feeder for Sandringham. I believe Skyswood is also very good and is an easier walk from parts of Jersey farm.

Jersey farm is family orientated and very safe with some nice open spaces and walks via the long bridleways. Perhaps start looking at the roads off Villiers Crescent (proximity to the shop/ schools is reasonable. However parking can be troublesome ( these are 1970/1980 build houses) being overlooked can also be an issue but with careful searching a non overlooked parking friendly house is achievable. Marshalswick is leafier, lovely and better spaced but IMO is incredibly overpriced.

I think look at your primaries for starters, tbh their links with secondaries are the most important and will determine your house search.

Thank you @Fiercestcalm to be honest I didn’t even think of the importance of the feeder / primary school, I was just looking at catchment for secondary- but this Is good feedback. Obviously timing will be important and disruption of current school will have to be a sacrifice when we move, not sure there is ever a good school year to move house in!

All the secondary placements are really done on distance to the school. For schools like Sandringham and Beaumont, you basically have to live next to them to have a chance. Verulam for boys and Stags for girls are great choices and you tend to be able to live a little further away and still get in as the are single sex.

To get into Beaumont or Sandringham you will need to be within about 750metres of the front door as the crow flies. They are extremely popular and the house prices reflect that. Samuel Ryder is an increasingly popular option and fairly near to Beaumont.

It can be cheaper to live on the outskirts and go private and many do!

To echo what the above PP have said, these days to get into the most popular secondaries in St Albans you MUST be within catchment. It has nothing to do with "feeder" primaries. Beaumont and Sandringham are by far the most popular and their catchments are shrinking every year. Beaumont is getting especially tight with the big new housing developments springing up in the vicinity, eg. Kingsbury Gardens.

If you don't manage to bag a property near Beaumont, however, Samuel Ryder has an excellent reputation. It's also the only school where children can attend all the way through from nursery to secondary, so brilliant for stability and consistency. If you are towards the west/south west of the town centre you may be allocated Marlborough, which didn't have the best reputation when I was at school, over 20 years ago, but now also gets glowing reports. If you are north west you are probably looking at Townsend (mixed, CofE) or STAGS (all-girls). In the Fleetville area there's Verulam, which is all-boys, used to have an iffy reputation but has since come on in leaps and bounds apparently.

To be honest, there are no bad/undesirable secondaries in St Albans, but some are definitely more popular than others, and you will pay for your house accordingly. For a standard 3 bed semi with garden near Beaumont expect to pay (in the current market) an absolute minimum of around £750,000. Houses are snapped up within days, if not hours of going on the market. Not so sure about Sandringham but I imagine it's a similar situation. Good luck!

Also this site is brilliant for finding out your chances of getting into a particular school: www.schoolguruhertfordshire.co.uk/

3 bed near Beaumont on near us at 850 now. Not even sure it’s catchment to be honest.

Samuel Ryder houses going the same way.

Thanks for all your help! It really is a tricky decision to get right - we are seeing the popularity of the houses near the school areas, it’s crazy! Thank you for the link and thoughts on the areas plus other schools - that’s helpful

Chiming in a bit late, but one thing you should think about in addition to schools is access to the train if you or your partner need to commute to London regularly. It's not just about "crow flies" distance that they list on rightmove - St Albans is somewhat hilly in parts so not always an easy walk or bike ride. It's worth doing a test run if you can (I wish we had done that before we moved into our current home - there's no walk to the train that doesn't involve a massive hill).

Also I know everyone always talks about Beaumont & Sandringham, but I have only heard good things about Marlborough.

Hills not too bad. You get used to it! Used to do it every day on qaybto school.

@Newgirls oh is that the one on Woodland Drive? If so then yes, I saw that, and that price is insane, given the amount of work it needs! Honestly people have lost control of their faculties 😅

Thanks! Handy advise

A couple of roads away. Hey the OP has a choice!

Is Beaumont catchment for sixth form

I highly recommend STAGS if you have girls and Samuel Ryder Academy for co-ed. Sure Beaumont and Sandringham are well established and have been popular for a couple of decades but SRA has the better mix of being academic as well as excellent pastoral care. Many local families now opt for SRA rather than Beaumont or Sandringham.

@Frostytiger87

Is Beaumont catchment for sixth form

Sixth form is different in that you apply with your predicted gcse grades. For Beau/San you need 6/7 grades in all your gcses. 7s for maths/sciences if you are taking those. You can then be from a much wider catchment.

Beau/San/Ver are in a consortium so you can travel between them to get a good range of A levels.

To be honest all sixth forms locally are very good. Great results from all. It can be better to choose a slightly smaller one eg Townsend as then you might get a smaller class size.

Have a look at the schools admission policies of the schools you prefer, to see what areas they cover.

I’m not convinced by the poster suggesting live further out and do private. Private fees are almost £7k per child per term so if you only do secondary that’s £300k before inflation. A house on the outskirts still won’t be £300k less

You’d be surprised. Lots of kids commute in from Luton, London Colney, Hemel, Welwyn and various villages to private schools in St Albans. For one kid it can be cheaper. For two probably not.

Ah right, that’s quite different though to be on the edge of town/nearby village.