How good is henrietta barnett?

[Eesha]

Today I walked past a massive queue for the open day for HB and it just got me wondering if this is an amazing school to go to. I have twins and can only dream of a place like this. I just wondered if anyone had girls there and truly recommended it? It seems like you have to be a 10A* girl, is this feasible without tutoring? Or should I be doing more now.

The school is academically amazing. Girls have to be super bright and my estimation is the ones gaining places have been heavily tutored or worked very hard at home with test papers (not bonds!). I believe they are always too 10 in country (if not no 1) yearly for gcse and a l vela. A large amount of girls go on to study medicine so a level choices tent to be a bit limited.

@camcam1

The school is academically amazing. Girls have to be super bright and my estimation is the ones gaining places have been heavily tutored or worked very hard at home with test papers (not bonds!). I believe they are always too 10 in country (if not no 1) yearly for gcse and a l vela. A large amount of girls go on to study medicine so a level choices tent to be a bit limited.

My daughter went to HBS. Wasn’t tutored. She got some practice papers from the selective schools she applied to. A couple of weeks before entrance exams I bought her a book on non-verbal reasoning or verbal reasoning (can’t remember which - it was a few years ago!) She read the book, did the practice papers a couple of weeks before the exams.

I think schools like HB are becoming harder and harder to get into with every passing year. I would say 95% of the girls would have been tutored and done a huge amount of work. I know someone who goes there. A very clever and able girl - but that alone didn’t get her there. Her parents did work with her for over two years at home, plus had help from a tutor. Nothing was left to chance.

Of course it’s ‘academically amazing’, they are all super bright girls. My dd was there from year 7 - 11, she chose a different school for sixth form. Teaching was mixed, some very good teachers, some average and a couple very poor.

@bendmeoverbackwards

Of course it’s ‘academically amazing’, they are all super bright girls. My dd was there from year 7 - 11, she chose a different school for sixth form. Teaching was mixed, some very good teachers, some average and a couple very poor.

I think this is true for all the academically selective schools tbh. I wonder if parents think their kids will miraculously get brainy just from going to one of these schools. No. Teachers are teachers. Yes with privates, classes smaller, better facilities etc. But in all these schools, Children are already super bright.

I do think some form of prepping (particularly for state kids) is essential these days, but all children who pass will have high baseline IQ, plus high aptitude towards learning (maybe the two are the same a lot of the time!).

What I’ve realised “over the other side” is: Do not push a non motivated child into a school like this since they will be miserable (then again, they probably won’t get in if unmotivated!). So you see how the circle goes…