Kings school, Harpenden

[honey7]

Does any one have any information about this school. I am looking for a school for my DD. Is this a good school would you recommend it . I am hoping to move to the area and would like her to start in September 2020.

It is a nice school for nice children with great pastoral care. Although, so is St George’s which gets better GCSE results and is free. There are far better independent schools in the area if you want a private school.

Thanks for the information. Is there any other independent school that you recommend I look at.

It would depend on where you will be living, what year your daughter will be joining, is she sporty / academic / musical?

My daughter will be going into year 9. She is very good at Art and singing. She enjoys netball and swimming but I was say she is average at sports.
We are looking to move to Harpenden or St Albans.

The state schools in St Albans are, on the whole, some of the best you can find and St George’s in Harpenden is amazing. Places are hard to come by though as they are highly sought after but please don’t discount them.

St Albans is a great location for transportation to independent schools. All of the schools below have school coach services to and from:

• St Albans Girls High School (very academic)
• Berkhamsted (Harpenden bus)
• Abbot’s Hill
• Queenswood (door to door transport)
• Aldenham
• St Margaret’s, Bushey
• Royal Masonic
• Princess Helena College

All of the above have a better reputation than King’s Harpenden.

Thanks for your help . I will do some research into the state and independent schools you have listed.

Kings just seemed like a nice, small school with good pastoral care. Anyway thanks again.

Kings is exactly that. But their results are no better, usually worse, than many of the surrounding state schools. For an independent school their facilities are rather poor. I am not sure what you are paying for other than small class sizes.

If you want a smaller school with great pastoral then Abbot’s Hill is a far better option.

Thanks, I will have a look at Abbott's Hill.

My four children all went to the King's School. It depends what you are looking for. If you are moving to the area and your child is in year 9 you are highly unlikely to get into St George's. However The King's School are probably able to accommodate you.
The King's School is a Christian School. It provided each of my children with a wonderful start to life and I disagree with the comment about the results. It is a small, non-selective school so each year group is unique, however my two children who completed their GCSEs at the school both got outstanding results, one of which got seven grade nines.

Class sizes and year groups are ridiculously small. Just 13 children sat GCSEs at the school last year. Assuming a 50/50 split between sexes that’s between 6 and 7 girls in the year - not even enough to make a netball team. GCSE subject choices are very limited.

If your child needs a lot of extra pastoral care and you want a Christian school then perfect. I really don’t know what else it offers though other than the cheapest fees in the area by far. At £2,624 per term, they are half the price of local prep schools and a third of the cost of other independent secondary schools. It begs the questions why is it so cheap and how on earth is it sustainable?

I am not knocking a school that obviously perfectly meets the needs of some children, there’s just so many flags as to why you should look elsewhere.

Zodlebud, you have a correct observation that class sizes at the King's School are small. That is one of the reasons that allows for good pastoral care.

I think if some one is seriously contemplating joining the school then rather than listen to someone speculating on it I would go and visit it. If you phone the school they will be more than happy to arrange a tour.

Yes with a small school there are not the facilities that some can offer and GCSE choice is more limited to what some bigger schools can provide.

However, it really comes down to what each individual family is looking for. Not everyone wants or needs every club under the sun and the choice of twenty plus GCSEs.

For such a small school those that are sporty (of which all mine are) were given lots of opportunity to participate in football, athletics, table tennis, netball etc.

As already said I would draw my own conclusions on a school by visiting it. There are lots of different schools out there, each offering their own unique setting. However if someone is moving to Harpenden then you may not have the choice of schools as they are very difficult to get into, limited to very small catchment areas.

The King's school may be small, but it offers a rich experience to all those families who go and have been there.

St George's is great, but I'd be absolutely amazed if you got a spot for entry into Year 9 for Sept as a) it's hugely over-subscribed and b) Y9 is a natural entry point and if there were any places available they'll have been allocated already and have a large waiting list. The catchments for good Harpenden secondary schools are a few streets around them now, such is the demand.

Ooh I didn't realise there were so many replies. Thank you Ichtus for your reply. It is good to hear from someone who actually has children at the school.

All three of my children went to King's school and my husband and truly regretted it. The standard of education is not constantly. Some teachers (I can count no more than 4) are very good at their job but the rest are below the acceptable standard. Despite the small classes if a teacher was off sick or just not in, they never had cover (this was mainly from year 10 - 11). It happened so often that I stopped communicating with the school about the issue.

There's also been cases of racism from teacher to students. Which was never handled correctly. The racist teacher was only made to apologise to one student and not the whole class.

It's a disappointing school especially academically. Be under no illusion that you will eventually end up hiring tutors for your child/children.
Just an honest review from a former parent.

Apologies for (all) the typo errors.