East Hertfordshire state secondary schools

[MrsDThaskala]

Hello,

We are about to move to SG13, Sg11, sg12, sg14 area, in a village - trying to not be too obvious here- Sorry! My daughter is current year 5. Do you have any advise on schools around here. I've heard of Pressdales, and the Herts and Essex girls school, but I don't know about any co-ed schools. She's in a girls indy school at the moment but am open to state schools, but not a massive one as that's too much of a shock to the system. Can you shed any light?

[Hersetta427]

Herts and Essex is in bishops stortford and so the only possible way of gaining a place is via the music or sport aptitude test as with that postcode you live miles and miles outside the normal catchment for the school.

[SmithfamilyRobinson]

I live in Herts and grew up in Herts but not in the areas you mention (had to look them up). You should consult www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/school-admissions/research-a-school/school-admissions-previous-years-statistics.aspx#DynamicJumpMenuManager_1_Anchor_1
Herts publish this excellent outturn report which analyses how many Y6 primary school children got into a ranked school and then looks at secondary schools and how many Y6 got in as first choice etc. This should give you a good profile of the state education provision and then likelihood you will get in, subject to each schools' entrance criteria. Some of the areas you mention are sparsely populated by school age children (unless you are very close to Hertford, Ware or Sawbridgeworth) so you might have little choice and then have to fund/manage transport. HTH.

[MrsDThaskala]

This is really helpful, and thank you for explaining it

[Hersetta427]

Problem with the out turn report is it has no information from academies (like herts and Essex ) so is only helpful for community run schools.

[MrsDThaskala]

Bumping up x

[Hersetta427]

Have you narrowed down yet where you will be living as those postcodes cover Hertford, Ware, Standon and puckeridge and all the surrounding villages in between so a huge geographic area for schools.

If you want co ed, then Chancy in Ware is well regarded and there is Simon Balle in Hertford. Both of which are what you would probably regard as massive though (in comparison to a small prep) but to be honest there are no small state secondary schools.

If you want indy options then St Edmunds is easily accessible from Standon and Ware, as would be Stortford college. If you are closer to Hertford then maybe Haileybury.

[PresentingPercy]

The obvious one is Queenswood at Brookmans Park. Around 420 girls. It’s private but very good. Or Haileybury.

[Teenytinyvoice]

I understand that you are trying to protect your privacy, but the catchment for the schools is very very postcode dependent. I live in one of those post codes, and my chance of getting Chauncey is zero. Presdales is hit and miss catchment wise for girls from my village, and the other main option is John Warner, which I think you are unlikely to favour coming from a private prep.

If you are aiming for Presdales think very carefully about where you buy, and what the second option is.

[Cherryonthetop2019]

My daughter attended presdales having done both pre prep and prep in an all girls Indy school. I don’t rate it at a!!!! She did 5 years there and has moved to Chauncey for sixth form which is super impressive! Presdales is rife with nasty bullies, mediocre teachers and an invisible SLT. I speak with many years teaching experience. I would avoid it like the plague!

[Cherryonthetop2019]

I forgot to say I also live in one of the Hertford villages and wouldn’t get into Chauncy or SB if applying for year 7 entry as they are both extremely popular. Both a very recent outstanding Ofsted’s unlike Presdales which as not actually been inspected since 2098!!

[Cherryonthetop2019]

Sorry 2008 obviously not 2098!

[Teenytinyvoice]

Cherry, what would you do if you had a Yr 5 girl now, applying next year?
Go private? Go to presdales even though it isn’t all that? JW?
Sorry to hijack the OP’s question a bit but this is really on my mind!

[MrsDThaskala]

No it's all great advice so I'm glad you asked a question too.

I will be in Sg11 in July.

Im glad of your advice, but from what I've read from Herts website and Find my nearest school we are going to be in a bit of a no-man's land. Eeek!

The are two close schools on the list but they are middle schools and I don't want her to leave at end of year 6 from current school then move again. So that's why I asked about other schools.

Shame to hear about Pressdales. Looked good on paper.

The schools I think I've narrowed down to are...
St Mary's Catholic
Herts and Essex girls
Chauncy
Pressdales

Hockerill as a bit of chance with aptitude test.

My worry is we are not in a priority area/village.

I was going to ring the schools soon but bless them, they are probably dealing with the offers from this year so didn't want to bother them.

Any more advice is appreciated.

[Teenytinyvoice]

If you aren’t in a priority area for presdales you won’t get in. Chauncey has moved to straight distance rather than priority areas, I think, so you should be able to work out your chances once this year’s stats are published. But from where you are the Bishop Stortford schools are worth discussing. I’m too far south. My options appear to be Presdales, John Warner or private.

[Hersetta427]

I live in stortford and you are far too far away from Herts and Essex (aptitude tests will be the only chance). St Mary's is a definite possibility if you are catholic. They do take a few non catholic children in stortford on a distance basis but I would think it's touch and go from where you are unless you fall into a higher priority religious criteria.

[TheThreeHeadedBeast]

Dd goes to presdales. I am impressed with the new head, think previous head had got lazy.
I would recommend, also do not find the girls there bitchy, actually very supportive of each other.

[Cherryonthetop2019]

My daughter is now year 12 so a very recent graduate. Nee head has been in post nearly 6 years! Hardly new!! Still hasn’t been inspected! It is not.a school for all potential girls. I would never chose it again. There are lots of parents that don’t rate it. Well there were in our cohort anyway.

[bruffin]

Presdales had a bullying problem, one girl told me how they bullied the teacher, but hopefully if they have a new head she may have done something about. My Ds had friends there and a friend of mine had 3 daughters go through Presdales. She felt it suited confident girls but not quiet types like her youngest
I used to get the Bishop Stortford train to work which had dc from a few schools and by far the worst behaved were St Marys,running up and down the carriages throwing bags around etc

[bruffin]

My Dc went to JW, it had excellent pastoral care when dc were there. Ds got in on aptitude for technology and dd followed as a sibling

[bruffin]

Broxbourne has an aptitude for languages, so might be accessible from this areas

[MrsDThaskala]

Never heard of Broxbourne or JW?

[MrsDThaskala]

Oh dear. Not Catholic, not near schools for distance, not in priority areas. Not looking good is it.

[bruffin]

John Warner is in Hoddesdon and Broxbourne in Broxbourne , both in East Herts probably outer limits of areas you are looking at but both have 10% out of catchment intake through aptitude tests,
Jw aptitude is technology and Broxbourne is language.
Jw is big and getting bigger and going through a readjustment stage, but their pastoral care is really good
Broxbourne is probably a better fit for you

[26374hsg]

Birchwood in Stortford is highly rated by parents and has a wider catchment, might be worth a look. Alternatively new school opening on Bishops Stortford North - Sep 22 (although not sure they have actually started building it yet) check out Avanti website for details.

[MrsDThaskala]

Thank you. I'll look at Birchwood and JW.