Independent secondaries In Herts.

[Milly717]

Hello,

Hope I could hear some opinions on the independent secondaries in Herts. We live in St. Albans and so far visited St. Columba's, STAHS and Sherrardswood. This spring we will go to the open days of Queenswood, St. Margaret's, Abbot's Hill and RMS and we will revisit St. Columba’s. I'd also like to visit Aldenham (no open day announced yet) and possibly Berkhamsted Girls (open day in September). Out of these which ones would you recommend and why please?

My daughter is academically average in some areas and slightly above average in others. She loves history, enjoys maths and is very much into sports and dance. She loves to engage in extra curricular activities and give new things a go. For personal reasons, it would be a bonus if either of these schools offered German however it's not necessary.

I can't see her in STAHS, as even though the facilities looked ok, I didn't get the right vibe from the school. It seems too pushy where a sensitive girl like mine, who sometimes lacks confidence and needs encouragement, wouldn't thrive. If it's true that they only accept the most academic girls, she likely wouldn't get in anyway and even if she did I would probably not want to put her through the ordeal of always trying to be at the top or feeling worse. I believe there is more to a school than pure academics.

Sherrardswood seemed a bit too small and lacking great facilities. I'm not sure I could justify paying the fee just for smaller class sizes and more individual approach vs state school but compromise on the facilities.

St. Columba's is our nearest school to which she could walk - a massive bonus! Being in the city, the sports facilities didn't seem to be as great, which puts me off slightly. Also, as they have only recently started enrolling girls, they seem to be lacking girl friendly subjects such as textiles, dancing or food technology and my daughter pointed out that they are very much into basketball whereas she loves tennis, swimming, gymnastics dancing and would like to try lacrosse. Otherwise it seemed like a lovely school with great science labs and an overall good vibe to it. I wonder if they're going to become a bit more girl friendly by introducing new subjects to their curriculum and extra curricular offering.

As I mentioned above, I've not had a chance to visit the other schools yet. Based on my research I may not like Berkhamstead Girls if I didn't like STAHS. I'm very much looking forward to visiting the other schools. Ideally I would narrow it down to 3-4 schools to not make her sit too many exams/ interviews but to also give her a fair chance of securing a place in one of them.

Thank you

Hello, thank you for your reply and also your DM. I appreciate your insights. Definitely not looking for discount, I’m just not sure what the scholarship means on a daily basis as the documents don’t really say that much. I do like the school, I think because we are currently living overseas I feel more anxious about accepting an offer, irrational as that may be.

Are you looking for a full boarding place if you are overseas?

We will be moving back just before the start of the academic year, so we won’t need boarding, although my daughter is very keen! The boarding facilities at Q looked lovely, I could definitely see my daughter wanting to stay!

We are looking at one other school that is further from where we live so would need weekly boarding, but Q is close enough to use the transport each day.

Thank you for all of your help, it is very much appreciated in what is proving to be a difficult decision process.

I’d say abbots hill or queenswood

Hello, I can't believe how time flies and we are now approaching the entrance exams which are starting next month!

I'd like to pick your brains again please. After visiting all the 9 schools as mentioned at the start of the topic, we have decided to apply to Queenswood, Aldenham and St. Columba's.

The first two are our firm favourites. St. Columba's is lovely, nurturing, has some amazing facilities (they have finally started the construction of the all weather sports pitches which will be a great addition), is already doing really well with girls on board and most importantly is within walking distance from our house, we do have it as our 3rd choice. My daughter simply fell in love with Q and Aldenham. In a purely hypothetical situation of dd receiving offers from both which one would you choose and why? Perhaps someone has/had kids in either of them and can share their honest opinion? (I know one is girls only and the other one is coed but my daughter doesn't mind either way) thank you!

I work at Queenswood if you want to know about it.

Queenswood without a doubt. My daughter's best friend from Primary is there. It's absolutely fabulous for sports and dance and any extra curriculars. It's also the no.1 school for women's tennis. And nurturing rather than pushy.

I also know kids at Aldenham. Also a fab school if you want to go co-ed.

@Milly717
Queenswood is also great for drama. Both my DDs went there.

The only thing I have noticed is that their exam results are not what they were. I think the brighter girls are going elsewhere. When DD1 was there, it had quite a few high flyers. Not sure there’s strength in depth now. It seems to attract the ones who need nurturing now it’s very much a day school before 6th form. So it’s definitely changed. However it’s still the best school. You can even take media studies and photography!

@TizerorFizz I would disagree with your number of boarders comment. A huge number board in my daughters year, ranging from full boarders to those just doing a few nights. It is most definitely not a full boarding school but has a significant number of girls as weekly boarders. Boarders are not a minority and it’s definitely not mainly day girls.

@Milly717 Both Aldenham and Q have a similar set up with boarding so have very much a boarding school feel even if you are a day pupil. The main reason girls are choosing Q over Aldenham is that the latter is very boy heavy. The percentage split between girls and boys is large - I want to say a third girls, two thirds boys - but this was a few years ago when we were looking. It may have changed, particularly with both St Columba’s and St Margaret’s going coed too. I would definitely ask the question.

@BookwormButNoTime
The few nights option is different from our day. I guess they need to fill the beds! However it’s losing the brighter girls to other schools judging by results.

Regarding exam results. Check their value added for GCSE.

They've had Flexi boarding for years anything from 1-7 nights.

Don't look at just results. Look at value added. Q will be ton average a grade higher at GCSE for your daughter.

@umopapisdu I've sent you a pm

Queenswood's results are not as impressive as some of the more academic schools only because its entrance exam is easier to pass than some of the other schools. My daughter got into both Queenswood and Aldenham, but didn't get into some of the more academic schools. It's easy for Henrietta Barnett to have great results for example because it only accepts the most academic girls to begin with.

@XelaM which school did your dd choose in the end if you don't mind me asking?

My daughter has her heart set on Queenswood. Aldenham was the last school we went to see and I was relieved that we both really liked it as I didn't want to apply just to Q in case she wouldn't get accepted!

In terms of the more academic schools, I didn't really like them that much. I love the nurturing approach. A bright child will do well regardless, but for us it's really important to get that all rounded education in a warm and friendly environment with a good balance between care and challenge.

My daughter had her heart absolutely set on Mount House from day 1 🤷‍♀️ She already had friends there from her primary and from her livery yard and she didn't really want to go anywhere else. I convinced her that MHS wasn't anything special and that it was much more convenient travel-wise if she went elsewhere. So she started Year 7 at a different independent school (not the ones mentioned here) but by the end of Year 7 she had drilled a hole in my head that she wanted to change to Mount House, so that's where she is now and is super happy there as it's a very friendly school. She didn't really care about having beautiful grounds because her main hobby/obsession is show jumping and no (London) school offers that at the level she wants anyway, so she's not interested in how great the schools are for other sports because she does hers outside of school. Queenswood girls ride at Trent Park and her previous school also fid riding at Trent Park, but at very much beginner level.

We didn't choose Queenswood because we preferred co-ed, but as I say, my daughter's best friend from primary is there and loves it. It's absolutely ace for some sports (especially tennis I believe) and has elite athletes. Also, drama, art and all kinds of extra-curricular activities are at a super high level. I didn't want all-girls because I was worried about the atmosphere being quite intense and bitchy, but from what I hear Queenswood is very hot on pastoral care and I haven't heard anything bad about it at all.

I was very tempted by Aldenham, but since my daughter wasn't that bothered (about any school except MHS) and it was more expensive and further from us, we decided against it. She has three friends who go there though (two girls and one boy) and are super happy. It's also a fantastic school.

One word of warning about Queenswood though, they apparently send A LOT of emails to parents about absolutely countless events/activities/anything on a daily basis. 😂If you're like me and prefer minimal communication from school, be warned.

@XelaM thanks a lot! My daughter is also a horse rider and yes I understand what you mean by obsession 😂 Family Sundays do not exist anymore since she's at the stables 8am - 4.30pm 🙄

Ohhh yes! She's there the whole weekend and every day after school at the complete detriment of her academics 😬🤦‍♀️

I know some Queenswood girls have ponies at Trent Park and they (at least used to last year) ride there once or twice a week. I know they are into polo at Queenswood.

Oh yes I've heard about polo..

Well, at least your daughter has found her passion! Mine is still divided between dancing, tennis and horse riding. Ideally she'd do all at once 😂

There is good progress but not great results. So the brightest are no longer going to Queenswood. It’s attracting DDs who are not high achievers. Very much lower results than they used to get.

Also they didn’t have flexible boarding 10 years ago. Weekly yes. Flexible no. So it’s relatively new. One DD liked it there. Other not so keen as art was poor so changed schools for 6th form. As did 30 others that year. Latest Principal has steadied the ship but my DD1 got 140 in the Bucks 11 plus. Yes, she walked into Q but she also had an offer from a more academic school. But only slightly. Now there is a gulf between the schools with Q 100 places lower in the tables than when DDs went. Q have not maintained their academic position. Which is a great shame. However it’s still great for many but academic girls are avoiding it in greater numbers.

I do hate it when users comment on a school with out of date knowledge. It brings nothing to the thread and actually makes users question things where there isn’t actually a problem. Art, for example, saw just shy of 70% of the girls getting grades 9-7 at GCSE this year. I’m not sure how that equates to “poor” art? It may well have been in the past but things change.

The numbers in the sixth form do, admittedly, shrink. This is for a whole raft of reasons but mainly the girls extending a preference for coed or the London day schools and sixth form colleges closer to home. This trend can be seen across all girls schools including Wycombe Abbey where nobody is going to ever suggest there is a problem.

In my personal opinion if a school can take a grade C student and get them a B or even low A at GCSE then that school is far more effective than a school that takes only the very brightest children to start with. The support for those children with issues like dyslexia is also top notch and they will take girls who are bright but have barriers to accessing education and wouldn’t ever get a place at the competitive north London schools. That doesn’t mean they are not high achieving.

The new head at STAHS is very up front about this sort of thing and states that parents shouldn’t choose them simply BECAUSE of their results because they are a given based on their intake. She encourages parents to look at everything else they offer.

However, until parents stop their obsession with league tables and look beyond pure results, schools like Aldenham and Queenswood will continue to be subjected to comments that they are somehow second rate. Our current experience couldn’t be further from the truth.

"One word of warning about Queenswood though, they apparently send A LOT of emails to parents about absolutely countless events/activities/anything on a daily basis. 😂"

LOL - can confirm, as a parent you will have already received ~30+ separate emails since September

Queenswood has never been known for it’s art. It’s known for sport and drama. Not sure if offers art scholarships either. It just doesn’t have an arty vibe. No art shows I believe.

If you look at destinations from 6th form, they are not RG heavy either. They used to be. This all depends if you have a B grade child who would have got a C elsewhere so a B is a triumph. For A grade students it’s a bit underwhelming. It was the same as our local
girls grammar in terms of results snd now it’s way off their results. If you look at the results overall, Q has plummeted down the league tables. There’s no escaping that and it depends if DDs are better off at a school with more high achieving Dc. Some parents clearly think so and parents, even with girls at Q, send their bright DDs elsewhere. They need to try and get the bright siblings into the school.

Also when DD1 was there very few left for 6th form. Around 6 each year. The bond was strong and, although Q was seen as a purple bubble, girls stayed with their friends. So although I think it’s a great school, it has changed but remains ultra sporty snd very good at drama.

I also dislike posters who cheer lead without understanding history and context.