Henrieta Barnet vs Nonsuch

[happymommmy]

Hello lovely ladies,
My dd appeared in 11+ this year and we have options from Henrieta & nonsuch. we are not in the catchment of any school but will get from outside.
please give your thought on which one to choose. My dd is academic but also loves sports and art.

What's the travel like?

Don't know Nonsuch at all, but congratulations on getting into HBS!! A massive win

This.

Have the places been offered yet? Won’t exams be still happening now (second stage)?

Honestly I would just rank first whichever one is logistically easier. Are you planning on moving or will your DD commute?

The second stage has happened in Sutton and results come out before 31st Oct so you have the information before applying. It is not a guarantee of a place though.

This said, you might try the elevenplusforums website. There are families on there who apply to up to around half a dozen grammars in various disparate parts of the country.

@puffyisgood why do you say that families do themselves a disservice by moving into a grammar area?

P.S. and do you realise your comment is a slur as you feel it's important to specifically mention certain ethnicities?

Where do you live?

Which school do you think would suit her best and which other schools are you considering ?

Never heard of Nonsuch 🤷‍♀️ But HBS is one of the best schools in the country

Nonsuch is a superselective girls grammar school that usually ranks very highly in league tables. I don't know exactly how it compares to HBS but it's comparable enough IMO, considering how far apart they are geographically.

I loved Nonsuch when I visited it for my dd1 3 years ago and that's where she sat both stages of the Sutton 11+ exam.

Didn't visit Henrietta Barnet, so can't comment.

Depends how you’re defining ‘best’. If you mean exam results then yes of course they are outstanding, these are some of the cleverest girls in the country.

But the teaching is very mixed. And I think their recent Ofsted wasn’t great.

we visited both schools and somehow I feel Henrieta struggles with space, which is reflected in school sports offerings. Correct me if anyone's dd is in Henrieta. Also, there are not many teacher-lead after-school clubs, they do have clubs but some are six former's lead. Also, not all kids get space in clubs so it's like first come first serve. Is this the same with nonsuch?
we are near to nonsuch than Henrieta and at the moment can travel to school. But we are ready to move if Henrieta has much to offer than nonsuch. We are so confused.

The two schools are so far apart that vanishingly few people are likely to have had a chance to compare them.

Nonsuch has an outstanding reputation and is an excellent choice for an academic, hard-working girl. It is, however, pushed for space and the atmosphere is quite perfectionist.

It would not be a good fit for a child who is not so able, and you would need to keep an eye on any girl with anxiety problems - but that seems to be par for the course with grammar schools.

All the girls I have met who attended Nonsuch did well academically, but while some loved it, others have mixed feelings.

@happymommmy , your dd will almost certainly achieve the same GCSE and A level results at both schools. Why would you choose to move house and to a different place for this. Nonsuch is a great school and she will no doubt do well. (All dc loose interest in clubs at all schools in the U.K. after year 9 - private or state).

HBS second stage occurred a few weeks back (300 candidates were called back for 100 spaces), but people wont know if they have a space before March, although those within the 3miles catchment will have one guaranteed if they passed 1st round.

Unless your child is a formerly looked after child, there is no way at the moment of being sure of a place at Henrietta Barnet, given you don't live with 3 miles.

Or indeed nonsuch in reality, though you would have a much better idea on this as you should know her score and if you live in the catchment area/sutton/pupil premium.

Tbh I can't see the any strong reason to move, if you genuinely have a good chance for nonsuch.

Agree with @hockeygrass.

There will really only be a very small pool of parents/locals who will be potentially more impressed about your DD going to one of the schools over the other. And once they're beyond school age, I doubt anyone in wider circles will be bothered!

@happymommmy , For Sports and for PE, as well as the on-site facilities, HBS uses the two grassy areas in front of the school, the tennis courts there and the playing fields on the Heath, one block away.

HBS is also the more academic school of the two. Check out the A* grades for the 2022 A Levels.

HBS is also the more academic school of the two. Check out the A grades for the 2022 A Levels.* How can you possibly make that comment based on one year's results? They could have had a more academic than average (for them) year group. It happens that some years are cleverer than others, even in the most academic of schools.

What people often mean by 'more academic' in this context is 'more selective'. Due to having a larger intake, more similar options for girls to choose from in the area, and a more inclusive catchment policy, there is a larger range of ability upon entry to Nonsuch than HBS, hence a bigger spread of results.
Progress 8 scores are similar, so you can be confident the same girl would do equally well at both schools.

Or the 2010-2019 A Level Results. (2019 and 2020 are generally to be distorted by Covid enforced changes.)

Certainly, @Dido2010. So you really can't put too much store by comparing recent years' results at all.