Habs vs Westminster vs St. Paul’s Boys

[Glassofmerlot]

We would like to give the best for our son. He is a bright boy, 2-3 y ahead in mats and other subjects. It’s a tough decision and i would like to get your opinion on those schools. We live near Habs but are open to move. What are the differences between these schools? Westminster and St. Paul’s are both high up in the league table, Habs is not.

@CrankyP Rugby is not offered in plenty of schools and given the fact a great deal of parents don’t like the idea of contact sports it may not put off the OP. Rugby is is a sport that most talented players start at primary school at local clubs which is not a barrier preventing him from trying it out.

@BookwormButNoTime i take your point with those two A levels, but (and this is not widely known until you are there) the enrichment programme does provide opportunities to continue to study subjects at AS/A level. My DD has continued with a specific (and not popular) language she did not choose and was not officially available for A level in these sessions as an example.

It may be a stupid point but I do hope the OP has visited these three schools in person, along with their DS, and isn't just going on the comments on here alone - with no disrespect to the insights on here.

We have visited all schools more than once considering my son will be studying there for 11 years. But there’s only so much you can get from open days.

@Glassofmerlot Why don't you just choose a school that suits him now? Plenty of boys leave WUS at 13+ and I'm sure at St Paul's too. Things change a lot in that time space. It sounds like Habs would best for him now to be honest. He can travel/board when he's 11 or 13 so a move then is completely possible.

It's worth pointing out that Westminster / WUS is not all-through and you're not signing up for 11 years uninterrupted at the 7+ stage - i.e. the Year 6 boys at WUS sit the ISEB 11+ pre-tests, along with all the external candidates applying for 11+ entry (i.e. wanting to join Year 7 at WUS). WUS boys then sit written papers set by Westminster (senior) School in January. Westminster School - as in the senior school - look at the ISEB results and the written paper results before deciding on whether the WUS boys can progress from Year 8 at WUS up to Year 9 at Westminster. While the vast majority do progress to Westminster School, it's not unheard of for some boys to exit at that point.

are you worried about the recent results from Hab's and the decision to leave league tables?

What’s wrong with the recent results from Habs? As far as I know they’re continuing a rising trend (excluding CAGS from 2021).

*TAGs from 2021 I should have said.

Isn't the gap widening regarding the A level results vs 2019?

I’m not sure what you mean by the “gap widening”? All I have to go on is the data published on their website, which includes a comparative table for A-levels grades since 2018. It appears to show that 2022 results were better than 2019 results.

What I mean is, if you check it for SPJ, you get 70% now, whereas the numbers used to be more or less comparable with Habs.

In terms of prestige, SPS and Westminster are certainly higher than Habs, just depends if that is important to you or not?

This is out of date. Progression through is not an issue unless it is clearly not the right place for them, which would be the case anywhere. And StP’s have always managed more boys out than W in my experience.

There's nothing "out of date" about what I typed there - it all still stands up factually.

@Glassofmerlot , how did your ds get on with Westminster 7+?