Habs vs Highgate vs City for a bright boy

[NLmjn]

Hellos lovely people! Please help! My DS did really well and got 11+ offers for Habs, Highgate and City and we are completely lost… we live close to Highgate so he can walk and this is definitely an advantage however he is really swayed by the amount of extracurricular activities and facilities in Habs and I like City over better Oxbridge results and the vibe. What would you do? Would you go to Highgate because it is closer? I am worries that there are less clubs or trips on offer and my DS will be board..

Congratulations! It’s such a relief to have some offers, and our DC have worked so hard!!

We’re very lucky to be in a similar position in that we have offers from Highgate, city and UCS. City and UCS are probably the easiest to get to for us so that’s definitely an important consideration. Our DS is very sporty (mainly football but also likes rugby) so I worry that will be a problem with city given their sports fields are so far away? Do you think city would suit a sporty boy? I actually like the vibe and facilities of UCS best but it does weigh on my mind that we’d be picking the ‘least academic’ of the options. Does anyone have experiences of the schools and what type of children suit which schools best? Thanks!!

Thanks @IrishGal1 that’s really helpful. I’m hoping the offer days will solidify it for us. 🤞

Thank you so much for your reply!! City is the least convenient commute for us so i think it may be a no for City. Highgate has football and is co-ed which my son likes, Habs seems more academic in STEM subjects and richer extracurricular offering but is a longer journey and single sex.. yes we will go to all offer holder events and decide then!

Congratulations to your son too!! Mine didn’t like UCS for some reason although I liked the school a lot. I think academically they show similar results. I also think in case of City there may be an issue with having sports fields in Lewisham in the case of fixtures etc…

Well done! I would go for Highgate. Statistically boys will do better in a co-ed school over single sex. Plus it has good facilities and is walking distance.

Walking distance would sway it. From a purely historical personal perspective the boys I met from habs were complete "insert obscenity" through my hobby. I was one of only a handful of females taking part and from the only state school and they were pretty nasty to my friend and I, as far as complaints to the referee when we beat them one time (we beat them most competitions) none of the other lads were like that, the Eton chaps kept chatting us up (crudely, they need manners lessons) I think they wanted a bit of rough

Thank you @gogohmm so sorry to hear that they were nasty to you:(( I would hope that the school has changed to the better lately but yes I ve heard a number of other views about lack of pastoral care etc so maybe there is no smoke without fire