Habs boys or Merchant Taylor

[redferrari]

Hi. My DS has received offers from both schools. We had a good experience on open days in both places. Distance wise both are around 30 mins by coach. My son is more into academics, although he enjoys sports he is not too much into it. His interests are drama and computers.
Any feedback from those who have boys here will be great please. Thanks!

Hey! My son sounds similar to yours and joined Habs at Year 7 have had very good offers from both schools. Having spoken in depth (and ad nauseam) to friends at both schools, we felt the right fit was Habs as he isn't hugely sporty. Having said that, there is a huge sports provision at Habs and the fields look beautiful as does the swimming pool so your son might change his mind! I can't tell you about MTS but at Habs, there is a huge range of non-sporty extracurricular activities ranging from VEX robotics to a ridiculous number of musical activities, debating and drama etc.

Thank you so much for your input. Is your son enjoying the range of activities? Pls can I ask you how the pastoral care is. Personally I feel like Habs boys is a better fit so far but I want him to make up his mind so we have started on a pro and cons list and are stuck because it seems like both have so much to offer.

Yes, he's tried a few new things-he has an afterschool activity nearly every day and often something in his lunch break too...he has tried debating, Vex (his team are through to some big National final now) and lots of musical things. There was an amazing jazz camp last year that he enjoyed and he's sung with the choir in St Albans cathedral.
He had some teething troubles when he first started and his housemaster was brilliant. I know everyone's experience is unique but actually I have found the pastoral care to be excellent so far. There is an on site counsellor for the boys to make use of (we've not needed him yet so I can't attest to how good he is but he seems very approachable and friendly).

Thank you @Mumtum79 - really appreciate all the inputs. It sounds like a ideal school for my summer born who will just turn 11 before September

Hi @redferrari I have family friends at both MTS and HABS. I find MTS a better mix of extra curricular with academics but the exam results are fantastic. The boys there are more well rounded compared to HABS boys. At HABS the boys could be seen as "geeky" and not socially savvy. The school does not give much opportunity compared to MTS such as young enterprise (setting up businesses), PHAB(helping disabled people for charity), CCF (the cadet force). If I had a son I would hope they get into MTS as the school prepares them for men of the future. HABS can be quite strict but the academics are slightly above MTS so do consider that. Hope this helps your decision

@nwldn12 that is very interesting and useful - thank you for sharing

Hi , my son is into his 5th year at MTS a and we have been very happy . He has been involved in sports / music and other activities . The boys can opt to do outdoor activities in games lessons so if team sport not their thing they can get involved in other activities .I am pretty sure in year 7 there was a touch rugby group for those who didn’t want to play contact rugby . Mine chose to play full contact but there was definitely a choice . He has had some great teachers . Pastorally he has been supported by some kind form tutors . We have loved it as a school . We have a child elsewhere and I can’t fault MTS.

@CR56 thank you so much for the feedback. Glad to read about your son's positive experience because we have gone for MTS. It was a tough choice as both are great schools.

I went to Habs, the school is amazing, I would never consider sports provision "limited at all. Boys who come out are extremely confident, successful principled young men. Your kids would be in the top 0.5% of the country for education. Every possible interest is catered for and pastoral care and spirit amongst the boys is amazing. Boys come out with exemplary manners. Couldn't recommend it highly enough. MTs not even comparable.

@Sam2584 what makes you say that MT now is not remotely comparable to the Habs you attended (which may or may not be very similar to the Habs of today)?

Having done a huge amount of research there are no material academic differences between Habs, St Albans and MT, ultimately a few % which will
make no difference to your own son’s performance … so the important question is fit. If you’re looking for a super selective school then the direction of travel is City, St Paul’s or Westminster.

Apologies. I saw this quite a while after the original post and decided not to comment but there are still a few people on this chat and so I thought I'd comment/reply to this poster now ( nearly a year on !).
I'm not sure this came across particularly kind. I thought we had stepped away from using words such as 'geeky' to refer to children and I don't think us as adults using this terminology teaches much to our own children about labelling people. We are obviously all different and the fact that there are parents in this chat who have stated they have chosen to send our sons here doesn't speak well to this poster being 'socially savvy' to have commented in this way-I don't think you would have said this directly to our faces because you too are a parent and wouldn't, I'm sure, intend to cause hurt.
My brother went through MTS and my husband to Habs. They are both kind, successful and well-liked men. I would say they are both very much a product of their schools and although different they are both 'socially savvy' (and in fact, get on very well with each other). I'm not sure what you mean by 'geeky' but they are both well-read men at the top of their respective careers but also balancing that with being wonderful fathers and great partners. Perhaps your impression of being geeky is just a confidence in following whatever path you want?
Having now been at Habs for three years, I feel my son has blossomed. He was always i social adept and if anything, Habs has only aided this and I find he holds his own in a wide variety of social circles. I'm not saying that MTS wouldn't have done this but am just trying to balance this other post. I have never heard the word geeky being used in reference to Habs especially in a comparison with MTS because of the former's mainly North London based clientele who tend to be fairly widely based in their desires and aims for their children.
My only criticism of Habs would be that, having friends at MTS, I feel they don't involve parents as much. The boys have concerts, talks and exhibitions but these often happen at lunchtime and are aimed at the children (they often have girls from the girls school come along to watch them). Even the recent GCSE option talks were all targeted at the boys whereas I know MTS hold a few evenings for the parents to attend. But equally perhaps this does mean that the boys take control over their own 'happenings and doings' themselves and much earlier. I'm not sure if it's just how my sons personality would've developed anyway or because of the school but I find he and his friends seem to be very independent in how they organise their academic, extracurricular and social life. He is blissfully happy there (touch wood as I know how these situations can change!) and I can only say it's the best thing to have happened to him but equally wouldnt want to rubbish any other school or choices.

Resurrecting this thread as we have the same dilemma this year. Thank you for your replies last year. Our son is very sporty but unfortunately in the "wrong sports" for MT. He likes football over rugby, tennis over cricket (plus swimming and athletics). He is also not as self-motivated as we would have liked (I guess this is a common complaint from parents of boys) so needs a bit of a push to go out there and get involved on the co-curricular side. Both schools will be a long commute as we are in North London (but we like them more than local schools because of their facilities). Any feedback from existing parents would be massively appreciated! Both on how people view recent trends on the academics side and re:opportunities to get involved in sports (with the knock on effect of having to take the late coach home etc)