Last minute dilemma after waiting list - More House or St James Senior Girls?

[StiltonScones]

Hi all, looking for some advice or opinions on what you'd personally choose in my position.

As this says - I'm in a bit of a dilemma as to which of these schools to choose from; having accepted a place at one of them and initially being on the waiting list for the other it appears that DD now has the opportunity to attend either.

Absolutely love More House due to the size and the capability for each teacher to really get to know the girls individually and cater to their needs. That said it is slightly further away from us and DD would need to get two tube trains from Year 7 as we are unable to drive her and due to work restraints she'd be doing the journey independently quite early on. It seems very much geared toward the pastoral which I do like but as DD is very capable would also like to feel assured that she'll be pushed to fulfil her potential.

St. James is obviously a bit bigger, but still fairly small. It's nearer to us (DD would only need to take one tube line she knows well) and seems a bit more academic (unless I'm wrong here - aware MH choose not to appear on League Tables so perhaps that's swaying my judgement) and offers more subjects, such as Latin, from year 7 as opposed to just for GCSE. However, aware that St James obviously does also have a prep and want DD to go somewhere where there won't be groups of girls who all already know each other, and also concerned by some reports that it isn't as organised in terms of communication and pastoral issues aren't necessarily addressed as well as the could be.

She'll be the only girl from her primary at both schools as we're moving into the area. For me ultimately both schools have pros - More House in the one-to-one tuition and pastoral care and St. James obviously being the 'better known' in terms of reputation and closeness.

All help appreciated, thank you!

Bumping

We love More House and are currently in the middle of an admissions process. We did look at St James but it's that bit too far for us and More House just felt like a better fit. They push the academic girls really well, without being overbearing, and there is tons of support for less able girls. This means everyone has their needs met and is far less likely to fall under the radar and become distracting.
I can't put my finger on it but it just felt like such a warm and safe space from when we walked in. The other small girls schools we looked at felt a lot more judgey and cliquey.

I'm a More House parent, and very happy with the school. They do have a very broad mix academically, but due to the small class sizes and setting they support each girl to achieve their own potential. The pastoral care is really good, which is why we chose the school, but the teaching has been excellent too. It is small, and there are pros and cons to that, but it's a very good school. The girls come from across London, but equally I wouldn't discount the journey - there is a lot to be said for a more local school and perhaps more local friends. I don't know St James so can't compare, I'm afraid.

Thank you both, very interesting to see both replies favouring More House and echoing similar sentiments to ours.

I agree that there really is such a warmth there that's palpable from the first impression, it really does feel like such a welcoming space.

I suppose the main factor for me is the distance and perhaps sport proficiency - DD is quite competitive in a healthy way - is there much competition by way of the house system at More House?

@StiltonScones I'm not sure about the house system or competition as that's not what we went to see the school for, so the tour didn't mention it much, but there is a fair amount of sports. My daughter is a competitive swimmer so it's not really relevant for us, but St James didn't feel any more competitive or sporty to be honest. If that's something that's important to you than I think both schools are unlikely to be the best fit.
If you're having wobbles about either, it's probably best to request another tour and meeting. It's a lot of money for something that may not fit.

@StiltonScones How far is the travel? From what we've been told it's quite common for girls to take 2 tube lines to get to school, or a tube and a bus. There aren't many coming from our way but it sounds like you're West so your daughter shouldn't have a problem finding a travel buddy, even for part of the journey.

It’s not a hugely sporty school. The teaching is very good, there are opportunities to do sport almost every day, they make the most of being near to Battersea and Hyde Park and they offer PE GCSE and A Level. But it’s a very small school so they can’t field an A team to rival the larger schools and it’s more inclusive than competitive in approach. I think the sporty girls do a lot outside school.

St James parent here; DD is in year 7. So it's been less than a year but so far our experience is very positive.

Specifically about your concern in the first post -

DD too was the only one from her school going there, and we had similar initial concerns about whether she would be able to make friends as she is quite shy. Thankfully no friendship issues and DD has made a good stable group of friends now, both from the junior school and the new girls. As far as I am aware there is no clique (at least so far!) and the girls mix well. The school makes an effort to ensure this happens - an early start of term day trip to Oxford for a team building exercise helped break the ice. Various group activities (cookery, drama, classes etc), a plethora of clubs (nearly 50 or so) makes sure the girls find other with similar interests.

On the academic side, from a parent's perspective, I like what the school is doing -

They have a superb humanities and mathematics department with some very experienced and skilled staff. The custom history curriculum and teaching is amazing. They do frequent assessments (test almost every two week or so), track and intervene quickly if needed. For example, following a test, some girls maybe invited for subject clinics, and/or will retake tests following some work. Homework is about an hour each weekday, and bit more in the weekend. High teacher to student ratio (better than 1:7) certainly helps with extra help with clinics etc.

I wouldn't say it's very competitive (it wouldn't have been suitable for my DD if it was), but there is some academic pressure and stretch. First term starts easy, but homework, exam etc ramps up from the middle of first term.

Also, very lively discussions in assembly and philosophy classes on a variety of subjects outside the curriculum (Iran protests, Thatcher and the unions, analysis of painting, how to handle sadness). Probably these are perfectly normal in other London indies too (I have no prior experience), but I am pleasntly surprised watching DD gradually developing a well rounded personality, lot more aware of the world around her.

Among the unusals in St James - quiet time/meditation and vegetarian food; but you are probably already aware of these?

things I don't particularly like -

The headteacher is retiring. She was one of the reasons we chose the school as we really liked her approach. The new headteacher seems nice, but it's still a change we didn't expect.

The school is a bit more religious than I imagined it would be. Not overly so (it's not a faith school), but there are regular prayers etc in assembly and we aren't a religous family.

There had been a few communication hiccups in the early months, nothing major, but things like sports fixture mixups, vaccination date missed ( corrected later), etc. Not really a biggie for us (and things have improved since), but some parents were upset. (In all such cases, reaching out to the school fixed the problem).

We got offered places at these two schools and loved their small and caring approach especially MH. MH has a dynamic head who is very forward thinking and wants to take the school to new heights. As everyone has said it’s small environment means your child is definitely getting a more bespoke and individually focussed education. the art teacher is phenomenal there too and they have introduced many I initiatives like the Be More and More holidays to develop those who can be challenged academically.

However, we sadly turned it down as my daughter is sporty and having spoke with the lovely PE teacher and admissions lady (who is a big netball fan and helps with sports). She mentioned that often times Year groups have to be comibined to field enough “competent” players. I don’t believe they are in many competitions but I think they are trying to branch out with the sports hence why rowing is offered now but don’t believe that is competitive.

I also suggest looking at their co-curricular timetable - that was another reason why we turned it down. Not much on offer in comparison to other schools.

As for St James, we felt it was expensive fees wise for what it offers. Not much facilities wise and the building does seem dated. Big plus is the kitchen so they do cooking but it felt limited in terms of sports and space. The geography teacher is wonderful.

Feel free to DM if you want more info as I had lengthy conversations with both schools in the past two weeks.

Ah yes, the co curricular was another factor in my mind actually. DD really does have an expanse of hobbies and it seems a shame MH aren't able to offer more. I believe MH have certain mandatory clubs for year 7 as well don't they?

@StiltonScones
I think Choir on Mondays and Sports on Tuesday is compulsory for Y7-9, but they've told us the choir is fine to miss as my daughter has swimming club then so I think they are flexible. Aside from RE they are pretty flexible in most things it seems.

@Dodgeitornot sorry have just seen your earlier question regarding journeys. Neither is immensely long; around 20 mins for St. James and perhaps 40/45 max for More House.

There are a couple of alternative routes she could take to St. James aside from tube though which is playing on my mind in case of strikes etc, can only imagine Knightsbridge traffic being horrendous should she need to get bus / cab which would be the only realistic options in that case.

But to add, I wouldn't necessarily choose a school based on an 11 year olds hobbies. They change a lot by Y8 and aren't as trigger happy in terms of sign ups. You will be grateful for compulsory clubs once she's 13/14. Just because a school runs a club, doesn't mean it's a good quality club either. Sometimes less, but good quality is better than 40 glorified childcare clubs. We are not at MH yet but it's not something that put us off personally.
We are coming from a school with tons of clubs and sport and my daughter didn't really stick with many once she reached Y9. She just wanted to go home as did most of her friends.
Remember your daughter will spend most of her time at either school as a teen/young adult, it's hard to see it now but from experience it's best to base your decision on what you imagine she will need then, not as an excited child now. In our experience pastoral care and good quality teaching trumps any fields or endless lists of clubs, hence us having to move now. In hindsight we would've made a difference choice in Y6, especially for a shy girl.

@StiltonScones I wouldn't worry about strikes. I asked this question on our tour and they said they're very sympathetic and due to the location of the school the whole school is effected as staff can't get in as well.

@Dodgeitornot These are all very good points. I hadn't thought massively on the likelihood that she'd not be so keen on clubs later on, but can absolutely see that panning out. DD is very social so I imagine by that age the priority would be free time with friends, which I suppose again raises it's own issue regarding geographics.

She isn't particularly shy but does need time to build her confidence, particularly as she'll be coming into a completely new environment, and we really were taken by how confident the girls at MH seemed, and how fluently they spoke about the support the staff gave them not only at school but also in understanding that many had hobbies or commitments outside of school and how teachers encouraged them to build on that.

Very reassuring re: strikes, but again does that mean some staff may be unavailable on strike days? But then again I suppose that's a given anywhere in central London and with the small class sizes it's easier for the school to remedy when service resumes as normal...

@StiltonScones I don't think it's just schools in Central London that are effected by strikes. My daughter is currently at a large school in Zone 3 and on some strike days they had online school because staff couldn't get in.

I don't think either of the schools are particularly local when it comes to intake tbh, but my opinion is probably skewed as my daughter is currently at a school with a year on year 0.5mile catchment so her current friends are all local. This has caused it's own issues tbh. It swings in roundabouts.
My daughter is also very social, but shy at first which was a huge reservation we had and still do to be honest, as MH is smaller than her primary school was. But out of all the schools we've seen in the last month, we both agreed MH was the warmest one with what seemed, the kindest and least snobbiest girls. However, it is a very personal choice and a huge investment, I think both of these schools are great and pretty honest about what they are and what they aren't. I'd definitely ask for another tour armed with a list of questions. We found both schools very approachable. Good luck.

Thank you so much for the input, that is so helpful and has given us much food for thought.

I do think we may ask for another tour of both schools and then make a decision based on that, but it's been really helpful chatting to other parents on their first impressions and impressions from parents at the schools.

Thank you!

Hello everyone,
we have moved to London in September 2023 and my kids attend a state school in central London. Since my daughter is in year 6 we directly jumped into the secondary school hunting right away. We live very close to Lady Margaret School - which is our top school on our application list. We did not feel good about other state schools in the area. So we had a back up plan to see some Indepentent schools in the area. We did want to stress our daughter with tests etc right away after moving to a new country and new school system and English is a second language for her. So we only contacted schools in january 24 and only 2 of them had availabilities. She currently received an offer at St.James Senior Girls school and we are a bit puzzled which one to choose if we get İnto Lady Margaret School or not. Which option would be better? We really like the fact that st james has a really small class size where she can get more focuses attention whereas LMS seems to be better academicly but is that going to be same since she is not a native english speaker who only went to school in the UK for a year. Please let me know of your thoughts that would be very helpful. Thanks in advance

We had the same choice MH or SJSG some 5 years ago and chose SJSG as it was bigger, but still small. Also as non-catholics we felt MH was a less good fit.

You will likely get more responses in a new thread for comparing these two schools since this one is about More house and St James.

DD is in year 8 at St James and her year group has a few girls who came to UK relatively recently and English is not their main language. About three or four from Hong Kong and two from Ukraine. I understand later years too have similar number. So the school has experience supporting such children.

I can't comment about St Margaret unfortunately as I don't know the school.

@sjsgparent thank you I thought I was creating a new post actually - thanks for making me realize. I will do that and sorry everyone for the confusion. All the best