St Albans Vs Hitchin Vs Bishops Stortford Vs Welwyn Garden City

[Ranithequeen]

Dear All,

We are a family of 3(Currently living in London) with both of us in IT(Age:38), our daughter(Age:11) going to Secondary school this September 2023 and looking for a better place to buy a house and thinking Hertfordshire council is the one to live for the next 10 years to forever :-)

We are looking for the below things while considering the options,

1. Best secondary comprehensive state schools (so my daughter has continuity for the next 7-8 years of her studies)
2. Connectivity to London as we may have to go to London once/twice a week (Currently WFH and not sure how scenario's change in future)
3. Close to nature to feel relaxed & peaceful without not being far from the necessities like groceries, sports club etc
4. Cost of living and a friendly town with a feel of home (I guess people are nice everywhere!)

We did initial research and short listed St. Albans, Hitchin, Bishops Stortford, Welwyn garden city. I really would love to hear from people who lived ,are living, friends basically any information/individual perspectives in the above areas to suggest us make the right decision as this is one of the biggest decisions of life!

Looking forward to hear from you all and kindly comment with your pros/cons, preferred best choice in view of the above 4 points. Thanks a lot in advance.

Regards,
Rani

@kenyaswhiterefrigerator Thanks a lot for a detailed opinion and information. I haven't looked into Harpenden but I'll have a look now. Thank you for your wishes.

@follygirl Thank you for sharing the points about St.Albans and raising about private schools. Please name few good private schools so I can have a look at their websites for more information.

@33goingon64 Thank you for reminding us on the parking costs and commute to the station aspects.

@Hersetta427 Thank you for your opinion. In all honesty, I visited the new builds but they didn't fascinate me for the reasons that there is not a single tree there and it felt very quiet so wouldn't choose them either. Thanks for the reminder on catchment area.

For the first time in years, there is are surplus places in Bishops Stortford for next year as a new school is opening to support new housing that is being built.

St Albans and Harpenden have good secondaries, but the houses in the catchment areas reflect that and property there is more expensive in general than Welwyn, Hitchin and Bishop Stortford.
The St Albans train line is also probably the quickest to London (I think 26 min to St Pancras) but depends where in London you need to get to, and is more expensive than the Welwyn line.

There is a new secondary school in Harpenden which only opened about 4 years ago which might be easier to get a place than the more established schools.

I think you would have to be very lucky to get into Hitchin Girls - low drop out rates and people stay on the wait list for a long time to get in there.

The local alternative schools with spaces are in Letchworth, and I would presume that these are not what you are looking for. I think Hitchin would be a huge gamble.

I went to Herts & Essex in Stortford from Year 8. I only got in because my parents took out a ridiculous mortgage and moved less than 5 minutes walk away. Even then I had to have an interview with Headmistress! That was in 1988 and I’m sure it’s still as competitive now.

I moved up north when I divorced in my late 20s, but I would happily have raised my kids in Stortford. Most of my friends still live there. It’s the perfect commuter belt town. IIRC it’s 20 mins from Tottenham Hale and 40 from Liverpool Street. My mum lives in Welwyn village (I wouldn’t recommend WGC) and that’s about 45 mins to Euston on the train.

I’m thinking about Hitchin for Hitchin girls (dd currently yr 3, so time to make a move).
does anyone local know what the recent “catchment” has been, ie how close to be a sure thing?

I am not 100% sure but they have their admissions on the website - worth looking at how these will change in the coming years. At first glance it looks like the quotas for different areas are going in the next few years and its all based on distance. If this is the case it may be good news if you live in Hitchin.

@Ranithequeen

As you have a daughter there are 2 suitable schools in St Albans: St Albans High School for Girls and St Columba's College.
Stahs is an academic school and highly selective.
St Columba's College used to be a boys' school but is now mixed. It is less selective than Stahs.

Abbots Hill is a single sex school near Hemel Hempstead but it doesn't have a sixth form and there is also Queenswood School.

@follygirl Thank you. My daughter is in year 6 now and will be going to year 7 in this September. We are thinking of Beamount school or Samuel Ryder school for her. Any idea on the catchment area for Beamount school? Will this be one mile? or less or more? Also do we find Indian masalas/groceries in St. Albans?

I am biased as I have lived in St Albans and I think it's a fantastic place to live. It has some really great state schools - Sandringham, STAGs, Loreto to name a few.

It's 20 minutes to central London on the train and has a great selection of restaurants and pubs. It's not on a par with other cathedral cities like Winchester, York or Bath as the town centre is positively ropey in parts. It used to have a great charter market but that has gone to shit since the pandemic and is now a sad shadow of what it used to be. The other downside is the traffic - it's horribly congested around the city centre.

I have friends in Hitchin and I love it there too. I don't think WGC or Bishops Stortford are comparable.

@Ranithequeen

Sorry can't help with catchment areas although I believe you can look on a website and see catchment areas. I think it might be a local authority one but I'm sure you can find it using Google.
Again can't help with Asian supermarkets but I'm sure there must be.

All the st albans secondaries are good so I'd go for that as which ever school you get allocated it's likely to be decent

The Fleetville area is good for Asian shops.

That might be close enough for Beaumont. My nieces live on Blandford Rd and went to Beaumont.

Verulam (boys' school), Samuel Ryder and Marlborough are not in such high demand for places as Sandringham, Loreto, STAGs and Beaumont.

I know nothing about schools so I'm just commenting on the rest.

St Albans - great transport links. Too big to have that 'friendly' feel. Not particularly green. I didn't struggle to find Indian spices, even rarer ones.

Welwyn - Super dull.

Hitchin - I've only visited but it seemed pretty and had more of a community vibe.

Bishops Stortford - no experience.

Radlett and Shenley are worth a look. Smaller than St Albans but direct trains to London from Radlett, and greener.

If you want a particular school in bs I would move as close to it as possible. It's very competitive in terms of school places.

Just going to reiterate this.

In St Albans catchments change yearly depending on applicants.

You need to check Herts Council website but even so it might be a guess.

If the school is as important - or more important! - as the house make sure you visit the schools yourself.

Also do we find Indian masalas/groceries in St. Albans?

As well as Fleetville in St Albans, there are plenty of Asian grocers, clothes shops, restaurants, etc in Luton (see Bury Farm area) around a 20 minute drive from the north side of St Albans.

ITA St Albans is a great place to live, although not cheap! DS lives there in the catchment area for Sandringham, where he plans to send the grandchildren.

What's your budget?

I went to Beaumont and it was a great school then, and my understanding is that it still is excellent. Wish I could still afford to live in St Albans, it's a lovely place to live (though I am definitely biased!)

I know Bishops Stortford well. There are five established state secondaries:

Birchwood - non-selective comprehensive. It’s fine - I’m not aware of it having an amazing or a bad reputation.
Boys’ High - takes girls for sixth form, I think.
Girls’ High - all girls.
Hockerill Anglo-European College - highly selective state school but with a boarding element. Virtually impossible to get into on distance grounds - needs to be via aptitude test in Year 6.
St Mary’s - Catholic.
And there is a new secondary school opening up near the new housing to the north of town. Probably Avanti something. I know nothing about this.

What I’d say is that if you are looking for good but non-selective, non-religious and mixed sex schools, Stortford has limited choices. The state schools are all good but if you move here aspiring to Hockerill in Year 8, you are almost certainly going to be disappointed. You would probably end up with Birchwood or the new secondary about which very little is known. Neither would be the “schools that people move to Stortford for”, by which I mean they’re perfectly good schools but not stand-out in any way that I’m aware of. If mixed education matters to you, I would look elsewhere in view of the admission point you’re at.

There are also private schools here such as Bishops Stortford College. No idea what it’s like but it’s the main private school in town.

Generally, it’s a nice town to live in. Overdeveloped for the public services available such as GP surgeries and the traffic is horrendous. But it has most of what you need and for more shopping there’s Harlow and Cambridge. Rail links are good. Road links also good once you get out of town - M11 and A120 being the main ones but access north and to the M25 is straightforward. Very easy access to countryside and small villages/pubs. Not tonnes for teens to do.

Bishops stortford hands down. We moved from hitchin where our kids where at Kingshott and they are now at a equally good of not better state school in Bishops stortford.

Also bishops stortford is in my opinion a much nicer town than Hitchin, and you still, just about, more house for your money.

Also look at Ware. Presdales is great for girls.

Hi Op

Have you got a mainline station you need to get to? Stortford is great for Tottenham and Liv St, but if King’s Cross or Euston are where you need to get in, then the other towns are better.

Given your question about Indian supermarkets, I can say 2 things about stortford, which I really like as a town. Firstly, just major supermarket chains. Some of the smaller independent corner shops have more diverse ingredients but it’s not ideal. Secondly, I don’t find stortford particularly diverse. I moved out from London and if you prefer to live in a more diverse area then perhaps come and have a walk round, see how you like it. I can’t comment on the other towns for diversity or amenities.

I know Hitchin well as used to live there, now live nearby. I think PPs have said everything there is to say about the schools. If you're interested in private, St Frances (girls) and St Christophers (both) in Letchworth are both popular (very different styles though) and I think Kingshott on outskirts of Hitchin takes girls now too but no idea what it's like.

Thinking laterally, you could look at villages near Hitchin where you would fall into Central Bedfordshire catchment. They currently have a three tier system so year 8 would be the final year of middle school. Perhaps consider moving in time for year 9 admissions at upper school? Some good schools there, (Redborne, Samuel Whitbread, Harlington). Some children go on to sixth form in the Hitchin schools as there are no catchments in year 12/13.