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

I can’t comment on the other towns for diversity or amenities.

We went into DGD’s primary classroom in St Albans for a “Grandparents Day”. I can confirm the class had a very diverse intake; and the school embraces diversity in every respect.

Hitchin resident here - the state secondaries are indeed very, very good and have a highly rated sixth form consortium spread across HItchin Boys', Hitchin Girls' and The Priory. Both my son and daughter have done really well at HBS/HGS and the sixth form has a fair few formerly privately educated students. It is a lovely, friendly town, very chilled, good vibe, quite arty, very nice community feel. I don't feel it is particularly similar to the other towns mentioned.

Shop wise we have three reasonably big supermarkets: Waitrose, Sainsburys and Asda - all just outside the main town centre and walkable and there is a Tesco express near the station. There's an asian shop and several other grocery shops/fruit and veg shops. Bigger Sainsburys in Letchworth along with a big Aldi and a big Lidl.

Great independent shops for everything from clothes to homeware to jewelry, lots of nice pubs and restaurants and gorgeous countryside right on your doorstep - you'll be within walking distance of fields whichever side of Hitchin you live on. I am pretty biased but if it had a beach and the sea it would be perfect.

It isn't as diverse as London for sure but my daughter has friends from HGS with a variety of parental/grandparents ethnic backgrounds (i.e Korean, Chinese, Thai, Nigerian, Jamaican). I did a careers fair at once of the schools recently with years 9/10/11 and it was pretty diverse. We used to have a fab Sikh procession every year for Vaisakhi and hopefully it will be back.

I found Herts council to be really helpful when we returned from a couple of years abroad. The school allocations department were across everything. HOWEVER, the schools are really popular, oversubscribed with long waiting lists. They do seem to prioritise students from Hitchin and the villages within catchment (some villages only have a certain number of places but it has been a long time since I have heard of a Hitchin resident not getting a place at a Hitchin secondary school)). Mind you, as anyone who uses the station in the morning will tell you, plenty of students come in from Letchworth and Knebworth - might be also worth considering these places too as both have decent trains into London. I do worry that you have left it too late for Hitchin schools though...

Dear All,

Thanks a lot for your advice.

I would like your help as we are shifting to Hertfordshire from London. Our plan/interest is to get my daughter a place in Sandringham school(preferred) or any other outstanding schools below. Does anybody know what is the catchment of Sandringham? My biggest question is when to move(we are planning in 2-3 weeks), how near to move to the school and Would 6months to 1 year ensures us secure a place in preferred school? Will 0.5 Miles near Sandringham gives us a chance to get a place down the lane in 6 months to 1 year as the current school places are full and I will enter the waiting list. I should make a move with rental agreement most likely today EoD and your input is highly appreciated.

Kindly also let me know your views on Sandringham, Beaumont, Loreto college, Heathlands school, St.Albans girls school. Which one would be preferred or rather your preference list.

Mine would be as below for now,

1. Sandringham
2. Beaumont
3. St.Albans girls school
4. Loreto college
5. Heathlands school

Please comment on the priority and advice on me moving to a rental property which is roughly 0.5 Miles to Sandringham. Is this a good move?

Million thanks in advance for all of you :-)

I'm a bit surprised you've listed Heathland School, it is for deaf children. You haven't mentioned their needs previously.

I thought at all girls was private or at least an exam entry. Not sure tho

Beaumont is very good and academic. But catchment is right so choose carefully.

Sandridge is good. No idea in the catchment tho.

St ALbans girls is also in Wheathampstead so no train station. You would have to commute to train or drive daughter to the school.

Catchments are usually on the schools website somewhere. I'd ring the individual school offices and ask for advice

St Albans' high is all girls private. St Alban's girls is all girls non selective state

Ok I checked and at ALbans is a public school however do look at the location carefully as it's in a village. Its name is misleading as it's quite a long way out from St Albans so if you want a busy multicultural town with a train station there is no point living in Wheathampstead.

@Rainydaysgetmedown

Well that's very confusing. Lol.

WGC is a lovely town in many ways but we moved away and two reasons why stand out for me. It’s struggling to cope with the population. The infrastructure is not keeping up with the amount of development and people wanting to live there. Also particularly in some areas, the streets and houses were not designed for 4 car households which many have with older kids still at home so driving around can be a real nightmare. Secondly the state secondaries were absolutely appalling at the time. They’ve improved a bit since then but I still wouldn’t be happy with them.

As it happens we decided to leave Herts completely but had we needed to stay we would have been looking at Bishops Stortford and Hockerill Anglo-European college.

STAGS (St Albans girls school) is a state all girls school that is often over subscribed, however you can be allocated a place from surrounding area (wheathampstead/harpenden) because its the only state girls school in the area. It's in St Albans.

St Albans High school for girls is a selective private school that takes girls from 4-18. The lower school is in wheathampstead, the secondary school is in the town centre.

DS lives within the catchment area of Sandringham and STAGs, and he planned to send DGD to either of them; but when DGS was born, he decided on Sandringham for both of them. DS is looking for academic excellence as his number one priority (the school will be within walking distance for them).

However, while I imagine Marshalswick is in the catchment area and imo, it’s one of the best parts of St Albans, as pp said you need to check with the school, as to where their catchment is.

1. Sandringham
2. Beaumont
3. St.Albans girls school
4. Loreto college

All good schools. You need to live exceedingly close to get into the first 2. St Albans Girls School is in the middle of St Albans, not in Wheathampstead like PP said. They are all state schools and you wont go wrong with any of them. Obviously 3 and 4 are girls schools so it depends what you want.

State schools in WGC haven't traditionally been very good but Stanborough is on the up - last Ofsted good with outstanding features.

Thanks everyone for your input :-)
@ anothername2d, Thanks a lot for putting down the preference list 😁

I'm coming down to St.Albans today for an appointment at 17:45. I really would like to meet up moms over there to understand more about schools, locality and any help/input is highly appreciated.

We can meet up for a coffee either before or after and to have a nice talk. Please message me personally so we can setup the time & place.

Your time and input is highly appreciated and I feel included already :-)

With the amount of thought you're putting into her education, your daughter is going to be absolutely fine wherever you end up. She's a lucky girl!

@HeyDemonsItsYaGirl Thanks a ton!!! That's sooooo sweet of you to say🤗I wish your words come true😁

Hi, just found this thread. Can you recommend a great school for my son who will be commencing Year 7 in September.
we have decided to move as we are not overly enthused with the school he will be going to hence why were researching Bishops Stortford. Thanks

Herts and Essex High school and Bishops Stortford High School are both great!

All the schools in stortford are good. You have boys high, birch wood or a new school that has just opened, avanti. As discussed before if you want a particular school move as close to it as possible, especially boys high. Leventhorpe in Sawbridgeworth might be worth a look as that's a mixed school like birchwood.

Admissions for sept 24 has closed now so you would go down as a late admission which might effect the school you get. It might be tight to find a house, move and secure a popular secondary by September. Children from the local primary schools usually get places before children that live closer but don't go to one of the feeder primaries. Could you visit them first before you decide where to look for a property?

St Albans Excellent schools. Expensive. Bad traffic excellent trains

WGC. Ok schools. Less expensive. John Lewis
Bit old person

Hitchen. Trendy lots going on. More collage feel. less expensive but getting more
Boys school is excellent Girls school. Dont know if mixed is good.

Stortford. I'd avoid.

Thanks for your reply.
Can I ask which school they go to?
I am considering these:
Boys High School
Avanti
Birchwood

Do you have a recommendation for primary school?