St Paul’s and Westminster 13+

[Lovedreaming]

My son is going to attend Year 7 and he is fortunate to have offers for Year 9 in both Westminster School and St Paul’s. We understand both are highly-selective and excellent schools overall speaking, so my DH and I have been struggling which offer should we take.

In terms of academic ranking it looks like both are quite similar, St Paul's may be slightly higher overall but Westminster’s Oxbridge acceptance seems higher, however I have also heard that Westminster tend to be more academic focused while St Paul’s tend to encourage more all- rounded development…

Appreciate if any OP can share your experience if your have boys studying there or if you have any insights on the school re their teaching quality/ academic support/ student mix/ extra curricular activities requirements etc? Thanks

In terms of academic ranking it looks like both are quite similar, St Paul's may be slightly higher overall but Westminster’s Oxbridge acceptance seems higher

The academic ranking or Oxbridge numbers merely indicates the intake selection competitiveness and children/parents aspirations (pushness). The difference between these schools on this aspect is non statistical significant and less relevant to your DS. I would look at other factors. Some relevant recent post

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4779169-st-paul-and-kings

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4550506-winchester-vs-st-pauls-school

St Pauls has better sports facilities on site and Westminster is more academic because it doesn't have a sports pitch on site.

Have you been to see both schools to get a feel?

Which one does your DC like?

Cricket / Rowing maybe a bit football - Westminister

Rugby / Rowing / all other sports - SPS

Have a look at:
https://twitter.com/WSchoolSport

Thanks OP for the insights, let me go thru them

Right, agree and probably the hardware explains itself! We have been to the school visit and open morning for both.

Apparently Westminster’s campus is very historical, with different buildings quite dispersed and took a long walk to the sports complex too, however this doesn’t seem to concern my DS as he’s not a sporty person, he does play some sports but definitely not a team material, so he was quite pleased with the vibe/ atmosphere there.

While DH and I are definitely impressed by St Paul’s modern, well-equipped science buildings and beautiful campus by the Thames, but that also gives us a feeling that it’s placing a significant amount of importance in sports as well as stems from its facilities and school newsletter/ magazines (please correct me if I am wrong), so that forms part of our concern as our DS tend to be a non-sporty and humanities person, in that case we wonder will he fit in better in Westminster or St Paul’s? Or to say which one will he more likely to thrive better in?

Son at one, nephew at the other.

Westminster quite Hogwartsy, SPS quite Grammary.

Westminsters boys can be a bit entitled, SPS boys can be quite grateful (possibly due to relative amounts of scholarship money?). Parents attitude the same - I was shocked at the amount of 'I can't believe how lucky we are' comments I overheard at SPS events.

Drama (I would say) better at W, Sport (I would say) better ay SPS, Music about the same.

The Old Paulines and the parents of the SPS I know all want other know they attended St Paul's. On the other hand, the Westminster boys / girls (sixth form) are more moderate and low key in that regard. But just my limited sample o servation may not mean anything.

Does anyone know if Westminster (year 9 to year 11) has dance clubs?