Hertfordshire (mixed) secondary school advice

[LornaLoves121]

Hi,
We’re looking to move to another area of Hertfordshire, to get in a good catchment area for secondary schools. We can’t afford private schools and the biggest challenge is we don’t want a single sex school…. Please be kind in the comments, but it’s due to my personal bullying experiences and beliefs.
Can anyone recommend great secondary schools, that are mixed?
TIA

Budget will dictate catchment zones.

Simon Balle School in Hertford has always been good but has a small catchment zone since it became an all through school (own primary school).

Stanborough School in Welwyn Garden City has just missed an Outstanding rating in a recent ofsted.

Have you looked at the schools in the south west Herts consortium? Two are single sex but the rest are mixed.

Harpenden but you would need deep pockets for the house.

Sandringham and Beaumont in St Albans are good schools, as is St George’s a little further north in Harpenden. In fact most of the Harpenden schools are good but as previous poster points out, Harpenden doesn’t come cheaply.

Take a look at Dame Alice Owens in Potters Bar.

We could probably scrape it. But then I wonder how my kids would get on, not keeping up with the supremely wealthy Jones’s thereafter…

@Wigeon No. I’ve never heard of this before! Is that Watford and Rickmansworth?

@MissDollyMix That’s good to know about Sandringham and Beaumont. I think we could probably scrape Harpenden. But then I wonder how my kids would get on, not keeping up with the supremely wealthy Jones’s thereafter…

@Gloschick We could probably scrape Harpenden. But then I wonder how my kids would get on, not keeping up with the supremely wealthy Jones’s thereafter…

@Nowthereistwo Interesting, thank you. I’ve heard very mixed reviews about Stanborough. So interesting to hear it just missed Outstanding

@Happynow I’ve never heard of it before! Will take a look, thanks

Yes, the good mixed schools are Croxley Danes, Rickmansworth, Parmiter's and Queens. Semi selective, so you need to get in on academic, music or sports tests, or live very close by. The bar for getting into the schools is quite different even within the consortium though - the two single sex schools (Watford Boys and Watford Girls) plus Parmiter's are the most competitive. Have a look at the consortium website.