St Helens, Northwood, Haileybury, Queenswood or St Margarets Bushey...?

[sophieeanderson]

We are looking into all of these for our daughter's secondary school.
I would be most grateful to hear of anyone who has children in these schools at present. My spreadsheet is bursting with facts, numbers etc and it's time to get personal now ;-)

That’s quite a mixed bag!!! All girls or coed? Boarding or day? Super academic or less selective?

I have a daughter at Queenswood and another starting soon. Ridiculously happy with it. Please feel free to DM with any specific questions.

Yes I realise it’s a mixed bag 😂. We are looking for pretty academic, not the top performers though. Daughter currently in a state school and wanted to see if there were some better options out there for her. Love the look of Haileybury but the Saturday school is a bit of a deal breaker for us I think. St Helens May be too far away for us. Queenswood and St Margaret’s are potentially not academic enough… this evening I did some more research and the GCSE results in maths and science at our state school are better than theirs… I may have just answered my own question 🧐🧐

My DS is at Haileybury, chosen for co-ed, high academics and huge extra curricular program. He also joined from a state school.

My son is also at Haileybury and is absolutely thriving there. Saturday school doesn't bother him at all (also joined from state). Can't praise Haileybury enough.

Hi @sophieeanderson !

This is the broad analysis amongst our friends and acquaintances in that area. St Margaret's Bushey for the less academic girls, St Helen's for the more academic and Habs Girls and North London Collegiate for the most academic.

Hi @sophieeanderson , I have experience of the 11+ for STHNS, NWC and STM. Don’t worry I had the same debate in my head for what school to pick… I looked at academic grades, pastoral support, extra-curriculars and also their partner schools as I wanted my DD to have of a somewhat co-ed feel. From looking at this STHNS and NWC had the best gcse/ a level results. For pastoral I found all 3 were good but I guess I wouldn’t know until personal experience. The extra-curricular was best at STHNS and NWC with actually both of the schools playing against each other in netball matches etc. In addition, STHNS do a lot of activities with Merchant Taylors such as charity work, cadets etc. In the end we went for STHNS, it was a fab choice and don’t regret it at all. P.S we also live 25/30 min drive from STHNS but distance isn’t an issue due to their coaches available which you’ll find at most schools.

Hi @sophieeanderson , I’ll be embarking on that smash journey from bushey to STHN what time do the girls get home roughly ? Do the coaches run on time? Girls are currently in Northwood college but feel like the the academic push is not there for NWC-older one is in year 11 and younger in year 6 so hoping the younger one score well in the consortium exam and gets in not too fussed if the older one stays on

We are actually keeping our daughter at the state school she’s at. She is thriving and looks destined to be an A+ student if she contributes on this path. We are considering all options for our private daughter but none of the schools mentioned above except Q. Good luck. It’s a minefield! Damned if we do and damned if we don’t 😂

Marlborough College vs Haileybury school

Which school would you pick of out of these two for a boarder student.

@boysmuminhertscan u share more about hailey? is he in senior form? does your son board?

@hatsoff234can u share more about hailey? is he in senior form? does your son board?

Hi NewCComer
yes my son’s at Haileybury in sixth form and absolutely loves it. He’s a day boy but stays till 9.30/10pm each night. Lots of boarders are around all weekend though. Best thing I ever did was send him to that school .

@hatsoff234can i learn more about the school, say teaching quality, pastoral care, extra curricular activites, etc. though your son do not board, any comments or knowlegde of the boarding life there? is that no one stay at weekends? may i know your son is in a level or ib? it is solely based on students'wish or do the school only allow the most academic students to join ib?

he's in Y10 and a day pupil. Like the sixth former above he stays quite late many evenings. There are so many activities for them to do.

Haileybury isn't far from us. I need co-ed but have v academic ASC kids. Are they inclusive? We need pastoral support and zero tolerance to bullying. It's a big school!