NW London indie 11+

[jdr1234]

Is there a support thread for this as could only find a SW one could do with one now the exams have started and feb seems a long way off 🤨
we are sitting Habs, Belmont, St Albans, UCS and Highgate.

also doing UCS and some other west London - St Benedict’s/Latymer.
everything crossed!

Came on here to join but didn't realise it was boys!

Girls welcome too!

My dd is sitting Habs, Belmont, Aldenham, St Albans Girls and Channing

👋 My DD has done Habs and St Margaret’s and we have STAHS coming up.

My DS is in Y7 at St Albans School so happy to answer any questions about that.

@BarqsHasBite can I ask why your not sitting your daughter for St Albans now it is going co Ed?

I really liked the school however my daughter was not satisfied during the open day. We have asked to senior team how the transformation will be happen? From single gender to coed? They answered us that they are just opening their doors to girls and not changing anything else. After St Albans, we have visited Stags and she was really impressed with art, DT and food technology department. We live in Mill Hill and is a very long journey for us so we have decided just to apply Stags although I believe that St Albans is a very good school :)

I assume you are applying to St Albans High School for your daughter - this is known as STAHS. St Albans Girls School - STAGS - is a state secondary school in the town. They are commonly confused, my husband has only just (I think!) started to get this right and we have lived in St Albans for 10+ years now! 🤣

We love St Albans School for our DS but there are a couple of reasons we’re not applying for our DD.

First, before the co-ed announcement she had already ruled out St Columba’s as an option. They are maybe 5 years into their co-ed “journey” but when I inquired about how many girls there would be in the year DD would join it was still less than a fifth of the year group. DD said she was happy with all-girls or with fully mixed but didn’t want to go to a boy-heavy school.

Then, when the SAS announcement was made I told DS and DD that maybe DD could apply and they both looked at each other in horror and said simultaneously “I’m not going to school with her/him!!” 🤪 Which is kind of ironic given they’ve been at the same junior school, but I can see why they may now want to spread their wings separately.

@BarqsHasBite did you look at RMS?

I had a few people recommend RMS to me but unfortunately the coach routes don’t come out this far.

You are right! We have applied to STAHS :) We also thought that St Albans will be a boy heavy school.

It’s obviously not going to be 50/50 in the first year, but it sounds like they’ve had a good amount interest from families with girls. We may kick ourselves yet if they have a decent number of girls turning up in September!

It’s rumoured that Habs results were
likely today or tomorrow. For those that have applied do please post if you hear anything!

Yes we had received yesterday

Congratulations! Us too, but the interview time clashes with one we’d already accepted at another school 😩

Has anyone heard from Highgate school yet? I know it’s supposed to be by tomorrow but just wondering if anyone has received already? 🤔

Hi yes our DS was asked back today to second stage interview and activity at Highgate. I am delighted for him as he worked super hard and he's from a London state primary.

He also took exams for Forest in Walthamstow and North Bridge Canonbury. We've had an offer from Canonbury already. Obviously a very different school to Highgate but we're looking for warm, academic and well rounded not hothouse. We're not in NW but NE London though.

Congrats! My DS received the invitation today too! Does anyone have any idea how many or what percentage gets invited to interview stage?

Congrats too! Not sure, but I imagine they must interview 2-3 time the number of places, so 250-ish?

Hi, I hope everyone is happy with their offers. We are little bit confused, any thoughts about Habs Girls vs STAHS?

They are both great schools. We just chose STAHS for our DD for logistical reasons as we live in St A and she can walk there (and have a more local social life).

While Habs has fabulous grounds it’s a bit in the middle of nowhere and can be reached only by coach or by a lift from a parent, and traffic is only getting worse.

The families we know with daughters at STAHS are happy with it and have commented that it’s really fun, which isn’t a word you hear about schools all that much!

STAHS is making a lot of being dedicated to an all girls’ education, whereas Habs Girls sells the fact that in sixth form some lessons will be with the boys so that’s something else where they differ. Not sure how much interaction there is lower down the school in eg co-curricular drama/music.

My only slight hesitation about Habs was whether it would be a bit ‘hot-house’; it’s hard to know from the outside and most schools do seem to sell pastoral care heavily. But if the logistics had been different we’d likely have gone for Habs.

Good luck with your decision, it’s a nice problem to have!

Thank you for answering my post. I liked your last sentence :) nice problem to have :)
My daugter loved STAHS a lot, I think it is a very happy and creative school. We would prefer over habs if the logistic was easier for us. For STAHS Coach is 1h 20min from where do we live and I think this will be very challenging for us in the long term. 2h 40m journey a day! So I am trying to convince her for habs which is only 20 minutes away and the coach stop is in front of our house. It is just so sad to see her not really convinced on the final decision after working that hard to achieve all these offer. Really questioning myself, am I doing the right thing :)

Oh in your shoes, Habs all the way! 2h40 is as you say a huge amount of time to spend on travel and it will only get worse with the number of houses they are building around St A. And it will presumably mean a very early start too.

My own commute to secondary (from Y9) was similar and it was actually ok but a) we had no nearer independent options, b) there weren’t nearly as many co-curricular clubs after school so the day did end at 4 and c) I had some lovely friends on the bus - but now I gather no-one talks to each other and they all just stare at their phones the whole time 😔. So that sort of commute would now be a last resort for us.

Have you done/are you doing all the Habs offer-holder events? I’ve lost track of when they all were.

Would it help your DD to go back to Habs and spend more time there, talking to other girls? I’d be inclined to contact Admissions and tell them your predicament as they will want to help you get your DD over the line.

She will in all likelihood thrive at either school, and once she’s there she won’t look back. I would listen to her reasons for wanting STAHS but say ultimately it has to be your decision as to what you feel would be best for her.

Thank you very much for taking time and responding my post, I am really appreciated. We have done the place holder day on Friday however her feeling are still the same. However she is agree that 1h 20 m commute will be realy tiring for her so we will most probably will go with Habs. Hopefully she will be able to cope with academic level and managed to be happy :)